HOUSTON (AP) – Houston residents and officials are seething over a Texas agency’s decision to not award the city a single cent of the initial $1 billion in federal flood mitigation funding the state was promised following Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
The Texas General Land Office’s recent announcement of the winners and losers of the funds provided a rare issue that brought Houston Democrats and Republicans together in mutual outrage.
Harris County Judge Linda Hidalgo, a Democrat called the allocations “unconscionable.” She wants HUD to intervene to block distribution. Republican Harris County Commissioner Tom Ramsey called the scoring system “severely flawed.”
Shirley Ronquillo, a community activist, says the lack of funding could endanger residents of her neighborhood of East Aldine, which experiences bad flooding after major storms.
Following the criticism, Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush said he planned to ask the federal government to approve $750 million for Harris County, which includes Houston.
