GLO discriminated against minorities when denying flood aid to Houston and Harris County, feds say
Texas General Land Office Commissioner George P. Bush listens to Executive Director of the Harris County Flood Control District Russell"Russ" Poppe Nov. 16, 2018. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says the GLO discriminated against minorities when it denied Houston and Harris County any federal flood mitigation money during its first round of funding.In a decision that could redirect millions of dollars in flood relief to Houston, the U.S.
In a 13-page finding, HUD said the exclusion of Houston and Harris County “caused there to be disproportionately less funding available to benefit minority residents than was available to benefit white residents.” The federal agency singled out a scoring metric that effectively penalized large jurisdictions, such as Houston, by measuring what percentage of an applicant’s residents would benefit from a project.
In response to the findings, federal housing officials instructed the GLO and local officials to resolve the issue through a formal agreement under which the state agency would be required to “address the discriminatory outcomes of the competition as well as adopt enhanced fair housing planning and monitoring metrics.”
The document was signed by Christina Lewis, a regional director for HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.