City OKs $10.7 million to buy out 60 flooded homes

City Council on Wednesday approved funding nearly 60 home buyouts across three flood-prone neighborhoods, the first such step from City Hall in recent memory.

The city typically leaves buyouts to the Harris County Flood Control District and, in fact, the measure approved by the council would send $10.7 million to the district to pay for the purchases, estimated at about $175,000 per property.

Houston has not had any in-house staff devoted to the issue in recent memory, but Hurricane Harvey has spurred city officials to acknowledge the need to remove more flood-prone residences from harm’s way, leading to Wednesday’s vote to fund voluntary buyouts in three working-class neighborhoods. Harris County Commissioners Court approved the deal earlier this month.

Mayor Sylvester Turner said he “absolutely” expects the city to fund additional buyouts in the months to come but that the strategy must be paired with channel improvements, new reservoirs or detention basins and other flood mitigation efforts.

“There are thousands more homes that are subject to buyouts,” he said. “We need to handle it in a very strategic fashion. We need to factor in all of the strategies that will be required to make the city more resilient.”

In fact, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett on Wednesday unveiled 15 recommendations to combat flooding on a regional

basis, calling for, among other things, more buyouts, cooperation across city and county lines, an expansion of county floodplains, and the immediate funding needed to complete several flood control projects along area waterways.

The dollars approved by the council Wednesday are federal funds the city received after two floods in 2015, and are earmarked for areas that suffered in those storms, Turner said. City data show each area also suffered significant damage during Harvey. The neighborhoods are: • Braeburn Glen, which sits on the northern bank of Brays Bayou between the Southwest Freeway to the west and South Gessner to the east. The city estimates nearly 400 homes there flooded when Harvey hit.

• Langwood, near the intersection of Bingle at Hempstead, is bisected by Brickhouse Gully, a tributary of White Oak Bayou; city data show more than 100 homes flooded there during Harvey.

• Independence Heights, particularly streets along Little White Oak Bayou just west of the North Freeway; city officials estimate more than 400 homes flooded in the area during Harvey.

Buyouts have been a focal point of county flood control efforts in recent years as decades of Houston’s growth in flood-prone areas pose a particular problem for local officials. The first comprehensive flood plain maps were not drawn until the mid 1980s when some 2.7 million people already lived in the county.

The county estimates nearly 180,000 homes and structures are inside “100year” flood plains, areas that would flood in the event of a 100-year storm — a storm so severe that it has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year.

City Council members widely praised the move to fund city buyouts — “This is exactly what we want to be doing” Councilman David Robinson said — but some also cautioned that solving a homeowner’s flooding problem can create smaller accompanying issues.

“I’m hoping that we’re also looking at the future in regards to these buyouts,” said Councilman Robert Gallegos. “The lots just stay there and the weeds start growing, then they become a dumping site. We as district council members will get the phone calls as to why these lots are not being maintained.”

Turner said he shares that concern.

“The whole notion is to make the community better, not make it worse,” he said.

Councilman Mike Laster, who represents Braeburn Glen, added that he hopes the city will encourage conversations about what bought-out areas should best be replaced with — passive green space, active park amenities, detention basins.

“We certainly want to be able to encourage future buyouts in other neighborhoods as we come to them,” he said. “I’m sure that’s going to be a very serious conversation among other neighborhoods in my district, as well.”