HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The city of Houston could soon be asked to return money after the General Land Office says that it missed almost all of the benchmarks for the city-administered Hurricane Harvey recovery program. If the GLO determines the money needs to be returned to the state, it still must be spent to help Harvey victims in the city.
Our 13 Investigates team got a hold of a letter from the General Land Office, which says the city missed deadlines for spending money for Harvey flood victims.
The city of Houston has missed benchmarks to disperse funds to Hurricane Harvey flood victims, according to General Land Office.
The letter also states the city missed seven of the nine benchmarks at the end of June, allowing the GLO to terminate the contract for disaster recovery funds.
It’s still unclear exactly how much money is involved, or when the city would have to return the funds.
GLO has proven to be an adversarial party in dealing with the City over the last four plus years. Their letter is misleading, inaccurate and states nothing new. This is also the same GLO that HUD has found discriminated against and continues to discriminate against communities of color in the City of Houston.
They have actively participated in slowing down the same process they criticized in the letter. The City of Houston Housing and Community Development Department is preparing a letter in response to the GLO.
Note: An earlier version of this report suggested a determination had already been made at the city must return money. That is not yet the case.
