Texas officials have been accused of discriminating against residents based on race and national origin when distributing $1 billion in Hurricane Harvey relief funds in 2021. This allegation was supported by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Wednesday, which stated that the actions of the state’s General Land Office violate the Fair Housing Act. Due to a persistent lack of corrective measures taken by the General Land Office, which HUD described as a “sustained unwillingness” to address the issue, the case has now been handed over to the Department of Justice for further action.
In a letter addressed to the General Land Office and two community organizations that initially filed the complaint, Christina Lewis, the Region VI director of the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, emphasized that the continued investigations by HUD have only solidified their preliminary findings of discrimination made in 2022. Lewis pointed out that the General Land Office prioritized funding for smaller populations of rural white Texans rather than urban black and Hispanic communities that are more vulnerable to flooding and natural disasters.
Dawn Buckingham, the current Land Commissioner, has rejected these claims, labeling them as politically motivated actions from “activists embedded in HUD by the Biden Administration.” She insisted that the disaster recovery plan sanctioned by HUD actually benefited minority groups significantly and contended that Texas has been the most efficient state in administering disaster aid. Buckingham referred to past rejections of what she termed “fake claims” from the HUD, including a recent letter from the U.S. Assistant Attorney General that suggested further examination was needed in their inquiries.
Community organizations including Texas Housers and Northeast Action Collective expressed their approval of HUD’s recent actions, stating that the findings validated long-held suspicions of discrimination among communities of color within Texas. They urged the Department of Justice to compel the state to adhere to federal anti-discrimination laws, highlighting Texas’s failure to honor a voluntary agreement with HUD.
The controversy stems from allegations that Texas misallocated portions of the $4.3 billion in disaster recovery funding granted by Congress in 2019. In 2021, under George P. Bush’s leadership, the General Land Office implemented a funding competition for local governments, from which Houston and Harris County received no support despite being the areas most severely impacted by Hurricane Harvey.
Investigative reporting from the Houston Chronicle revealed that aid primarily favored inland counties, which saw less hurricane damage, rather than coastal areas that were at higher risk for similar disasters. Facing backlash from Houston’s political leaders, Bush opted to cancel a second funding round and instead directed $750 million directly to Harris County, yet not all critics were satisfied with this resolution.
Subsequent investigations led by HUD corroborated the Chronicle’s findings, concluding that the distribution of funds was discriminatory, adversely affecting minority groups and particularly impacting black residents. Although the General Land Office attempted to revise its plan for a second installment of $1.2 billion, further reviews indicated that the funds still disproportionately benefitted whiter, less danger-prone inland counties, overshadowing high-risk coastal communities.
Requests for comment from Houston Mayor John Whitmire and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo went unanswered. As President Donald Trump prepares for a potential return to office, the course of action by the Justice Department remains uncertain. Trump’s transition team did not provide comments when approached for a response.
