Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) appreciates the opportunity to comment on the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s notice regarding the formula used to allocate Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds. Since 1995, TCS has served as a national, nonpartisan budget watchdog working to ensure that federal resources are managed responsibly and taxpayer dollars are spent transparently and effectively.

CDBG-DR provides flexible funding for long-term recovery needs that remain after insurance, FEMA assistance, and other resources have been accounted for. The program’s recent authorization gives HUD an opportunity to replace an ad hoc allocation process with a faster and more predictable system. The decisions HUD makes now will also shape how much taxpayers spend after future disasters and whether that spending reduces the risk of paying for the same losses again.

TCS supports a simpler and more transparent formula that gets assistance to communities more quickly. But speed should not come at the expense of accurately measuring need, rebuilding in ways that leave communities safer, or directing mitigation funds where they can reduce future federal costs.