86R34298 BPG-F
By: Bonnen of Galveston H.C.R. No. 178
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas coast on August
25, 2017, causing an estimated $125 billion in damage; and
WHEREAS, The second-most destructive storm in American
history, Hurricane Harvey impacted approximately 30 percent of the
population of Texas, destroying homes, damaging infrastructure,
and displacing thousands of families along the coast; and
WHEREAS, The Federal Emergency Management Agency received
nearly 900,000 applications from affected Texans for some form of
assistance; as many as 83 percent of people whose homes flooded did
not maintain flood insurance, creating unprecedented demand for
state and federal disaster recovery assistance; and
WHEREAS, The Department of Housing and Urban Development's
Federal Register notices for Hurricane Harvey require that 70
percent of Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery
funds be used for activities that benefit low- to moderate-income
persons in aggregate; and
WHEREAS, City and county officials have criticized this
requirement because the way that it is applied focuses on counties
with large concentrations of low-income families; in practice, it
excludes aid to lower-income people who live in less-populated
counties that are home to some higher-income families, causing such
counties to receive limited or no funds because they did not meet
threshold requirements for income levels; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to enact
legislation directing the Department of Housing and Urban
Development to rewrite the formula for the allocation of Community
Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery funds to low- and
moderate-income people so that all people in these categories are
assisted; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.