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Houston Ends $60M Affordable Housing Program Due to Deadline Non-Compliance

Summary

On September 13, 2023, R.A. Schuetz reported in the Houston Chronicle that Houston is discontinuing its $60 million program aimed at developing affordable single-family housing communities using Hurricane Harvey disaster recovery funds. The city has informed the state office that it cannot meet the program's deadline, which was set for February 2025. This decision has resulted in the layoff of 40 employees from the division responsible for the program. The termination of the program means that the city loses control over how the funds will be spent, though it must still be allocated within Houston. Houston had planned to build nearly 700 mixed-income single-family homes in various neighborhoods using these funds. The termination has raised concerns about the future of affordable housing efforts in the city. The $43 million used to purchase land for these homes will need to be returned to the state, and the projects will be scrapped.

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