Harvey repairs at crux of city fight

The city on Monday blamed the Texas General Land Office for the sluggish pace of repairs under its federally funded Hurricane Harvey home repair program, telling a Travis County state district judge the agency was “slowwalking” Houston’s recovery through bureaucratic maneuvers.

“The fact that the GLO did not us give us clear guidance at the beginning as it relates to what it wanted, the fact that the GLO is wanting items that go well beyond what HUD requires, and the fact that the GLO has consistently moved the targets in terms of what they’re expecting from the city has caused significant delays,” Houston Housing Department Director Tom McCasland said.

City officials aired the accusations during the first day of a hearing over the GLO’s move to assume control of nearly $1.3 billion in recovery funds granted to Houston by the U.S. Housing Department. Court proceedings were set to continue Tuesday, when state District Judge Tim Sulak is expected to make a ruling on the city’s request for a temporary injunction to block the takeover.

The hearing, which began nearly two weeks after the city sued the land office and Land Commissioner George P. Bush, centered around dueling and sometimes pointed testimony from Heather Lagrone, the GLO’s deputy director of community development and revitalization, and McCasland.

Lagrone and Melissa Mather, an attorney representing the GLO from the Texas Attorney General’s Office, contended the land office would serve as a more efficient broker of the city’s homeowner assistance program, which provides repairs, rehabilitation and reconstruction of Harveydamaged homes. They characterized the city’s response, which includes just 65 completed repairs,

as sluggish compared to the GLO’s more than 1,300 repairs in the 48 other counties impacted by Harvey.

McCasland countered that the city remains on track to spend the money by the August 2024 deadline, at which point officials would have to return unspent funds to the federal government. He acknowledged the housing

program has been beset with delays, but said the slow pace stems from the GLO demanding excessive details from the city and otherwise “slow-walking” the city’s recovery.

City officials argued that Houston’s program has moved slower than the state’s because it prioritizes low-income, elderly and disabled residents, while the GLO administers its program on a firstcome, first-served basis.

“The funding that has been received is not enough to help every

resident within the city who needs to recover, and so without prioritization ... families who are most vulnerable will be left behind,” McCasland said.

Lagrone said GLO officials have met with the city numerous times and “provided all the technical assistance that we could have.”

She also said the GLO still would hit federally required benchmarks for serving low-income residents, by serving residents in the lowest income bracket at the same time it is performing repairs for residents in the three upper brackets.

“The city specifically set aside 17 percent of their money, for their single-family housing program, for people earning less than 30 percent of the area median income,” Lagrone said. “We are tracking that same 17 percent, but unlike the city — only working in that first bucket — we’re working in all four buckets simultaneously.”

Bush has said he is seeking control of the city’s homeowner assistance program — which, at more than $400 million, is its largest recovery program — but may let Turner’s administration “negotiate the possible retention” of the programs that make up the remaining funds, such as its multifamily rental and home buyer assistance programs.

The city’s request for a temporary restraining order to halt the takeover was denied shortly after it filed the lawsuit this month.