County OKs more buyouts of flood homes

$10 million payment from city accepted to acquire properties

For the second time in two weeks, Harris County has approved the buyouts of dozens of floodprone properties, the latest in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

For the second time in as many weeks, Harris County Commissioners Court on Tuesday approved the buyouts of dozens of flood-prone properties, the latest in officials’ race to make purchases in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

The court also accepted $10 million from the city of Houston to buy out low- and -middle-income homes and took steps to prepare for the buyout of an oft-flooded single-room-occupancy property on the city’s north side.

Collectively, the moves reflect Harris County’s piecemeal approach to removing residents from areas likely to flood during the region’s frequent storms, highlighted by Hurricane Harvey’s widespread devastation. Nearly 180,000 homes and other buildings exist in flood plains across the county, most built before flood maps were even drawn in the mid1980s.

The 41 properties approved for buyouts Tuesday are scattered across the county and include several along Cypress Creek, in the Aldine area and along White Oak Bayou. They are part of a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant from 2016.

They complement some 200 Harvey-flooded homes that the county is targeting with $20 million approved two weeks ago. County Engineer John Blount said the county likely would approve the first group of those buyouts in two weeks.

“We’re moving as fast as we can,” Harris County Judge Ed

Emmett said.

The court Tuesday also voted to keep the county’s property tax rate at 63 cents per $100 of assessed value. The overall rate combines the levies for the county, the Harris County Flood Control District, the Port of Houston Authority and the Harris Health System, the county’s safety net hospital district.

The county’s property buyout program, administered by the Flood Control District, continues to draw interest from homeowners after Harvey dumped up to 52 inches of rain across Harris County and killed almost 80 people across Texas.

Buyouts gain backing

More than 3,200 people have volunteered to be bought out since Harvey’s rains stopped, said Matt Zeve, director of operations for the Flood Control District.

The idea is proving equally popular with county officials. Emmett and other officials have floated the idea of including large-scale buyouts in a flood control bond package that could be upward of $1 billion.

In addition to the buyouts approved Tuesday, Emmett said the $10 million the agreement with the city — paid for with disaster recovery funds provided to the city by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — would target homes in the Braeburn Glen, Glenburnie, Cashiola and Langwood neighborhoods. The county also is partnering with the Houston Housing Authority to relocate 120 residents from the flood-prone Northline SRO, which was inundated by Harvey. It previously flooded during Hurricane Ike and Tropical Storm Allison, county officials said.

The $2.2 million deal with the housing authority was approved by Commissioners Court on Tuesday as a prelude to the county’s likely and long-awaited buyout of the single-room occupancy, which provides affordable housing for lowincome or formerly homeless residents.

The county initially sought to acquire and demolish Northline five years ago but delayed that move after hitting funding roadblocks for a relocation site in greater Eastwood.

That property, known as Fenix Estates, is not set to be completed until next year. Harvey, however, prompted the county to use federal disaster recovery money to move forward with relocating Northline’s residents to a different site in north Houston by the end of the month.

Previous buyouts

The county has bought out some 3,000 flood-prone properties since the 1980s, two-thirds of them along the White Oak and Greens bayous. The Cypress Creek watershed has been another frequent target with nearly 300 homes purchased.

Most of the buyouts have been paid for with FEMA grants, though the county has used its own money, as well.

Last month, the county applied to FEMA for $17 million to buy out 104 properties.

The focus largely has been on areas that are “hopelessly deep” in the floodplain, or 2 feet below a level of flooding that would occur during a 100-year storm, or a storm that has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year.