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Following a backlash over the Texas General Land Office’s (GLO) failure to provide funding to the City of Houston and Harris County following Hurricane Harvey in 2017, Land Commissioner George P. Bush said he will seek $750 million in federal aid for the county.
The money would come through the U.S. Department for Housing and Urban Development, according to coverage by The Texan. Yet, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo took to social media to criticize the size of the funding proposed.
“I support and continue to call for certainty in funding, but $750 million for Harris County is still a mere fraction of the $4.3 billion that the State received for flood mitigation after Hurricane Harvey and not enough to meet our needs,” Hidalgo said in a tweet.
Bush laid the blame for the funding situation at the feet of the federal government, according to coverage by ABC 13.
"I have heard the overwhelming concerns of Harris County regarding the mitigation funding competition," Bush was quoted as saying by ABC 13 in a statement. "I am no stranger to standing with the people of Texas as we fight against the federal government. As such, I have directed the GLO to work around the federal government's regulations and allocate $750 million for mitigation efforts in Harris County."
Yet, Mayor Sylvester Turner echoed concerns shared by others that the funding approach from the state was simply an effort to pit local political entities against one another.
“I view what Commissioner George Bush said last night as a game," Turner was quoted as saying by ABC 13. "The City of Houston is not yet losing because the game is not over. The people themselves in Houston and Harris County will have the final say. They are the ones who flooded. They are the ones who have been hurt by this – a failure to put in place the proper infrastructure."