WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has concluded there was no reasonable cause to believe Texas officials discriminated based on race or national origin when distributing $1 billion in Hurricane Harvey disaster recovery funds.
HUD announced the decision in a letter closing its civil rights investigation into the Texas General Land Office, stating that earlier findings alleging discrimination were “fatally flawed — legally and factually.” The agency said a review of more than 80,000 pages of records found no evidence the land office acted with discriminatory intent.
The investigation lasted five years, spanning two presidential administrations, and focused on the GLO’s handling of disaster funds under former Land Commissioner George P. Bush. Housing advocates and local officials had accused the agency of favoring rural white communities when allocating Harvey relief money.
Current Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham welcomed HUD’s decision Wednesday and rejected the allegations.
Buckingham said more than one million minority residents benefited from the funding and that all recipients qualified as low- to moderate-income households, exceeding HUD requirements.
Hurricane Harvey struck Texas in 2017, dropping more than 50 inches of rain in parts of the Houston area, flooding thousands of homes, and killing more than 80 people. Texas later received approximately $4.3 billion in federal disaster recovery aid.
In 2021, the GLO distributed $1 billion through a competitive grant program for local governments. Houston and Harris County, which experienced the highest number of deaths and property damage, did not receive any funding from that round.
An investigation by the Houston Chronicle found the funds disproportionately went to inland counties with less storm damage and lower disaster risk. Following bipartisan criticism from Houston-area officials, Bush canceled a second planned competition and proposed directing $750 million to Harris County.
HUD opened a civil rights investigation in June 2021 and concluded in 2022 that Texas had unfairly allocated the funds. The land office later revised its plan and distributed an additional $1.2 billion, though a Texas Tribune investigation reported that the new allocation also favored whiter, inland counties with lower disaster risk.
In early 2025, HUD reaffirmed its earlier conclusion and referred the case to the U.S. Department of Justice, citing what it described as the GLO’s failure to correct violations of the Fair Housing Act. Buckingham dismissed the referral at the time.
HUD’s latest determination reverses those findings and formally closes the investigation.
