Handling of Harvey funds raises questions

Aristotle said a story that ends well, no matter how many setbacks occur along the way, is a comedy.

Maybe there is still hope, then, that the tragic tale of how local, state and federal leaders botched the distribution of billions of dollars in Hurricane Harvey federal funds can still end with families getting the relief they need. But even if so, it’ll be a comedy of errors — and one with very few laughs.

The plot’s latest wrinkle is especially infuriating. The Texas General Land Office and its chief, Commissioner George P. Bush, have failed to explain adequately how the agency’s plan to spend nearly $2 billion on mitigation projects in communities hard hit by Hurricane Harvey has taken into account the needs of the area’s most vulnerable residents.

As a result, the money is on hold, again, until the state submits the required analysis. It has until late February to do so.

The GLO insists the Biden administration is picking on it because Texas is a red state. But where in the 628-page action plan submitted to HUD is the analysis that the feds said they need to move forward? Reporting by this newspaper has shown that the GLO’s plan strongly discriminates against residents in Houston because it uses formulas that disadvantage large urban areas and favor more rural places.

That’s how the GLO’s plan ended up including zero dollars in funding for projects in Houston — home to more people and families devastated by Harvey than anywhere else.

The $1.2 billion in mitigation funds would instead, the GLO announced, support projects in smaller places throughout the coastal region, including cities such as Hempstead and Cameron that are farther inland than Houston.

After furious pressure, Bush reconsidered, in part, and announced a separate plan to allocate $750 million to Harris County, which had also initially been denied money — but still continued to snub the city.

The plan itself had been delayed by years, thanks to a hostile Trump administration that had dragged its feet at every opportunity in approving rules for how the mitigation funds could be spent.

Now, after overcoming all of those headaches, the funds — a total of 1.95 billion — are frozen once more. It’s a stunning setback, and ought to infuriate members of Congress from both parties, including Texas’ GOP senators who helped authorize the Harvey relief funding in the first place.

The good news is that the money hasn’t been canceled, only delayed. After a lot of fist-shaking, the GLO pledged in a statement Wednesday that it will “continue to work with HUD to move this action plan amendment forward.”

The GLO must keep its word.

At the very least, it should create a new analysis of its plan’s impact on the most vulnerable communities in the coastal region, and submit it to HUD to get the funding spigot turned back on.

Even better, it could take the analysis seriously and recognize that its plan unfairly leaves out residents of Houston, and add funding for Texas’ largest city. That is what fairness requires.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo both said they await the GLO filling out the paperwork and have been critical of the state for its funding process and decisions made.

We agree that the GLO’s obvious bias against Houston is untenable, but there has been blame enough to go around in this sad story.

Congress approved aid for Harvey victims four years ago next month.

It included funds for relief for victims and a novel kind of grant aimed at mitigating future storm damage.

Distribution has been a debacle.

Three years after the storm, the city of Houston had done such a poor job of spending its relief funds, the GLO took the money back and announced it would be handling the grants programs going forward. At the time, according to an audit released last week by HUD’s inspector general, the city had spent only $22.5 million of the $1.28 billion in federal funds it had been awarded.

Only 297 of the 8,784individuals or families who had applied for relief had been helped.

What’s clear is the GLO most stop its finger-pointing, submit a good-faith analysis to HUD — and pay attention to what it shows.

We can’t imagine that any fair review would continue to deny relief to Houston’s most vulnerable residents.

There are thousands of families in Houston and Harris County still waiting for aid. They don’t care about excuses or bureaucratic red tape or partisan motivations. They just need help. We implore leaders in Austin, Houston and Washington to find a way to turn this tragic tale into one of redemption.