DES MOINES - Iowa's $125 million plan for long-term disaster recovery has been accepted by the secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

The state plans to use the Community Development Block Grant funds to rehabilitate housing, build affordable housing and public infrastructure, and support economic revitalization.

"Last year was not terribly kind to Iowa and the process of rebuilding homes and critical infrastructure will be a long one," HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said today. The federal agency will work with state and local officials "to cut red tape where we can and accelerate the pace of recovery as much as humanly possible."

According to the plan, Iowa will channel:

• $30 million into housing rehabilitation
• $35 million into new housing production
• $10 million into non-FEMA housing buyouts
• $5 into small business stimulus
• $32 million into public facilities and services
• $5 million for floodplain mapping
• $1 million for green building training
• Up to $6.2 million will go to administration of the funds.

Under the formula laid out in the Iowa plan, allocations of housing funds would include:

• Cedar Rapids, nearly 40 percent or $11.9 million
• Cedar Falls, 4.64 percent or $1.4 million
• Iowa City, 3.43 percent or $1.03 million
• Waterloo, 3.42 percent or $1.03 million

Allocations of the small business stimulus would include:

• Cedar Rapids, nearly 62 percent or $3.1 million
• Cedar Falls, 3.09 percent or $154,500
• Iowa City, 7.4 percent or $370,000
• Waterloo, 2.28 percent or $114,000

Overall, the state intends to use $75.3 million of HUD funds for housing activities which may include homeowner and rental repair and rehabilitation, new housing construction, homebuyer assistance, interim mortgage assistance, buyouts and hazard mitigation. By law, Iowa must devote at least $13.3 million for affordable rental housing.

Iowa proposes to use $37 million to meet infrastructure and economic development needs.

Contact James Q. Lynch at (319) 398-8375 or james.lynch@gazcomm.com.