HOUSTON – Mayor Sylvester Turner gave an update Friday morning on where the city is at in recovery from Hurricane Harvey — not just what’s next to rebuild but be more resilient for the next storm.
The mayor praised the efforts so far but said there’s a long way to go.
The debris has been picked up, and the city’s collected its entire $100 million insurance policy.
But the mayor says more than 3,400 families are still living in hotels, and it could be several more months until we see exactly how much of the $90 billion Congress approved is coming here.
He’s also hoping Houston will get at least half of the $5 billion HUD approved for post-Harvey housing. He said we won't get that until sometime after the summer.
The mayor said the only federal dollars we can spend right now is $424 million from FEMA for home repairs.
But while the city estimates more than 10,000 homes could qualify, FEMA puts their numbers at around a 10th of that.
“These may be people who just called in. But we recognize that there are thousands of people in our city who have been impacted. They may not know who to call. That’s why the nonprofits have stepped in,” the mayor said.
The mayor also praised volunteers for filling in the gap while we wait for federal and state dollars.
On Frida, he announced the creation of a new volunteer campaign called “Houston Still Needs You.”
They’re hopeful FEMA will let them contribute those volunteer hours on certain rebuilding projects in place of the 10 percent of the cost the city normally puts down.
Their goal – two million volunteer hours in the first year.
Next month, City Council is planning to vote on tougher development rules for future homes and remodels.