Hurricane Harvey Permanent Recovery Efforts
It is now 11 months since Hurricane Harvey hit Texas. For all practical purposed the temporary housing program has now shifted into permanent housing recovery. In June, HUD approved the GLO’s Action Plan for permanent recovery efforts. Within the total $5.024 billion, $1.28 billion is dedicated to housing recovery.
The website where all requests for proposals (RFPs) are posted: http://www.txsmartbuy.com/sp
To find all GLO related RFPs you can use the “Agency Name” dropdown or in “Agency Number” you can enter 305.
There are not any open RFPs at this time specifically asking for housing. What was previously been posted and has been awarded are some of the overarching contractors for the administration of the disaster recovery program. These are the large engineering and accounting firm contracts to oversee the overall permanent recovery effort.
Here are the 43 companies that received some level of award in this round.
The other important websites for the recovery efforts are housed within the Texas Rebuild website.
Appendix C, starting on page 112 of the document, provides an anticipated spending graph. Starting on page 114 you can find the anticipate funding levels broken down by year and quarter. The top line item listed as “Homeowner Assistance Program” is the line to focus on for reconstruction efforts. Within the projections you can see that they anticipate the highest funding distribution levels of the homeowner recovery program to occur in 2020 with estimates of spending ranging from $75million to $135 million per quarter.
The GLO has also published its Housing Guidelines. These are the guidelines that will be used going forward to administer the housing recovery and reconstruction programs.
“The Homeowner Recovery Program assists eligible homeowners impacted by disasters under a variety of housing activities including acquisition, rehabilitation, reconstruction, new construction, demolition, relocation, down-payment assistance, and elevation. ”
Contained within the 72 page Housing Guidelines, starting on page 22, is the line item breakdown for funds available per activity. Replacing a damaged manufactured home with a new energy-efficient manufactured home is an eligible activity under the Guidelines. Manufactured home replacement appears to be limited to $75,000 for the unit. Elevation expenses are a separate line item and depending on the location, can reach $60,000 (coastal) or $35,000 (non-coastal) in additional eligible funding. There are also additional eligible line items for water wells, septic and accessibility.
There is an asterisk for the manufactured home costs, and this is also the standard for site-built reconstruction. The asterisk refers to what is called the “Local Composite Bid,” which is described on page 23 as:
*Local Composite Bid: All program units will require a local composite bid which will be performed by subrecipients and the state. Composite bid costs are set costs resulting from procured builders and include the builder's house plans to be used in the program. Builders will have their architect and engineering firm design or modify the plans as necessary for the program. This is included in the architecture costs of a unit. Note: if floor plans are re-used, there shall be a one-time fee for the original production of the blueprints. That fee cannot be charged for every house built from that floor plan going forward. Only a nominal fee for producing copies of the floor plan will be allowed. Builder plans will be provided to the GLO for review and approval. See 4.H.(1)(b) Building Specifications for Reconstruction/New Construction of the Guidelines for further information.
Other eligible cost items are “soft costs.” Up to $10,000 is eligible for “soft costs,” which are:
***Project Soft Costs: Project soft costs are direct costs specifically related to the replacement of an MHU, rehabilitation, reconstruction, or new construction. These costs include site-specific utility disconnect or reconnect fees, permits, elevation certificate work, topographic survey costs, damage assessments/inspections, and code inspections. Additionally, one year of homeowner insurance(s) may be purchased for each unit. If a property was damaged by a flood but was outside of the 100-year flood plain, subrecipients may purchase flood insurance to reduce the economic risk from future floods. The GLO may grant an exception to increase the unit soft cost for unexpected or unforeseen costs during construction. Subrecipients and state will be required to use the GLO’s 11.17 Work Write-Up/Cost Estimate form.
Included in the housing program, in addition to reconstruction of new homes, is the rehabilitation of damaged, but not destroyed existing homes. Manufactured homes are eligible for rehabilitation, but if the rehabilitation costs exceed $10,000, then the MHU must be replaced entirely with a new home.
The Guidelines provide bedroom to bathroom ratios and house size breakdowns as follows (see page 44):
The GLO-determined total square footage ranges are as follows:
- 2 bedroom/1-2 bath home: 1,000–1,330 SF
- 3 bedroom/1-2 bath home: 1,331–1,425 SF
- 4 bedroom/2 bath home: 1,426–1,500 SF
There are numerous other conditions, requirements, and considerations contained in the Guidelines. We encourage anyone who might be interested in future recovery programs to thoroughly review the Guidelines.