Affordable housing is critical to Harvey recovery

Before Hurricane Harvey, inequality was a major challenge for Houston. Now we have a choice: Will we allow inequality to worsen, or will we fight to close the divide?

We know that the people hit hardest by storms such as Harvey are those of color, immigrants, low-income families and low-wage workers. This week, our organizations, along with more than a dozen other community groups, launched Houston Rising, a coalition that will fight for an equitable recovery from Harvey.

Since the storm, we have been knocking on doors across the hardest hit neighborhoods in the city. We see people still living in mold, forced to pay rent even though landlords have not completed basic repairs. We talk to workers laboring in dangerous conditions, too many of whom aren’t paid enough to support their families. We watch as homeowners piece together their homes with few resources and limited time.

Harvey didn’t create inequality, but it will exacerbate it if we don’t act. According to the Brookings Institution, from 2010 to 2015, Houston ranked only 64th among major American cities for eco- nomic inclusiveness. Our poverty rate ranks us 96 out of 100 cities. As recovery begins, Houston faces three choices when it comes to fixing inequity.

First, who controls disaster recovery dollars, local or state officials? The Department of Housing and Urban Development will soon announce whether Texas’ portion of $7.4 billion passed by Congress in September will go to the state’s General Land Office, or directly to the city of Houston and Harris County.

The correct answer is for the money to go directly to Houston, administered by the local officials who had our backs during the storm. This saves money and is more responsive to what people in Houston really need. The GLO made clear in a state Senate hearing in Victoria on Nov.1 that it would skim 5 percent in fees from any HUD funds before the money gets close to Houston.

The GLO has said that in total, it wants $60 billion in HUD funding for Harvey recovery. With 5 percent taken off the top, that’s $3 billion lining the state’s coffers that could be better spent helping people.

Some advocates argue that the city’s outstanding affordable housing violation should disqualify it from receiving recovery dollars directly. We disagree. The need is too dire to delay getting the money to people who need it. The city must move quickly to address civil rights in affordable housing and clear the violation with HUD, while administering disaster recovery.

The second choice is whether or not Houston will finally address the affordable crisis laid bare by the storm. Two months after the storm, renters and homeowners with few resources are still in crisis. There simply aren’t enough safe, affordable housing options in Houston, especially in high-opportunity areas.

Much of the recovery money will come from HUD. The purpose of this money is to assist the low- and moderate-income communities disproportionately affected by disasters. But state leaders in both parties already have called for HUD to reduce the requirements that designate recovery dollars for these communities.

And Gov. Greg Abbott and John Sharp’s $61 billion infrastructure proposal leans heavily on HUD dollars as a secondary source of funding for infrastructure projects, many of them in higher-income areas.

This is the wrong approach. Infrastructure is a high priority, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of affordable housing. Houston has the opportunity to make generational gains in affordable housing that will set us on the path toward smart growth for many years to come, if we use HUD money as it is intended.

Finally, we must choose where to make investments in infrastructure that will prevent future storms from becoming costly disasters. Harvey is a stark reminder of the long-term cost of neglecting to invest in all communities across the city. As John Sharp’s commission leads infrastructure planning for the state, he must prioritize investments in historically under-served communities to reduce the cycle of repeated flooding in these areas.

The communities in the Houston Rising coalition remember the costs of Katrina, Rita, Allison, Ike and the Tax Day and Memorial Day floods. We’re paying close attention to how decisions about disaster recovery are made. We are pleased to welcome Marvin Odum to our first community hearing on equity in disaster recovery on Nov. 18 at Finnigan Park. Houston has the opportunity to become a model for a modern, equitable city. That begins with the choices we make in disaster recovery.