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The City of Houston will receive a $314.6 million direct federal grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to support local disaster recovery and resilience efforts following the 2024 Derecho windstorm and Hurricane Beryl.
Initial iterations of the spending plan did not include funding for home repair. Based on significant public comments in favor of supporting money for housing, the plan was amended as follows:
- Planning and administration - $15,932,250
- Costs associated with developing and implementing the action plan
- Multifamily - $50,000,000
- Costs may include construction, rehab, acquisition, and related expenses for the development and preservation of multifamily housing
- Single-family - $50,000,000
- Costs may include repair, rehab, or reconstruction of single-family homes
- Power generation resilience program - $101,291,150
- Will help fund generators at 140 locations determined by the mayor’s office. These locations include facilities like police stations, fire stations, libraries, and community centers as well as those tied to our water and wastewater infrastructure.
- Emergency response/public safety program - $15,340,000
- Purchase of vehicles (ambulances, high-water) and communications equipment
- Homeless services program - $41,040,600
- Shelter operations, case management, and rental assistance
- Debris repository acquisition/development - $32,791,000
- Securing land to hold storm debris
- Vegetation management/debris removal - $8,250,000
- Purchasing vegetation management/debris removal equipment and vehicles as well as debris removal public services and active delivery
HUD has 45 days from the city’s submission to approve our action plan. More information may be found here.
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City council recently approved a new contract with Public Agency Retirement Services to create and establish an Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) trust, as part of the city’s plan to bring down its unfunded liability associated with retiree health benefits.
The city has always paid its retiree health care costs on a pay-as-you-go basis, setting no funds aside to cover known future costs (similar to paying the minimum balance on a credit card). Based on actuarial data, our unfunded liability was expected to grow to $9.1 billion in 2048. In January 2022, the city introduced reforms eliminating or reducing subsidies for certain retirement benefits for new employees and some current employees (based on their years of service and age). These reforms brought the 2048 liability down to $4.5 billion.
Creating an OPEB trust will further reduce the city’s liability. Establishing this trust is something for which I have advocated since my first term. By setting aside and investing funds each year, over time the city will be better prepared to meet its obligations. The city will put $10 million into the trust this year, with $75 million invested over the next five years. This effort will lower the city’s unfunded liability to an estimated $1.1 billion by 2048.
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Join us Tuesday, August 26, 2025, at 6 pm, for our first evening public session meeting. Since most Houstonians are at work at 2 pm on Tuesdays (our usual public session time), the aim of the monthly evening meeting is to make it easier to participate. Vice Mayor Pro Tem Peck and I joined Council Member Castillo’s Proposition A proposal to add the once-a-month evening meeting. (As a reminder, Proposition A is the voter-approved measure which allows three council members to place an item on the city’s legislative agenda.) Please take advantage of this evening meeting to come tell the mayor and council what is important to you! Your voice matters, and there is nothing more powerful than standing at the mic to speak to us in person. Take advantage of it. The people are the city!
To reserve time to appear before city council, you must sign up by 3 pm on the Monday prior to the scheduled public session. If you want to check out what’s on the city council agenda for that week, click here. Three ways to sign up to speak:
If you cannot make it next week, there are four more evening public sessions in 2025:
- September 16
- October 28
- November 18
- December 16
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Houstonians know all too well the frustration and hassle of waiting at a stopped train when trying to get somewhere. Texas leads the nation in stopped train events, and Houston represents the biggest share of complaints in Texas (over 70%) - this is three times more complaints than the next highest state (Illinois) and nearly eight times more than the next highest city (Wichita, Kansas). According to Federal Railroad Administration blocked crossing data, Houston experienced 530 blocked crossings during the month of July 2025. The Houston Fire Department averages over 100 blocked crossing reports per month.
To bring more information about blocked crossings to the public, the city is introducing a new tool – TRAIN WATCH – to help residents navigate rail crossings. The “Train Watch” interactive map provides real-time updates on 40 crossings across the city, showing whether they are currently occupied or open. The red dot indicates the crossing is occupied; green means it’s open. These initial 40 were chosen based on where the city has already installed sensors - crossings which experience long wait times and are potentially more susceptible to crashes. The city plans to increase the number of crossings included on this map as new sensors are installed using available grant funding. There are still a few bugs to work out in the system, but this is a step in the right direction to keep the public more informed.
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We are also actively working with our partners at the Houston Area Rail Transformation to prioritize projects for state funding for railroad grade separation projects through a new grant program established by Texas Senate Bill 1555 ($250 million statewide for a two-year period from September 1, 2025, through August 31, 2027).
Additionally, the Houston-Galveston Area Council is launching its Railroad Crossing Grade Separation Initiative to conduct planning-level feasibility studies to assess necessary improvements at up to ten critical railroad crossings in the region. This two-year pilot initiative will provide information on previously unstudied rail crossing locations. The intent of this initiative is not to provide a prioritization list, but to evaluate rail crossings utilizing a set criteria that can be combined with other regional efforts. The information collected from this study bolster the region’s efforts to obtain necessary funding for rail crossing improvements.
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