Texas Gov. Abbott: State May Seek More Than $50B In Housing Aid After Harvey

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott listens as President Donald Trump speaks about Harvey relief efforts, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017, at the the Texas Department of Public Safety Emergency Operations Center in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Gov. Greg Abbott says Texas expects to seek more than $50 billion in federal housing funding after Hurricane Harvey.

Abbott said at a news conference Thursday that those displaced by the storm can seek help via community development grants covering long-term housing needs as well as temporary costs while waiting for their homes to be repaired.

The governor said he’s been told by the White House and members of Congress that as many as three more federal aid packages for Harvey victims may be approved before the end of the year. Congress already passed $15.3 billion for initial Harvey recovery.

Abbott said nearly 4,000 Texas homes and other facilities still don’t have power after Harvey, which killed more than 70 people. Fifty-two schools statewide suffered “catastrophic damage” and can’t reopen.

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  1. Not until Texas spends its $10 billion so-called “Rainy Day Fund” first.

    Then use the Cowboys billion dollar stadium as long-term housing, as that would be the most productive and entertaining use of that facility.

  2. Avatar for sandi sandi says:

    I would really like these aid packages to be tied to 1) paying prevailing wages, & 2) improved flood & disaster building codes.

    And, as @maximus said, spend some of their own funds!

  3. One can only conclude that they have “revisited” their inclination to secede…

  4. “Gov. Greg Abbott says Texas expects to seek more than $50 billion in federal housing funding after Hurricane Harvey.”

    There were 100,000 homeless children in Texas before Hurricane Harvey.

    How come Texas only had a “housing crisis” after property owners on the coast got flooded?

    That $50 billion would’ve bought a $500,000 house (!) for every single homeless child in Texas.

    If that money existed after the storm, then it existed before the storm.

    The GOP Governor and Congressional majority just don’t give a damn about children.

    A hundred thousand kids can starve, freeze, or be raped on the street for all any Republican cares.

    And they do.

    Every. Single. Night.

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