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Houston councilists, advocates press for $100 million in home repairs amid $314 million disaster package
Summary
Mayor John Whitmire and community groups previewed and debated a plan to spend $314 million in federal disaster recovery funds, with advocates pushing to shift $50–$100 million from generator purchases into direct home repairs for storm-damaged residences. Council members said a formal vote on amendments was expected at the next session.
Mayor John Whitmire said the city has been allocated federal disaster recovery funds and outlined competing priorities as the City Council prepared to consider a formal plan. “We have the amount of funding given to Houston … $314,000,000 total were issued by HUD and FEMA to the city of Houston,” Whitmire said, adding that Harris County received $60,000,000.
The mayor and several council members described a months-long process of negotiating how to spend the money after last summer’s storms. Whitmire said the administration and council members have worked with federal officials and local stakeholders and previewed an amendment by Council member Thomas to reallocate money from a generator program into home repairs. “Councilman Thomas has an amendment that's gonna take $50,000,000 from the generator proposal and put it on home repairs,” Whitmire said, and he told the chamber that a fuller amendment to boost home…
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