BY SARAH BRAGER
Houston’s disaster relief spending priorities, compared Housing Infrastructure, public services and mitigation Planning, administration and delivery
What they’re saying
One more thing
Thomas told Community Impact the initial move to not fund housing programs felt like a “sharp pivot” from the city’s mission to maintain Hous- ton’s image as an affordable city. “We had an opportunity to strike and do something to address existing [housing] inventory because if we don’t repair these homes, it becomes a blight in our neighborhood,” Thomas said. However, in their statement, Flickinger, Peck and Huffman said $100 million won’t be able to support that many home repairs, making it a large expense for only a small number of residents. The council members also said the multifamily hous- ing program would essentially pay for apartment complexes’ remodels instead of preparing people for future storms. “We could stretch these dollars further and help more people,” the joint statement read. “Until those changes are made, pouring in more money only perpetuates inefficiency.”
While waiting on federal aid, some residents turned to local nonprofits for support with repairs. West Street Recovery, a Houston- based recovery nonprofit, spent almost $1 million repairing homes last year, WSR Co-Director Ben Hirsch said. Hirsch said it’s important to fund public infrastructure, but CDBG-DR program money should be used for recovery specifically, not mitigation. He said the city should use HUD’s separate grant program that funds investments in critical infrastructure to reduce the risk of future loss. “If you don’t repair homes, what happens is those people all get pushed into the rental market, and all of our rents go up,” Hirsch said. According to the program’s documents, HUD also awarded Harris County and the state of Texas disaster aid funding for the 2024 storms. The Texas General Land Office will also funnel the aid to Fort Bend and Montgomery counties, according to TGLO.
$5M 7.35%
$16M 5.08%
$83M 15.78%
$16M 23.53%
$68M 12.93%
$199M 63.17%
$375M 71.29%
$47M 69.12%
$100M 31.75%
City of Houston
Harris County
Texas General Land Office
SOURCE: KINDER INSTITUTE FOR URBAN RESEARCH/COMMUNITY IMPACT
First in the Texas Medical Center WITH THIS DISTINCTION
Harris Health Ben Taub Hospital
15
HEIGHTS - RIVER OAKS - MONTROSE EDITION
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