Board bill 28 approves $5 million CDBG appropriation for tornado recovery

The St. Louis City Board of Aldermen’s Housing, Urban Development and Zoning Committee voted to advance board bill 28, an ordinance to appropriate roughly $5 million in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to tornado recovery efforts.

The money will be directed by the Community Development Administration (CDA) into three primary uses: household assistance, debris and tree removal, and home repair. Noel Pfeffer, executive director of the Community Development Administration, told the committee the appropriation reflects unappropriated HUD allocations from 2018–2021 that the city discovered during its consolidated planning process.

“This appropriates $5,000,000 as part of a broader $7,400,000 substantial amendment to redirect CDBG … to support tornado recovery efforts,” Pfeffer said. He said the appropriation shown today represents available, unappropriated HUD formula awards and that a separate $2.4 million in already‑appropriated funds will be reallocated through the required HUD substantial amendment.

Pfeffer described the three spending buckets and how the amounts were chosen: household assistance capped by HUD rules at 19 percent of CDBG (about $1.4 million), and the remainder split evenly between debris/tree removal and home repair (each about $3.0 million when combined with the broader amendment). He said the household assistance cap is a statutory HUD cap on public services and cited the need to coordinate with the emergency operations center to set priorities.

The CDA said it will request five waivers from HUD, including shortening the public notice period from 30 days to five and seeking an exemption under 58.3481 to accelerate environmental reviews that currently must be completed per household. Pfeffer said Mission Saint Louis will be used as a subrecipient for home repair work and that the city will procure contractors directly for debris and tree removal.

Policy director Casey Milberg for Mayor Spencer’s office said the administration is continuing to press for a presidential major disaster declaration but will move available local and federal resources in the meantime. “We still do not have a major disaster declaration,” Milberg said. “We are continuing … alongside our state and federal partners to keep advocating, providing more data.”

Committee members asked about the timing and source of the funds and the consolidated plan process that revealed the unappropriated HUD awards. Pfeffer explained that HUD formula awards are often estimated and appropriations timing can create gaps; the 2018 award discrepancy was the largest and the city now plans to be more conservative in assumptions.

After discussion the committee voted and recorded the bill as "in bank" and later approved it with a do‑pass recommendation. The committee and city staff said they will circulate a detailed substantial amendment and supporting documentation to the Board of Aldermen and to HUD as required, hold the HUD‑required public hearing on June 12, and proceed with contracting efforts.

Officials emphasized that distribution priorities for household assistance will depend in part on whether FEMA provides assistance under a presidential declaration and on gaps left by other funding. Pfeffer said home repair capacity will need to scale substantially beyond current program levels to meet anticipated demand.

The committee did not set final program rules in the ordinance; staff said the CDA and its partners will return with operational details and specific contractual scopes once HUD approvals and waivers are in place.