Natural disasters are unpredictable and can happen at any time. They often catch homeowners off-guard and unprepared to provide the legal documentation for their home required to begin the reconstruction process. If you are a local agency, NGO, or other agency tasked with preparing your community for natural disasters, it’s important to provide homeowners with… Read more
IBTS recommends using the WH-347 form — a standardized fillable PDF payroll form recognized by every federal agency — to track disaster related time and cost expenditures. If payroll is not properly documented during disaster response and recovery, municipalities may not be eligible for FEMA reimbursement or may be forced to return their funds years after the… Read more
“The biggest mistake I’ve seen across the country in programs is not following proper procurement,” says IBTS Corporate Disaster Recovery Executive Mike Spletto. “I’ve seen local governments have the entire procurement become null and void for not following federal competitive bid requirements.” Because the CDBG-DR program is federally funded, grantees must follow federal procurement policies when… Read more
Cities and counties can incur millions of dollars in disaster response and recovery costs. Although FEMA reimburses most of these, if cost and time expenditures aren’t properly recorded localities may be denied assistance or forced to return money years after the disaster hits. It’s important that your locality has a plan in place for mundane… Read more
Cities and counties can incur millions of dollars in disaster response and recovery costs. Although most of these costs are eligible for FEMA reimbursement, if cost and time expenditures aren’t properly recorded localities may be denied assistance or forced to return money years after the disaster hits. Some municipalities have an appointed disaster financial manager,… Read more
Before work begins on a post-disaster recovery project funded by the program, grantees must perform an environmental review to evaluate the impact of the project on the environment, and vice versa. The review, which must be in accordance with requirements, provides documentation to prove that no harm is done to either the environment or the… Read more
State, local and tribal recipients of assistance assume environmental responsibility over projects, which means they are required to perform an environmental review that meets requirements on any CDBG-DR funded project before work can begin. This document provides the step-by-step instructions for conducting an environmental review on a particular project or activity, in addition to guidance… Read more
monitors certain community planning and development (CPD) program recipients, including recipients, to assess program efficiency, quality of performance, and to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse. The CPD Monitoring Handbook outlines monitoring standards and processes and is intended for use by all HUD CPD staff involved in monitoring programs. However, CDBG-DR subreceipients and grantees can use… Read more
Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) grantees and subrecipients must follow all local, state and federal procurement requirements. Many localities are unfamiliar with federal procurement policies, making it easy to overlook requirements that can lead to noncompliance and repayment of funds. Download this sample procurement checklist from HUD to ensure compliance at each step… Read more
This fact sheet provides an introduction to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) program including information on who is eligible to receive this funding, how it can be used, and a basic overview of the process for implementing a CDBG-DR program. CDBG-DR grantees and subrecipients can use this fact sheet as a… Read more
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