{"id":5408,"date":"2022-06-07T15:32:24","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T15:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/affordablehousingonline.com\/blog\/?p=5408"},"modified":"2022-06-09T17:32:25","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T17:32:25","slug":"hud-finds-that-texas-discriminated-in-awarding-disaster-relief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/affordablehousingonline.com\/blog\/hud-finds-that-texas-discriminated-in-awarding-disaster-relief\/","title":{"rendered":"HUD finds that Texas discriminated in awarding disaster relief"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Top Photo: Texas National Guard soldiers arrive in Houston, Texas to aid citizens in heavily flooded areas from the storms of Hurricane Harvey. (Photo by Lt. Zachary West , 100th MPAD). \u00a9 flickr.com\/photos\/texasmilitaryforces\/<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Housing and Urban Development upheld a finding that the State of Texas discriminated against minority and low-income residents when awarding money to rebuild after Hurricane Harvey<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advocates are pushing HUD to hold Texas accountable for making things right with the low-income communities that were denied assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the complaint?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The discrimination complaint was filed by Texas Housers and the Northeast Action Collective<\/a>. Texas Housers is a statewide affordable housing advocacy group. Northeast Action Collective represents residents in the predominantly African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods of Northeast Houston and Harris County. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The groups charged the Texas General Land Office (GLO) with deliberately violating civil rights laws when awarding billions of dollars in Community Development Block Grant-Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) funds. The CDBG-MIT program helps individuals and communities rebuild and protect their properties against future natural disasters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GLO was awarded $1 billion in the first funding round in May 2021. None of the money went to Harris County, Hidalgo County, or the cities of Houston, Beaumont and Port Arthur. These areas were among the hardest hit by Hurricane Harvey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are also communities with large African-American and Hispanic populations. They have large numbers of low- and moderate-income renters, and are home to 56% of the total population impacted by Hurricane Harvey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complaint said that GLO\u2019s funding criteria had a discriminatory effect. The funding plan directed up to half the funding to areas with the least hurricane damage. GLO\u2019s application process kept most of the first round of funding from reaching the poorest, hardest hit urban areas. Instead, inland areas that had limited damage from Harvey and very few low- and moderate-income households received substantial awards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some examples of how GLO\u2019s process kept disaster funds from helping low-income, African-American, and Hispanic renters:<\/p>\n\n\n\n