Houston works to salvage Harvey recovery funds after years of missteps

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- After years of reportedly mismanaging Hurricane Harvey federal recovery funds, officials with the City of Houston Housing Department are working to reverse course and salvage what they can of the allotment.

In 2017, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD, gave the City of Houston disaster recovery dollars through the state's General Land Office (GLO).

With that money, the city housing department under former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner bought multiple apartments that consistently flooded.

However, officials say the city failed to recognize a requirement that relocated families receive displacement funding.

The city also used the money to purchase three tracts of land that they pledged to develop affordable single-family homes on. Officials promised to provide those purchasing homes on the land with down payment assistance.

Several years have passed, and no homes were built. Deadlines were extended, but officials continued to miss them.

Due to such missteps, the City of Houston Housing Department says to date they have had to pay $60,000 back to the General Land Office, which in turn, gives the money back to HUD.

In an attempt to keep the dollars initially allotted in Houston, they put forth a new plan, which was unanimously approved by City Council.

About $19 million of the federal disaster money will be spent on a down payment assistance program. Approximately $18 million will go to roughly 200 low- and middle-income families, providing them with between $50 and $125,000 in down payment assistance.

"This is a small step. It will impact a little over 200 families, put them in housing, but it's a big step not only for those families but for the direction we want to move," City of Houston Housing Director Mike Nichols said.

Information on obtaining down payment assistance funds through the city can be found here.

For more updates on this story, follow Shannon Ryan on Facebook, X and Instagram.