After Harvey, Pee Bush's Agency Directed Zero HUD Funds To Houston/Harris CO - Storm's Epicenter
A Texas agency discriminated against communities of color when it denied more than $1 billion in federal relief funds sought by Houston and Harris County to help hard-hit areas recover from Hurricane Harvey, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found.
The Texas General Land Office — the agency charged with distributing approximately $2 billion in federal funds for future flood preparation — initially awarded Houston and Harris County nothing when deciding where to send the money. At the time, local officials blasted the state agency, headed by Land Commissioner George P. Bush, for denying much-needed aid and called on the federal government to intervene.
HUD officials said the state agency’s method of doling out the funds “discriminated on the basis of race and national origin” and “substantially and predictably disadvantaged minority residents, with particularly disparate outcomes for Black residents,” according to a Friday letter detailing the result of a HUD probe. The land office is in violation of the Civil Rights Act as well as federal housing law, federal housing officials said. “Quite frankly, it’s what those of us at the city and at Harris County have been saying for quite some time,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said Tuesday.
EDIT
The letter, which was first reported by The Houston Chronicle, is the latest turn in the drawn-out process to deliver relief for communities wrecked by Hurricane Harvey more than four years ago. Congress approved $4.3 billion for Texas in 2018, and about half of it remains undistributed. The federal relief awarded to Texas is distributed through Bush’s office. During the initial round of funding announced last year, the land office required communities seeking money to submit project proposals that were scored against a matrix with a variety of factors because of limited funding. Harris County’s submissions did not score high enough to receive funding in the competition against other local entities, but county officials said the area’s large population put them at a disadvantage.
Ed. - Emphasis added.
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/03/08/texas-houston-harris-HUD-harvey-flood-aid/