2018-11-29 Letter to Ben Carson re County of Hawaii Disaster Recovery

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aF , fr y- •' !,•. Wil Okabe " 6l Managing Director Harry Kim Morar Barbara J. Kossow •••,4'iii.SS.- Deputy Managing Director • County of Hawaii Office of the Mayor 25 Aupuni Street,Suite 2603 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720 • (808)961-8211 • Fax(808)961-6553 KONA. 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Hwy., Bldg C • Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740 (808)323-4444 • Fax(808)323-4440 November 29, 2018 The Honorable Ben Carson U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 451 7th Street S.W. Washington, D.C. 20410 Dear Secretary Carson: RE: County of Hawaii Disaster Recovery I am writing to ask for your attention to our unique disaster. Your staff are currently considering how much Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding to allocate to various disasters across the nation. I am concerned because the formulas HUD uses to calculate allocations may not account for the unique nature of our Kilauea Volcanic Eruption disaster (DR- 4366) and its profound impacts. Hawaii County was hit with two major disasters at the same time in 2018 —the three-month Kilauea Eruption plus Hurricane Lane. Together, they have permanently altered our landscape, communities, and economy. Losses have been in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Given Hawaii's reputation as an idyllic vacation destination, it is important that you understand the reality of life in Hawaii County: • We are "The Big Island," but with only 200,000 people, our population is small and rural. The scale of the disasters was enormous relative to our small size. • Many of our people are poor. More than half of our families struggle to meet basic daily needs. • The eruption was centered in the heart of our most socio-economically vulnerable communities, pushing many households deeper into poverty and destroying what little wealth they had. County of Hawaii is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer