Contact Brittany Eck
Brittany.Eck@GLO.Texas.gov
AUSTIN – Today Commissioner George P. Bush announced major milestones in the Texas General Land Office’s (GLO) Homeowner Assistance Program and Homeowner Reimbursement Program. The GLO has now helped nearly 5,500 Texas homeowners recover from Hurricane Harvey. The two disaster recovery programs are helping Texans across 48 counties (outside of Harris County and the city of Houston) whose homes were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Harvey. The GLO’s reimbursement program concluded this week after assisting 2,961 Texans with a total of $85,989,042 in reimbursements for out-of-pocket home repair expenses. In the same week, the GLO accomplished rebuilding 2,500 homes for Texas families.
"Every day at the General Land Office we work to help improve the lives of Texans," said Commissioner Bush. " The GLO is proud to be setting a record pace in disaster recovery while helping thousands of Texas families rebuild their lives and their homes. The GLO continues to leverage federal dollars efficiently and effectively to help Texas families and communities rebuild and mitigate against future storms."
This week the Texas General Land Office approved the final reimbursements for eligible homeowners and completed its Homeowner Reimbursement Program (HRP). The HRP program provided reimbursements up to $50,000 for Hurricane Harvey-impacted homeowners who used their life savings or other personal funds to pay out-of-pocket for disaster recovery repairs. The program's efficiency yielded an additional $3 million in costs savings, which enabled the program to provide reimbursements for all applicants eligible under U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) rules for the available Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding.
In the same week it successfully completed its reimbursement program, the GLO also handed keys to a fully rebuilt home to the 2,500th Homeowner Assistance Program recipient. Approximately 4,300 applicants have been approved for assistance by the GLO, about 1,400 applications are in pre-construction (awaiting applicant approval of final design plans and permits) and more than 400 homes are currently under construction in addition to those completed. This achievement marks an important milestone in a program that is anticipated to rebuild more than 6,000 homes using more than $1.3 billion in available Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR), plus an additional $500 million in Community Development Block Grants for Mitigation (CDBG-MIT), funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
"Every day at the General Land Office we work to help improve the lives of Texans," said Commissioner Bush. " The GLO is proud to be setting a record pace in disaster recovery while helping thousands of Texas families rebuild their lives and their homes. The GLO continues to leverage federal dollars efficiently and effectively to help Texas families and communities rebuild and mitigate against future storms."
This week the Texas General Land Office approved the final reimbursements for eligible homeowners and completed its Homeowner Reimbursement Program (HRP). The HRP program provided reimbursements up to $50,000 for Hurricane Harvey-impacted homeowners who used their life savings or other personal funds to pay out-of-pocket for disaster recovery repairs. The program's efficiency yielded an additional $3 million in costs savings, which enabled the program to provide reimbursements for all applicants eligible under U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) rules for the available Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding.
In the same week it successfully completed its reimbursement program, the GLO also handed keys to a fully rebuilt home to the 2,500th Homeowner Assistance Program recipient. Approximately 4,300 applicants have been approved for assistance by the GLO, about 1,400 applications are in pre-construction (awaiting applicant approval of final design plans and permits) and more than 400 homes are currently under construction in addition to those completed. This achievement marks an important milestone in a program that is anticipated to rebuild more than 6,000 homes using more than $1.3 billion in available Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR), plus an additional $500 million in Community Development Block Grants for Mitigation (CDBG-MIT), funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).