American Samoa is to receive $23 million through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
This grant is part of the federal government’s long term disaster recovery process following 2018’s Cyclone Gita, and is through the special appropriations passed by Congress in 2019 in response to major disasters.
Congresswoman Aumua Amata said, “This is a significant grant that can make a big difference for some important needs in American Samoa, and these funds result from the major disaster bill passed by Congress this year.”
HUD provides flexible grants through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery program to help cities, counties, parishes, states or territories recover from presidentially declared disasters, especially in low- and moderate-income areas. The grant recipient creates a plan for the use of the grant in conjunction with HUD.
HUD has stipulated that these funds must be used for “necessary expenses related to disaster relief, long term recovery, and restoration of infrastructure, housing, and economic revitalization.”
The Department of Commerce is to administer the HUD funding. Director Keniseli Lafaele said the CDBG-Disaster Recovery funds will focus on four significant unmet needs areas: housing, economic revitalization. infrastructure and mitigation.
Congresswoman Aumua gave special thanks to Secretary Dr. Ben Carson and HUD for following through with these funds for American Samoa. She also offered congratulations to Governor Lolo Moliga and his team on this effort and the projects that are in the works.
