Galveston County seeks more Harvey aid, waiver for HUD
Report indicates area should be receiving additional funds
Galveston County is one of as many as 11 distressed areas jockeying for a slice of $5 billion in disaster relief funds. At a Commissioner’s Court meeting Monday, one commissioner said he would appeal directly to the White House if it meant getting a bigger piece of that pie.
County Commissioner Ken Clark noted that the $5 billion allocated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in November may sound like a lot of money, but that Galveston’s allocation will be relatively small when factoring in the other Harvey-battered counties that also require federal aid.
“Those numbers are very low because not only are we talking about Galveston County, we’re talking Fort Bend County, Brazoria County, Montgomery County, I think Wharton, possibly Waller, Austin — those counties have to split that money out,” Clark said. “We’re going to have to be diligent and continue to request additional funding to allow our citizens to recover.”
Clark added that he and the other four county commissioners should be ready to go to Washington, D.C., to make their case, even if it meant getting “the president engaged.”
“We’re going to need to go to HUD not only to ensure this first round but to ensure this second round is more evenly divided,” Clark said. “When you look at most metrics that are out there, Galveston is either in first place, second place or third place in all metrics of evaluating damage and impact of the storm and we’re not getting anywhere near the help we should be getting from the federal government.”
A report released in November by the Episcopal Health Foundation somewhat supports Clark’s claim.
Dickinson, a town in Galveston County hit especially hard by Hurricane Harvey, had the fourth-highest number of applications for individual assistance from FEMA among Texas ZIP codes.
Dickinson also had the thirdhighest number of applications for homeowner housing assistance and the ninth-highest number of applications for renter housing assistance.
Clark also used Dickinson as an example for why the county is seeking an “upper quartile” waiver to HUD income requirements. The $5 billion block grant dictates that 80 percent of the money must be allocated to the 11 most Harvey-distressed areas. Federal law requires that 70 percent of Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery money go to low- and moderate-income households (LMI).
The Texas General Land Office issued a notice for public comment for the State Action Plan and distribution of the $5 billion in federal money on April 10.
The 14-day public comment period expires on Thursday. The county commissioners voted 4-1 in favor of requesting an extension of that public comment period. The commissioners also voted 4-1 in favor of a resolution letter to HUD requesting the waiver for income requirements.