The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs and engages Texans about public policy, politics, government, and statewide issues, originally published the article “Six years after Hurricane Harvey, the city of Houston still hasn’t allocated $200 million in relief funds.”
Subscribe to The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that provides readers with the most recent information on the most important Texas stories.
The General Land Office of the state of Texas reports that the city of Houston has not yet distributed $200 million in federal disaster monies to victims, over six years after Hurricane Harvey destroyed thousands of houses and killed over 80 people along the Texas coast.
General Land Office Commissioner Dawn Buckingham offered her office’s staff to assist newly elected Houston Mayor John Whitmire in making sure the remaining disaster relief funds are disbursed promptly and responsibly. She claimed that there has always been a “strained” relationship between her office and the city of Houston and that personnel shortages have made it impossible for the housing office to oversee recovery financing.
With Buckingham’s offer, Whitmire will have an early chance to carry out his campaign pledge to strengthen ties between the state and its most populated city. Together with Republican Buckingham, Whitmire was a Democratic state senator in the legislature from 2017 to 2023. He won a landslide win over U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee last month to take charge of the fourth most populated city in the country.
Sylvester Turner, Whitmire’s predecessor, and former Land Commissioner George P. Bush were entangled in a public spat over allegations that Turner’s organization was “hogging” federal Harvey relief money and unfairly allocating it to persons of color. Whitmire has shown a desire to collaborate with the government to put that feud behind them and make sure Harvey victims get assistance.
“I am thrilled to collaborate with Commissioner Buckingham, and together we will devise a strategy to guarantee that the $200 million federal Harvey relief fund is disbursed promptly and fairly to eligible recipients,” Whitmire declared in a press release. “During my administration, we will move past the historic political battles with the State.”
According to Brittany Eck, a spokesman for the General Land Office, the city has until February 2025, when its contract with the GLO expires, to withdraw the final $200 million.
Eck stated, “That money literally goes back to the Department of Housing and Development if it isn’t spent.” “You either use it or lose it.”
Leave a Reply