$26 Million for the Spending?

Locals Discuss Their Visions for Hurricane Harvey Recovery Funds

Jurisdictions in Fayette County could receive roughly $26 million in hazard mitigation money related to Hurricane Harvey. About two dozen local leaders attended a public hearing last Friday over how to spend the money.

After Hurricane Harvey devastated Texas in 2017, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) allocated more than $4.3 billion in Community Development Block Grant mitigation funds (CDBG-MIT).

Mitigation funds are earmarked for projects aimed at preventing damage from future storms. That’s a separate program from disaster relief funds, which were used, for example, to build the Falcon View houses in Schulenburg.

So far, Fayette County has not received any mitigation funds for Hurricane Harvey. The Capitol Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG) has been tasked with developing a method of distribution (MOD) for roughly $52 million in mitigation funds going to Fayette, Bastrop, Calwell and Lee counties. Fayette County has been designated as the most-impacted county within the four counties and is expected to receive about half that amount. CAPCOG called the public meeting last Friday to gather input from local stakeholders about how the funds should be used.

CAPCOG Homeland Security Director Martin Ritchey led the meeting. Ritchey described various kinds of projects that the funds could be used for. Those include:

• Flood control, stormwater and drainage improvements;

• Infrastructure improvements such as water and sewer facilities, streets, generators, debris removal and bridges;

• Natural or green infrastructure, such as projects to restore a riverbank;

• Public safety communications;

• Public facilities;

• Buyouts and acquisitions of properties in danger of flooding;

• Activities to relocate families outside of floodplains;

• Cost-sharing for FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program; and

• Economic development.

A wide variety of projects could qualify for the funds. The Record spoke with representatives from one group at the meeting who were interested in using some of the money to build a new swimming competition facility in Fayette County.

The mitigation funds come with a stipulation that 50 percent of the money must be used on projects that benefit low- to moderate-income (LMI) areas. At the public hearing last Friday, Fayette County Emergency Management Chief Craig Moreau argued against the LMI requirement. Instead, he proposed that the funds be distributed based on a “social vulnerability index.”

“LMI does not reflect the needs of our area as accurately as a more inclusive tool, the social vulnerability index. This index would be a better way of determining the eligibility of a project and should be the primary measuring device. For these reasons, we are recommending replacing the MOD language of ‘Low to Moderate Income (LMI)’ with ‘Social Vulnerability Index.’”

Moreau said Fayette County’s relatively small population and rural geography make it difficult to find areas of the County where households are predominantly LMI. The social vulnerability index takes into account not only income, but also households with disabilities, elderly residents, minority status and various housing and transportation issues.

“It would give us the ability to fund more projects, better projects, to serve the community,” Moreau said.

Meg Duffy, a policy analyst with public justice nonprofit Texas Appleseed, advocated for large-scale flood prevention projects.

“This funding is not very specific,” she said. “It can be diluted and be a lot harder to get large-scale flood mitigation projects done. We hope you will focus on large-scale mitigation projects. This is one of the few federal streams of money that can be used for that.”

Up to 15 percent of the funds could be used for public service projects such as housing counseling, legal counseling, job training, mental health and general health services. Susannah Mikulin with the Fayette Community Foundation proposed allocating that 15 percent to local non-profits and public service agencies.

Ritchey said he expects CAPCOG to develop the method of distribution within 60 days.