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Housing department seeks extensions, program shifts in federal Harvey disaster grants
Summary
Houston Housing and Community Development Department recommended extending a DR16 subrecipient agreement, presented a DR17 amendment that reallocates $12.5 million and adds a new Homebuyer Assistance Program 2 (HBAP2), and said the city hopes to recover the reduced funds from the Texas General Land Office.
The Housing and Community Development Department recommended an ordinance to extend and revise federal disaster-recovery agreements tied to Hurricane Harvey during the May 27 Housing and Affordability Committee meeting.
Deputy Director Kanisha London told committee members the department recommends approving the seventh amendment to the CDBG-DR 2016 subrecipient agreement with the Texas General Land Office (GLO), extending the DR16 grant period to Dec. 31, 2025 to align the city's closeout with the GLO's third-party vendor work. "GLO is now proposing to extend the DR16 grant agreement ... to 12/31/2025," London said. She said the extension does not change funding levels for DR16.
London also presented a proposed fourth amendment to the CDBG-DR (DR17) subrecipient agreement with the GLO that would reduce the overall DR17 award by $12,500,000 to a new total not to exceed $613,000,000 and would revise performance statements and extend program completion dates across multiple Harvey programs, including multifamily rental, small rental, economic revitalization and buyout programs. The amendment would add a line for HBAP2, a new down-payment assistance program. "We feel very optimistic about getting those funds returned back to Houston," London said regarding negotiations with the GLO.
A departmental financial briefing compared the current Amendment 3 budget to the proposed Amendment 4 line by line and noted administrative draws, pending GLO review of draw requests, and a correction the department will make to administrative end dates. The department expects to track HBAP2 separately once it begins formal draws.
No formal committee vote on the amendments is recorded in the meeting transcript; staff presented the recommended ordinances for committee consideration and said the items would return to council for action.
The department said specific program draws and contractor closeouts remain under GLO review, and that GLO's internal review queue included several million dollars in pending draw requests at the time of the briefing.
