Department: County Judge
Department Head/Elected Official: Lina Hidalgo, Harris County Judge
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Supplemental RCA
Type of Request: Supplemental
Project ID (if applicable): N/A
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request by the County Judge for discussion and possible action directing the Housing and Community Development Department to work with the Office of Management and Budget and Office of County Administration to ensure there is a plan for sufficient funding in FY 2025 to complete Buyout and Relocations for the Mandatory Buyout Program.
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Background and Discussion:
Harris County's Mandatory Buyout Program buys residents and businesses out of areas with a history of severe, repetitive flooding and assists residents with relocation to comparable housing of their choice. The Program includes 7 areas that are "hopelessly deep" in the floodplain, meaning areas that have experienced at least 4+ feet of flooding in past events for which there is no flood improvement project that could significantly reduce flood risk.
Relocation benefits for affected residents are provided according to the guidelines of the federal Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Act (URA) or the County's SAFE Initiative, which Commissioners Court approved to support individuals who are not eligible for federal benefits.
When the SAFE Initiative was created in 2020, Commissioners Court initially approved $1.5M in funding. On 6/27/2023, Commissioners Court allocated an additional $7,706,250 to the SAFE Initiative to achieve parity with federal funding levels. However, the Housing and Community Development Department (HCD) did not draw down all of these funds immediately after in Fiscal Year 2023 because many affe...
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