President Obama announced the National Disaster Resilience Competition on June 14 in response to demand from state, local, and tribal leaders who are working to increase the safety and security of their communities. The nearly $1 billion competition invites communities that have experienced natural disasters to compete for funds to help them rebuild and increase their resilience to future disasters.
The competition supports innovative resilience projects at the local level while encouraging communities to adopt policy changes and activities that plan for the impacts of extreme weather and climate change and rebuild affected areas to be better prepared for the future. These funds will enable eligible communities to access resources that help both recover from the previous disaster and make plans, decisions, and investments that make them more resilient to the next disaster.
About $820 million is available to all states and local governments that experienced a Presidentially-declared major disaster in 2011, 2012, and 2013. States in the Hurricane Sandy-affected region will be eligible to compete for approximately $180 million, to help address critical housing needs, building on the successful model set forth by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Rebuild by Design competition. Learn more about the National Disaster Resilience Competition.
