Spokane County moves to submit $44 million disaster-recovery action plan after community outreach in Elk and Medical Lake

Spokane County officials said on June 10 they will submit an initial action plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to activate an estimated $44 million in disaster recovery funds tied to wildfires affecting Elk and Medical Lake, following community outreach that identified housing, infrastructure and mitigation as top priorities.

County staff reported community meetings held the prior week—one in Elk (about 43–45 attendees) and one in Medical Lake (about 83 attendees)—and a public survey that produced 168 responses, with roughly 64% from Medical Lake, 24% from Elk and the remainder from other parts of the county. In the survey and public feedback, respondents ranked priorities as (1) housing, (2) infrastructure, and (3) mitigation, including removal and replanting of trees and addressing slash piles.

County staff said the HUD award is made as an "intent to work" letter estimating $44,000,000 in entitlement funds but that access requires HUD review of a consolidated action plan. The county plans to issue an initial draft action plan for advisory-committee review and a 30-day public comment period in July, then submit the plan to HUD. Staff emphasized the action plan will be a living document subject to multiple amendments as more detailed data and project-specific proposals are developed.

County staff described the action-plan process as including an "unmet needs" assessment (the difference between total reported damage and amounts already assisted by FEMA, SBA, insurance or local recovery), a mitigation needs assessment, and allocation buckets for broad categories of projects. Staff said FEMA data alone showed a large delta between reported damage and payments, and that the county will consult multiple data sources to quantify unmet needs.

Officials said they will use a subrecipient model for contracting and that some projects—particularly large public-infrastructure projects—could consume a substantial portion of the available funds. Staff noted constraints such as income eligibility limits for certain HUD funds and the need for transparency with affected communities that not all requests will be fundable. The county tentatively aims to issue requests for proposals and begin entering into contracts by early 2026, subject to HUD review and amendments.