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The House Committee on Urban Affairs met on August 20 to take up interim charges related to existing housing needs following Hurricane Harvey, flooding and flood management, and recommendations to improve and accelerate the response to existing and future housing needs.

This report is intended to give you an overview and highlight of the discussions on the various topics the committee took up. It is not a verbatim transcript of the hearing, but is based upon what was audible or understandable to the observer and the desire to get details out as quickly as possible with few errors or omissions.

 

Ed Emmett, Harris County Judge

  • Harris County is heavily urbanized, bond election @$2.5 billion scheduled partly to pull down federal matching dollars
  • Local long-term case management is needed for areas like Harris County where hurricanes are a regular occurrence
  • Counties should also collaborate more in the future, possibly through partnership organizations
  • Residents in apartment complexes are not fully cared for, there is a lack of low to moderate income housing for those wishing to leave units damaged by Harvey

 

Daphne Lemelle, Harris County Community Services Department

  • Community Services Department will be administering federal recovery dollars
  • Still fielding thousands of calls from individuals in need, food, clothing, housing, etc.
  • Working with Houston-Galveston Area Council (HGAC) for case management for families qualifying for FEMA temporary housing; many don’t have resources to fully repair their homes
  • Working with Harris County Flood Control District, proceeding with buyouts
  • Supplemental Action Plan for $1.1. billion in Community Development Block Grants is being worked on, covering a large number of cities in the County
  • Project Recovery Harvey will be the one-stop location for all things relating to the action plan
  • Lack of sufficient administrative funding is a challenge, receiving funding for other aspects like housing, but not funding for administrative funds; Department will not be able to run a large program without administrative support
  • Also having difficulties with the contract approval and funding process
  • Documentation standards could be reviewed, administrative burden will delay any programs moving forward; offered to GLO to stand-up a local audit office in lieu of submitting as many documents
  • Asking largely for flexibility to administer program
  • Alvarado – Do you have a breakdown of how many have received short-term or long-term housing or are waiting for permanent home placement
    • Only overseeing 187 cases currently
  • Alvarado – Number seems very low, case numbers reported always seem low
    • This is FEMA, thousands of families do not qualify or register for the FEMA direct housing assistance
  • Alvarado – Do you feel you received numbers from FEMA in a timely manner?
    • Yes, received data & were able to develop local plan quickly
    • Judge Emmett – Many give up after submitting one application and getting denied
  • Alvarado – Concerning to me, thousands who didn’t go all the way through the process and we have no way of tracking that
    • FEAM process wasn’t in place in for the early hurricanes, residents are used to this; many don’t want to be identified and difficult to break through this blockade
  • Alvarado – Catholic Charities, Urban League might be more attractive to some, is there an attempt to coordinate with these nonprofits to
    • Lemelle, Harris County – We work with all nonprofits and those they are serving while waiting for federal assistance
  • Alvarado – Can you describe what an ideal long-term case management system would look like?
    • Judge Emmett – Baker Ripley is accustomed to providing case management in the Harris County area, well situated to provide this; other groups come in for one storm and go away, need local & consistent management
  • Alvarado – Was there ever a certain amount allocated for administrative costs?
    • Lemelle – Getting 2% administrative on housing portion, but not receiving anything on the infrastructure side
  • Alvarado – 2% sounds like a low number
    • It is quite a bit, but need strong administrative system in place to administer programs of this size
  • J Johnson – Asks after the low number of housing cases, 187 cases?
    • These are the families qualifying for assistance under FEMA, under contract through HGAC to handle this portion
    • Under contract to manage up to 200 cases at a time, fluctuates constantly
  • J Johnson –
    • Needed to already be registered with FEMA at the time, FEMA has an eligibility review process
  • J Johnson – Asks Judge Emmett after flood bonds and how they will be able to protect and alleviate
    • Judge Emmett – $2.5 billion is a start, not enough to make community resilient; bonds will allow us to move thousands of people out of harm’s way
    • County decided to put in enough money to take care of all areas of the county, goal is to move the most people out of harm’s way
    • Will be a long-term process, bond passage will be a beginning but will be 10-15 years to see all benefits and by that time we will have needed to start on new projects
  • J Johnson – And these are retention, etc.?
    • Retention, mapping, etc., much of this will be determining how to perform projects like maintenance dredging along the San Jacinto river
    • Need to recognize that this is the new normal
  • Elkins – 160k homes were affected by Harvey and 105k were without flood insurance, is there any way to track status of repairs on these houses?
    • Lemelle – Only reliable data would be through FEMA registry/eligibility
    • Many have done the best they can with what they have & moved back into half-completed homes
  • Elkins – And no one is contacting these homeowners to check status
    • Allowing people to register and inform us of their status, being cautious to not roll out widescale without guarantee of assistance to give
  • Elkins – What about the $1.1. billion, where does this flow through?
    • Under HUD for the $1.1. billion, only for infrastructure
  • Elkins – Does this need a legislative fix?
    • Asking for administrative policy fix
  • Elkins – Is the County partnering with other nonprofits for food & clothing?
    • We partner with all of our nonprofits, the food bank, etc.; we have Resource Navigators that match resources to needs
  • Leach – If we don’t use the ESF for this, then we shouldn’t have an ESF; need to be strategic with getting these funds to the right place
  • Leach – Can you give me a preview of what this will look like, what projects, how big this ask is, etc.?
  • Alvarado – Seeing maybe some bipartisan support
    • Judge Emmett – Easiest projects are the cross-county projects, reservoir projects, Katy Prairie preserve effort, San Jacinto dredging, flood control, storm surge event preparation, coastal barrier, etc.
    • Will be easier from a legislative point of view to focus on things that are multi-county
  • Alvarado – Thanks Judge Emmett for recognizing low-income housing need, this problem existed before Harvey & Harvey has brought greater realization
    • Problem will get worse before it gets better, buyouts and areas in danger are mostly low to moderate housing
  • Alvarado – Can you tell us about the buyouts?
    • 4k have signed up for voluntary buyouts, County has done some buyouts
  • Leach – ESF funding discussion is very important, how are we going to prioritize funding, is there an effort surrounding counties?
    • Alvarado – There is support in our neighboring delegation, have been speaking with Rep. Deshotel and others; need to reach out to others not in the Coastal Bend area; will need every member to weigh-in and will need bipartisan support for ESF use to pass

 

Tom McCasland, City of Houston Housing Development Department

  • Currently in between short-term funding from FEMA and long-term housing funding from HUD
  • City worked through GLO to have these funds administered
  • FEMA was open to trying new ways to provide resources to families in need; DALHR Program is an example of this openness and creativity
  • Not nearly enough families benefited from program
  • Share of information made serving families difficult, would have been able to handle capacity in the thousands through various programs
  • The immediate response FEMA worked with the city and shifted to the GLO for short term response; urges FEMA to work with cities and especially large cities in development of programs for short term response
  • HUD funded portion – those funds will not come in until November when contracts can be signed
    • Provided documents summarizing City of Houston’s action plan related to the spending of those funds
    • Bulk goes to homeowner’s assistance programs
    • $900 million focused on housing
  • None of the HUD or FEMA numbers reflect the actual need for housing in Texas
  • Working with a consultant to better determine current need, will be working with non-profits to verify results
  • There has been close collaboration with the county to ensure plans align
  • Noted significance of non-profit partners in recovery efforts
  • org is the single entry-point for private Harvey funds accessible for those in need
  • Alvarado – the numbers provided seem very low, do you know why?
    • There were families that could have benefited from PREPS Program funding for less than the cost of a trailer that were not able to benefit from this program
    • Need to direct people toward programs that will get them back into their homes and not programs that will have to be redone when HUD funding comes in
  • Alvarado – can you speak to an ideal situation related to preapproved contracts/agreements between jurisdictions?
    • There are many areas: city side to better activate funding when it comes in. would need to work with federal government to ensure agreements and uses are in compliance with use of federal funds
    • Would like a more general agreement between the City and the State for more general use of funds without dollar specific
    • One large issue is that the federal procedures/regulations are not set and may change year to year/disaster to disaster so there could be some planning by the state or cities. This would allow for better consistency and speed response in many different ways
  • The issue wasn’t that money wasn’t available, but that FEMA was the only authorizing/qualifying applicants, so a huge number of people were not served that otherwise could have been. Applications need to be pushed through faster
  • 2% of administrative coverage from HUD funding will likely not be enough to fully administer the programs
    • Expecting a need of about 3%
    • State has been very cooperative in resolving this issue
  • Alvarado – have you had indication from the state if that 3% will be accepted?
    • Cannot speak to that, but at this point are getting into large detail on next 5 years’ worth of plans to be sure the admin costs are aligned with expectations and funds
  • Elkins – you mentioned the time it took to draw down federal funds due to additional bureaucracy, is that related to the GLO?
    • No, the GLO has been very good to work with
    • If FEMA had the ability to work with major municipalities during the design phase for short term recovery would be very beneficial and allow for faster implementation of the programs
    • Every time a new entity is involved the more it slows response down
  • Elkins – why couldn’t the GLO embed a person in the city to better streamline the process? Or can that be changed at the state level?
    • GLO has been great with this type of collaboration, was speaking more toward FEMA and HUD
  • Elkins – mentioned that many of the apartments were not applying for services they were entitled to, can renters apply?
    • When HUD does a calculation for unmet need, they are looking at the individual numbers
  • Elkins – this seems like this is an area that needs more public information associated because not many people know that they can even apply for funding
    • Many times, the number that they would get is so slow that it doesn’t warrant going through the application process

 

Chuck Wemple, Houston Galveston Area Regional Center

  • Difficult to coordinate without formal handoff of services from one entity to another
  • Recommends one program that everybody can contribute to if the program will not be handed off
  • 55% of approved FEMA applicants found alternative options to repair their homes
  • Noted available data shows low numbers of those who have been served but that is the best data available
  • HUD Funding – Houston Galveston Area Council does not have a role with the administering of funding
    • Expecting a very large number of people that will not be served by wither FEMA or HUD funding
  • Should consider a set aside for non-profits that are helping those who would not otherwise be served
  • Recommends FEMA and HUD work together to share data
  • FEMA needs to change definition of temporary and permanent housing
    • Even if permanent solutions are available immediately they are not eligible by FEMA due to definition
  • Would like to have a set aside fund to be reimbursed by federal fund to get assistance to those in need faster
  • Have seen an increase in multijurisdictional cooperation and coordination more than ever before
  • Alvarado – what allocations are you responsible for?
    • For housing needs outside of the city
    • Need to preposition/prequalification of contractors
    • Need to have conversations of how federal funding could be distributed now so everybody is on the same page in the future
  • Alvarado – what can be done to get short term housing to people faster? Could there be a database or inventory of available short-term home?
    • Need to consider what a community will allow to be placed in terms of home type or placement ordinances
    • Those types of conversations need to happen to be able to move faster next time
  • Many people did not apply that could have or did not receive aid if they needed it; in order to help the people in need, must have a source of funding available that is not federal
  • Alvarado – how many communities do you represent?
    • About 13 communities
    • Smaller communities don’t have the resources to help themselves that larger communities do, smaller communities have special needs
  • Elkins – did you have conversations with HOAs as to allowing temporary housing?
    • Had many of those conversations
    • Usually the conversation turns into the benefit of having a temporary housing unit in front of the house as opposed to having the house sit vacant
  • Elkins – not sure even a year waiver would have been long enough
  • Elkins – noted FEMA and HUD did not share applications, is there something legislatively that can be done to help better share that information?
    • The challenge is that FEMA considers all information personally identifiable information
  • Elkins – it sounds like there could there be an option for the home owner to sign a waiver to allow sharing of their information with specific entities

 

Kyle Shelton, Rice University Kinder Institute for Urban Research

  • Main takeaway of Kinder Institute research shows a need for better utilization of set aside funding or reimbursing funds to allow for local communities to take action faster
  • Discussed alternative methods of data collection
  • Need to invest in and ensure community collaboration in determining flood control and mitigation projects
    • Creates buy in on those projects
  • There is a need to get more ground level information that should be maintained to allow for more and better options in disaster events

 

Steve Costello, City of Houston

  • Before Harvey there was focused flooding years apart, the timing and frequency of flooding has increased and the focus on them has increased as well
  • HUD funding for flood damage reduction and mitigation will be available
  • Working with Harris County Flood Control District on issues that effect residential flooding
    • During Harvey was caused by inadequate residential infrastructure
  • Are working on how to program out the HUD funding to best align with other programs to help better protect those investments
  • Recovery will take a very long time 10-15 years
  • There are 2 opportunities for the state to help: open the ESF to help cover local contributions and create SWIF program for flood stormwater damage reduction
  • Governor’s statewide flood need report should be available in September
  • Creating a revolving fund would have multiple benefits
  • Alvarado – mentioned $6 billion in available flood control funds ‘D Fund’ that is inaccessible due to high interest rates
    • Would like additional information related to that
  • Elkins – in 15 or 20 years do you think we will be able to have limited flooding compared to Harvey?
    • Never be able to prevent flooding but will mitigate as best as possible
    • Goal is to build the capacity as much as possible
    • 10-15 years from now will be in a better position than we are in today

 

Nim Kidd, Texas Division of Emergency Management

  • FEMA conducted inspections that led to $1.6 billion for individual assistance (IA)
    • Average IA grant was $24,000
  • FEMA paid out $8 billion for housing claims
  • Need to push message for people to buy flood insurance
  • SBA makes low interest loans to businesses and individuals during disasters
  • Public assistance – uninsured loss has to be met before assistance is given
  • FEMA allocation to date is $11 billion
  • Difference between FEMA administered funds administered through TDEM and HUD funding through GLO
    • Only 1 of last 6 disaster declarations included housing funds by FEMA
    • Need to remember that housing is not part of FEMA declaration
  • Going forward: cannot find one local government that has a fulltime employee that is focused and ready to recover from next disaster

 

Pete Phillips, GLO

  • GLO has been working hard to help recover
  • GLO is first state agency designated to administer funds from FEMA for housing
  • FEMA determined ‘no finding’ in GLO housing audit – very good job by GLO employees
  • State action plan for HUD funding was approved in June
    • Funding will be disbursed through GLO and local council of governments
  • Many lessons learned from this disaster, among them is middle and long-term disaster recovery
    • GLO is implementing middle and long-term recovery training
  • Alvarado – can you speak to the 3% administrative funding?
    • Can give 2% for overall administrative costs plus another 10% for project delivery
    • Have told every community to bring budget if determined more than 2% is needed
    • If above 5% is needed, would need to go to the legislature to approve the funding
  • Alvarado – what can you say to those who have spoken to that issue today?
    • Our goal is to be good stewards of public funding, and will review revised budget by the local communities
  • Alvarado – moving forward what can the legislature do to better prepare for the next disaster?
    • Kidd, TDEM – need a consistent case management process that can be transferred across the state and that would serve as a single system for the state of Texas.
    • Phillips, GLO – the Commissioner will outline the lessons learned in roughly one month and would like to defer to that report
  • Alvarado – do you see preapproved contracts as a benefit in the future?
    • Phillips – have a few prepositioned contracts for housing, working with the governor’s office and TDEM on updated preapproved intergovernmental service agreements
    • Kidd – the reality is that prepositioned contracts are a great idea but in the event of a disaster there is not recourse for unused contracts
    • Kidd – noted de-obligation issue for municipal governments at such time a s the federal standards are put in place
  • Alvarado – would preapproved agreements between governments be helpful, and would the turnaround time for applications, is there a way to shorten that?
    • Phillips – a waiver was requested and granted to shorten time periods when able

 

Francisco Sanchez, Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management

  • Should expect longer than a 5-year recovery time for those affected
  • Harris County does a good job with proactively permitting recovery projects
  • FEMA typically responds in first come first serve basis – usually the people that need it most are not the ones that are able to apply first
  • Noted the amount of time it will take for HUD funding to get on the ground in local communities
  • Described amount of construction material purchased for home repair provided by private dollars
    • Though numbers were very high, need is still much greater than described numbers
  • Would be a missed opportunity to not let the local communities have a voice in the recovery planning
  • Flood insurance needs to be incentivized
  • Public resiliency program being implemented to help homeowners make their homes more resilient to flood damage
  • Leach – addressing contractor abuse, what is being seen one year after Harvey and what is being done to combat that?
    • That would be a legal issue
    • Are seeing signs of that, and there is an access to legal services in regard to recovery
    • Legal services would be needed or used for many other reasons in addition to bad actor contractors
  • Leach – are property owners allowed to pick their contractors?
    • The funds are given to the homeowners and left up to them to best determine who to hire

 

Alan Black, Harris County Flood Control District

  • Projects built are determined by funding received
  • Awarded $95 million in disaster declaration projects last year
  • Issue with directing projects to appropriate programs
    • Some projects do not fit into available programs
  • Each program has local contribution component – why there is a bond issuance this week
  • Approximately $1.7 billion that are classified as local effort projects
  • Bond includes buyout program
  • Roughly $150 million to bring infrastructure back to pre-Harvey
  • Federal funds are moving slowly but are starting to come in
  • Alvarado – how have you prioritized buyouts?
    • In terms of areas of interest or most need
    • Homes deepest within the 100-year flood plain

 

Public Testimony

 

Allison Hay, Houston Habitat for Humanity

  • Repaired 245 homes that those people are now back in their homes
  • Repair is ongoing
  • Families are spending additional funds on shelter and transportation – an ongoing strain on families
  • Should add mold remediation to protocols for Texas PREPs Program
    • Would speed up process and lower costs as well as resolving potential health issues
  • Described specific homeowner experience

 

Gina De Leon, Local Initiative Support Collaboration

  • Prioritized 24 zip codes in Harris county
  • Have received funding for repair and rebuilding
  • Recommend a greater focus on hurricane preparedness
  • Recommends creations of prequalified list for purchasing

 

Chris Miller, West Street Recovery

  • Funding programs must review eligibility requirements to provide for marginalized families
  • Described specific family’s experience
  • Highlighted transfer of deed issues after disasters
  • Recommends application navigators to assist families
  • Recommends allocating funds to cover 5 years of flood coverage
  • Need to streamline process to approve eligibility

 

Alex Johnson, InState Partners

  • Noted affordable housing issue across Texas, exacerbated by Hurricane Harvey
  • Low Income Housing Tax Credit is in place and is working, would like to add 4% state match to that credit
  • Developers do not see the benefit in investing in low income builds
  • Other states have done this with success
  • Elkins – clarified the name of the program
    • Will provide that information to the committee in addition to detail related to the 4% match

 

Mark Rodgers, Ygrene Resilience Financing Corp.

  • Creates public private partnership to finance resiliency and hardening projects for homeowners and businesses
  • Many states have similar concerns regarding housing and disaster recovery similar to Texas
  • Need enabling legislation in order for Ygrene to operate in Texas
  • Need to fill gaps in financing and access to affordable financing for homeowners to begin repair and hardening
  • Elkins – what is your solution to rising water as opposed to wind damage?
    • Rebuilding and hardening outside the floodplain, building seawalls
  • Alvarado – would like more information

 

Gabriela Hernandez, Tejano Center for Community Concerns

  • Described specific experience of client
  • Discussed deed transfer issues to rebuild projects
  • Would like city of Houston to waive specific issues related to deeds in terms of rebuilding