HUD AWARDS NEW YORK CITY AND NEW YORK STATE COMBINED $200 MILLION THROUGH NATIONAL DISASTER RESILIENCE COMPETITION

NEW YORK - Today, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro and the Rockefeller Foundation announced the winners of the $1 billion National Disaster Resilience Competition (NDRC). Among the 13 grant recipients are New York City and New York State who will use this funding to fortify Manhattan's Lower East Side, and to increase resiliency and preparedness at public housing authorities throughout the state.

The National Disaster Resilience Competition winners are:

City of New York:

The City of New York will receive $176,000,000 in NDRC funding to support the development of the Lower Manhattan Project and Connect Project which will construct a coastal protection system that will enhance the connection between neighborhoods, add green spaces and seating areas, and retail areas, and protect public housing projects that are vulnerable to storm surge and flooding.

State of New York:

The State of New York will receive $35,800,000 in NDRC funding to support public housing resiliency pilots throughout the State. The State of New York will provide funding to public housing authorities to implement site-specific resiliency recommendations based on new resilient guidelines. This will enable the State to repair damage from recent disasters like Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Irene and pilot new and innovative approaches to build resilience in low-income multifamily properties.

Read a summary of each of the NDRC awardees above.

"Climate change is real and we must think more seriously about how to plan for it," said HUD Secretary Julián Castro. "The grants we award today, and the other sources of capital these grants will leverage, will make communities stronger, more resilient and better prepared for future natural disasters such as floods and wildfires. The National Disaster Resilience Competition exemplifies how government can work hand-in-hand with the philanthropic and private sectors to create lasting partnerships that will allow us to together face the challenges of tomorrow."

"The National Disaster Resilience Competition demonstrated where we are moving as a country, embracing resilience as a way to build a better future," said Dr. Judith Rodin, President of The Rockefeller Foundation. "The communities awarded funding through the Competition - and in fact all those that competed - today have a greater awareness of their vulnerabilities and strengths and what they need to do to be ready for whatever comes their way. This is the heart of resilience."

The competition took place in two phases, with final winners selected from previously announced 40 states and local communities designated as finalists. Finalists were then asked to submit specific projects that would advance their community's resilience plans. More than 25 federal agencies or offices, and 100 industry experts were involved in the implementation of the 16-month long competition.

NDRC is funded through Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) appropriations provided by the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013.

NDRC was developed in response to requests from state, local, and tribal leaders seeking to build resilience and better prepare their communities for the impacts of climate change, following the model of the Rebuild by Design Competition, and the recommendations of the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force. The National Disaster Resilience Competition was designed to promote risk assessment, stakeholder engagement, and resilience planning in communities where the risks of disaster are projected to increase substantially due to climate change.

Partnership with Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation worked closely with HUD and state and local governments to encourage and support a culture of resilience around disaster preparedness and planning in American communities. Through a companion effort, the Rockefeller Foundation provided targeted technical assistance to the applicants and supported a stakeholder-driven process, informed by the best available data, to identify recovery needs and innovative solutions. The strategic partnership between the Rockefeller Foundation and HUD drew on the successful strategies of the Rebuild by Design (www.rebuildbydesign.org) competition, where the Foundation provided lead support for administration of the competition and community engagement.

Read more about the first and second phases of the National Disaster Resilience Competition (https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/cdbg-dr/resilient-recovery/).

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