HUD devotes $5B to Texas for Harvey recovery
AUSTIN — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will spend $5 billion in Texas to help rebuild damaged homes, businesses and other infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Harvey.
The funding, announced Friday, comes from HUD’s Community Development Block Grant program, which received $7.4 billion for disaster relief in September. The remainder of the money will go to other disaster-affected areas, such as Florida and Puerto Rico.
“This is to meet the unmet housing needs here … and to help Texans that have been displaced from their homes to rebuild their lives,” said HUD Deputy Secretary Pamela Hughes Patenaude at a news conference with Gov. Greg Abbott. “We stand ready at HUD to help cut the red tape.”
Abbott said the funding is “exactly what is needed” to help families rebuild. He commended Sen. John Cornyn for helping secure the funding. Cornyn, who was in Austin on Friday, said he wants to ensure that the federal government provides the funding Texas needs to recover.
Earlier this month, Abbott traveled to Washington seeking $61 billion in additional funding. But Congress is facing multiple recovery efforts. Florida was battered by Hurricane Irma. Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico, and California sustained significant damage from widespread wildfires.
“Texas has one of the largest delegations in the country, and we see it as our responsibility to do what we need to do in order to make sure the federal government lives up to its complete responsibility when it comes to Hurricane Harvey recovery,” Cornyn said.
HUD will develop criteria for how to distribute the block grant money. Abbott expects that will take about two weeks. The money will then go to the state, to be divided among local governments following a public comment period.
That means it will likely take months for the money to reach Houston and other affected areas.
Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, who is overseeing the housing recovery efforts, said the $5 billion will help rebuild 1.2 million homes.
“We are now tasked with the largest housing recovery in American history, a role that we take very seriously,” Bush said.