Texas General Land Office working to find displaced residents owed relocation assistance

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham met with Houston City Council Wednesday to address the hundreds of people who are owed relocation assistance.

Her office announced they’ll be working with the city and Harris County to track down 900 households owed funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

SEE ALSO: Six years after Hurricane Harvey, the city of Houston still hasn’t allocated $200 million in relief funds

These residents were displaced from four low-income housing complexes in 2021 when Mayor Sylvester Turner’s administration used federal disaster recovery funds from Hurricane Harvey to buy them out.

Those complexes were Biscayne at City View, Monticello Square Apartments, Appian Way Apartments, and Spring Village Apartments.

The complexes were destroyed and turned into green spaces and detention areas for flood mitigation.

But according to Buckingham, the city failed to provide these residents with relocation assistance to cover moving expenses, deposits, and rent increases, in violation of federal law.

SEE ALSO: Commissioner Ellis proposes $7.7M increase in program that would provide more relocation funds for flood victims

Now a coalition is being built to find these displaced Houstonians, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development has given them two more years to do it.

“We must find these tenants. We’ve been looking for them for months, because we want to provide relocation and much needed financial stability for these individuals,” Buckingham said.

Mayor John Whitmire’s administration says they will be working with the General Land Office, Harris County leaders, local community pastors, and nonprofits like LULAC to reach out to the people who were living at these complexes.

You can find more information at recovery.texas.gov/URAHouston.