Flood aid may go for projects

City plans to identify infrastructure needs upstream that will benefit Meyerland

For flood-weary Meyerland residents, figuring out where to deploy $67 million in federal disaster recovery funding tied to last year’s storms might seem simple.

After all, they were the hardest hit.

However, the affluent Meyerland area likely will get only a small portion of that money due to a federal requirement that 70 percent of the funds aid low- to moderate-income residents.

Concerned with developing a project plan that reflects last year’s flood patterns, city housing officials are seeking to identify infrastructure projects in lower income neighborhoods upstream from Meyerland that also would reduce downstream flooding.

“That is one of our high priorities in terms of identifying potential projects that do indeed improve the area in low- to moderate-income neighborhoods but have an extremely positive impact on downstream neighborhoods along Brays (Bayou),” interim housing director Tom McCasland told City Council’s housing committee on Tuesday.

In a reversal from its recent disaster recovery plans, the city’s housing department intends to prioritize public infrastructure over housing in the six-year plan due to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in September.

The draft plan allocates $51 million for public facilities and infrastructure and $10 million for acquisition and demolition, with the remaining funds set aside for planning and administration.

McCasland emphasized the long-term benefits of investing in projects like drainage and green space.

“We can spend some of these dollars on housing. But if we’re spending dollars on housing and putting them into neighborhoods that are going to flood again, what have we done?” McCasland

told residents last week during a public hearing.

More than 6,600 homes flooded during last year’s Memorial Day and Halloween storms — the two events covered by the federal grant — causing an estimated $174 million in damages.

The $67 million in Community Development Block Grants allocated this summer are intended to address the costs not already covered by small-business loans and individual disaster assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Residents at last week’s public hearing largely welcomed the city’s plan to prioritize infrastructure over housing but differed on where to invest.

Westbury Civic Club President Becky Edmondson called for additional detention in the Fondren area to her west and storm drain improvements to Westbury.

“It really is impacting our neighborhood. People don’t want to live where it floods,” Edmondson said. “And for the people that are staying behind, they’re afraid, they’re angry, and we need relief.”

Fair housing advocate John Henneberger said the plan should address neighborhoods where the city previously has invested less in public infrastructure, particularly drainage infrastructure.

“I would suggest to you that, by and large, those are low-income communities of color within the city,” Henneberger said.

Some civic leaders worried that poor flood victims who happen to live in more affluent areas would be disadvantaged.

“I’ve never seen Meyerland flood like that,” Greater Southeast Management District board member Robert Muhammad said. “The city has to come together for our neighbors in Meyerland so we can put

the infrastructure in there so that they don’t flood like that again, because there are poor people and working class people in Meyerland regardless of the … area median income.”

Households earning 80 percent of the area median income or below — $38,750 for an individual or $55,350 for a family of four — are considered low- to moderate-income.

After presenting a neighborhood-based funding plan last week, McCasland clarified to the housing committee Tuesday that

projects could also target lower income residents who live in wealthier areas.

However, he later said it would be difficult to direct infrastructure projects that way.

“If you’re talking about housing and repairs to individual homes, it’s a lot easier,” McCasland said. “And there may be an opportunity for us to put some of these funds into the unmet housing need.”

In tandem with the federal grant, the city’s draft plan proposes leveraging local affordable housing

dollars to issue $106 million in bonds to be used for single-family projects.

“If we spend all of our money here on infrastructure and we have a similar fund moving alongside to work on single-family home ownership for lowand moderate-income neighborhoods, I think that’s a way that we can push two programs forward at the same time,” McCasland said.

City Council is set to consider the full disaster recovery plan on Sept. 7, but McCasland said Tuesday he expects the vote to be delayed a week. A second public hearing is scheduled for Sept. 8.