The Texas General Land Office will begin to take control of Houston’s Hurricane Harvey housing repair program on Tuesday after receiving approval from federal officials, even as a lawsuit challenging the takeover remains pending.
The green light from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development officials came late Monday, 45 days after the Texas Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that had blocked Land Commissioner George P. Bush’s agency from performing recovery work in Houston.
The land office had launched its own recovery program in Houston earlier this year as it attempted to take control of the city’s nearly $1.3 billion in federal recovery funds. Mayor Sylvester Turner had tried to block the state from running the competing housing program as part of a lawsuit challenging the overall takeover. GLO officials had said the August Supreme Court order allowed them to move ahead with the takeover by seeking approval from the federal government, even before the court issued a final ruling on the case. It was not immediately clear what would happen if the court were to reject the GLO’s takeover attempt.
The move has been in the works at least as far back as April when Bush notified Turner he was moving forward with the takeover. In a letter to the mayor, Bush had offered to let the city “negotiate the possible retention” of its multifamily rental and home buyer assistance programs, among others. Land office officials mainly are seeking control of the city’s $428 million effort to repair or replace single-family homes damaged in the storm.
Brittany Eck, a GLO spokeswoman, said state officials still intend for the city to retain control over its more successful programs, such as the one for multifamily home construction and repairs.
Now that the U.S. Housing Department has granted approval, Eck said GLO officials will send a termination letter to the city that will officially begin a countdown for Houston to turn over its programs. It was not immediately clear how long that period would last.
In a letter outlining the terms of the approval, HUD Acting Assistant Secretary John Gibbs wrote that it is “imperative” that city and state officials “work together to prevent or mitigate disruption” to program participants.
“The Department expects the State of Texas to execute a transition plan with each of the jurisdictions to ensure no negative impact to disaster survivors,” Gibbs wrote.
Turner was not immediately available for comment Tuesday.
Bush and GLO officials repeatedly have criticized the slow pace of the city’s recovery program, their justification for attempting the takeover. By late August, the three-year anniversary of Harvey, the city through its single-family home recovery program had repaired or reconstructed 78 homes and sent 76 reimbursement checks to homeowners who performed their own repair work. Updated
City officials, including Turner, have accused the land office, which administers disaster recovery funds statewide, of obstructing their progress by changing guidelines and slow-walking its reviews of homeowner applications. The city program prioritizes low-income, disabled and senior residents, which city officials also say is causing the recovery to move slower.
GLO officials have denied the city’s accusations that they are providing inconsistent oversight, and contended that their more efficient recovery program is not coming at the expense of the residents most in need.
A Chronicle analysis of GLO records found that 62 percent of applicants approved for home repairs through July under the state program made less than half of the area median income — about $38,000 for a four-person household.
In Houston’s program, 80 percent of accepted repair applicants made less than that amount. If the city’s reimbursements to homeowners who funded repairs themselves are removed, making the comparison more akin to the state’s repair program, the figure rises to 91 percent.
The GLO operates its own home repair program in the 48 counties outside Harris that received federal Harvey aid. By late August, the agency said it had repaired or reconstructed 1,828 homes; it had surpassed 2,000 by Tuesday, according to updated figures from the state.
The GLO also has negotiated a takeover of Harris County’s home repair program.
jasper.scherer@chron.com
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