Resilient to disaster From the cover
neighborhoods like mine in District E, are still facing unsafe living conditions, including unresolved housing damages with little to no support,” Letty Ortega, a community organizer in Houston, said at a June 17 City Council meeting. In response to resident concerns, Mayor John Whitmire’s administration decided to reallocate $50 million toward housing, and Council member Ti any Thomas later submitted an amendment to reallocate an additional $50 million from the power resilience program to housing. After o cials opted for the change, Council members Fred Flickinger, Amy Peck and Mary Nan Hu man dissented. In a joint statement to Community Impact on Oct. 16, the trio said they felt the reallocation could “undermine other critical recovery tools.”
storm. Dan Potter, lead researcher of the survey, said the number seems small but represents thousands of Houston residents. “There’s that bill that’s always lingering, there’s that repair that’s not quite done yet,” Potter said. “While we’re talking about physical and nancial things, there are emotional components to it.” Almost a third of the now-approved plan is dedicated to housing, including home repair assistance. However, the original draft did not include funding for housing programs, which sparked backlash from some residents and council members, as an April HUD assessment showed housing costs were Houston’s top unmet need. “Many residents, especially in working-class
The big picture
Houston began drafting the plan in May, with a nal version approved by council in August. The plan allocates $100 million to housing programs, $101 million to power generation resilience, such as additional backup generators, as well as funding for emergency response, homeless services and debris removal, according to city documents. According to an October report from the Kinder Institute for Urban Research, 12.5% of residents surveyed one year after Hurricane Beryl were still “somewhat or very disrupted” from the
Houston programs funded through the plan
2
Money allocated
Percent of total
Funding distribution
1
Power Generation Resilience Program
$101.291M
32.19%
1
Single-Family Housing Program
$50M
15.89%
2
Multifamily Housing Program
$50M
15.89%
3
Total: $314.6M
3
Homeless Services Program
$41.04M
13.04%
4
Debris Repository Acquisition/Development Program $32.79 M
10.42%
5
Administration
$15.732M
5%
6
9
8
Emergency Response/Public Safety Program
$15.34M
4.88%
7
7
4
Vegetation Management/Debris Removal Program
$8.25M
2.62%
8
6
Planning
$0.2M
0.06%
9
SOURCE: CITY OF HOUSTON COMMUNITY IMPACT
5
A closer look
Hurricane Beryl recovery by household income
Somewhat or not recovered at all
Mostly recovered
Completely recovered
Potter said his team saw a “surprising” uptick in survey respondents who still felt disrupted by Hurricane Beryl after six months, which he expected to trend down with time. He said the response was likely due to lower-income residents not typically being able to pay off thousands of dollars of bills within a month. “[Longer] recovery is going to be concentrated among individuals that are not bringing a ton of resources to the table to begin with,” Potter said. According to the Kinder Institute study, 28% of households making less than $25,000 a year have either somewhat or not at all recovered. Meanwhile, only 4% of those making $100,000 or more have somewhat or not recovered at all.
24%
64%
Overall 11%
Less than $25,000 28%
36%
36%
$25,000 to $49,999 16%
31%
53%
10%
26%
64%
$50,000 to $99,999
$100,000 or more 4% 16%
81%
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
Percentage of residents
NOTE: PERCENTAGES MAY NOT ADD UP TO 100% DUE TO ROUNDING SOURCE: KINDER INSTITUTE FOR URBAN RESEARCH/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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