HOUSTON – The Houston City Council has approved its Action Plan for Disaster Recovery following the 2024 Derecho and Hurricane Beryl, with nearly a third of the money going to housing repair.
The plan was drafted in the wake of the two disasters and after the city received nearly $315 million in federal funding meant to support long-term recovery and resilience efforts.
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Originally, there was no money allocated for housing repair. However, an amendment made in June to the plan allocated $50 million towards housing repairs.
On Wednesday, the Houston City Council voted to approve the plan, with yet another amendment which raised the housing repair allocations from $50 million to $100 million. The amendment was approved in a 12-3 vote.
The new amendment increasing the allocation comes after Council Member Tiffany D. Thomas argued $50 million was not enough.
Thomas posted a statement on Facebook:
“City Council voted 12-3 to increase the housing allocation in the CDBG-DR24 Action Plan from $50 million to $100 million while investing in generators, debris removal and public safety. Mayor Whitmire and I had to unlock our horns to get here.
And that’s okay.
That’s what public service is supposed to be—deliberate, at times difficult, and always rooted in delivering solutions for the people we serve. As C.O. Bradford once reminded me, public service should be hard. Because when done right, it forces us to confront complexity and still choose what’s right.
Today is an example of that.
The acceptance of my amendment and the increased investment will help us strengthen our city’s resiliency network, improve local recovery, emergency response, and—just as important—preserve our housing inventory so Houstonians can recover with dignity.
I want to thank Mayor Whitmire for getting in the ring with me and working this out in the public square—giving Houstonians a front row seat to what it takes to get things done in our city.
And to the people of Houston, take a bow. We did it. You did it."
Half of the $100 million will go toward single-family homes while the other half goes toward multi-family housing.
Money from the federal funds will also go towards generators for sensitive locations around the city.