The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced it would accept the Texas General Land Office’s (GLO) amended plan to distribute certain federal disaster mitigation funds that Congress authorized following Hurricane Harvey.  HUD’s approval of this plan comes after an investigation found the Texas GLO discriminated on the basis of race and national origin against Black and Hispanic residents in the design and operation of the Hurricane Harvey State Mitigation Competition to allocate disaster mitigation funds.  Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) released the following statement in response to the announcement: 

“Managing the threat of flooding and improving our water infrastructure are vital to our community’s future, and in Congress, I have worked hard to prioritize our region and secure funding for our community to recover from Hurricane Harvey and prepare for the next storm.  HUD has a responsibility to ensure funding is allocated in a fair and just manner, and after its recent findings that the Texas GLO violated civil rights laws while denying funds to the City of Houston, I am deeply disappointed that HUD has accepted the Texas GLO’s action plan.  Houstonians deserve better.  Our state has not merely failed us, it has discriminated against its largest city and its millions of tax-paying residents who these funds were intended to benefit.  I will keep fighting to ensure that Houston receives a fair share of these funds, and that HUD’s actions and monitoring of this process will help ensure that future allocations reflect Congress’ intent for them.”

Hurricane Harvey devastated the Gulf Coast region in 2017, its nearly 60 inches of rain and related flooding claiming 68 lives and causing an estimated $125 billion in damage.  In response, Congress passed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 and appropriated $12 billion in Community Development Block Grant-Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) funding for hazard mitigation activities for areas impacted by Hurricane Harvey and two significant floods in 2015 and 2016.

In GLO’s initial distribution of these funds, Houston and Harris County received no allocation of disaster mitigation funds, even though they suffered extensive damage in Hurricane Harvey as well as the Tax Day and Memorial Day floods in the preceding years.  In response, Congresswoman Fletcher led a letter with members of the Houston delegation to HUD, requesting a review of GLO’s actions and a halt to the distribution of funds, as part of her efforts to ensure Houston and Harris County are fairly represented in GLO’s subsequent distributions of funds.