Houston, HUD announce $314 million for backup power at 100+ critical city sites

Houston officials on Oct. 26 announced a plan to harden critical city infrastructure with backup power after recent storm-related outages, and said the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has allocated $314,000,000 through its Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program to support recovery and resiliency projects.

"We've allocated $314,000,000 to Houston through our community development block grant disaster recovery program to help you in this recovery," U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner said at the event. He said HUD expects to work with local leaders and that the city should submit a plan for how it will use the funds.

The announcement was framed as an effort to ensure essential city services can operate during severe weather. "All of our multi services, police stations, fire stations, libraries under this plan and thanks to HUD, we're going to put backup generators," Mayor Whitmire said. The mayor and city officials emphasized recent storms that left residents and some emergency facilities without power and said the program will prioritize continuity at sites the city identified as strategic.

Angela Blanchard, the city's chief recovery and resilience officer, said the project will cover more than 100 strategic locations the city identified during recovery planning and community consultations. Blanchard introduced technical partners present at the announcement and described vendor demonstrations held so officials and the public could see the larger, commercial systems planned under the project.

City officials said the program will include demonstrations from Enchanted Rock, a vendor whose equipment was shown at the event, and that the city engaged technical consultant Nina Sadigi to advise on switchgear and technical design. "We also have Enchanted Rock representatives here to explain the technical parts of what's being purchased for your protection," Secretary Turner said while pointing to the vendor demonstration.

Speakers repeatedly tied the initiative to two near-term priorities: maintaining critical services during outages and addressing homelessness. The mayor said the city will continue work to place people experiencing homelessness into shelters and will follow the event with a visit to the Harris Center to discuss homelessness response. The speakers described the resilience and recovery announcement as part of broader recovery stewardship and transparency obligations tied to federal funds.

Officials did not present a procurement timeline or precise sites for initial installation at the event; they said those details are part of the plan the city will provide to HUD. No formal votes or council actions were taken during the announcement. City staff said they would remain after the presentation to answer technical and location questions from community members.

What happens next: the city will finalize and submit its resiliency plan to HUD for review and to access CDBG-DR funding. Mayor Whitmire and HUD officials said they would continue partnership work and hold follow-up meetings, including the scheduled Harris Center visit after the press event.