Funds earmarked for flood buyouts

Federal money set aside for new housing projects in Iowa now total $182 million, while CDBG funds to repair levees, water, sewer or storm drainage systems and other public infrastructure damaged by last year's disaster has grown to $122 million.

The latest round of federal CDBG disaster recovery money was announced June 10 when HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan toured flood damage in Cedar Rapids. The $517 million in federal aid to Iowa was part of about $3.7 billion that was released to 11 states in the process of recovering from dozens of natural disasters last year.

Friday's announcement by Iowa officials was intended to show how state officials propose to spend the latest allocation. The latest round of federal emergency funding to support long-term disaster recovery was in addition to $2.4 billion HUD already allocated to via the CDBG program – bringing Iowa's total to close to $800 million with reimbursements for completed projects standing at more than $24 million.