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Mayor's Office

Chief Recovery Officer

Stephen Costello, Chief Recovery OfficerStephen Costello
Contact stephen.costello@houstontx.gov
Phone: 832.393.0811
Or
Gloria Moreno
Contact gloria.moreno@houstontx.gov
Phone: 832.393.1074

City Hall, 901 Bagby, Mezzanine
Houston, TX 77002

The Recovery Officer for the City of Houston engages on the mayor’s behalf with governments at all levels, private and non-profit organizations, interest groups and individuals, as well as the mayor’s staff and city department heads on a two-fold mission: Ensure a rapid, quality recovery from Hurricane Harvey and other Legacy disasters and position the city to be less vulnerable to the next record-breaking storm. With extensive flooding and drainage expertise, the Chief Recovery Officer serves as the city’s liaison to identify transformative projects and design strategies for mitigating flood risk and achieving flood resiliency.

Community Development Block Grant Mitigation Program

The Community Development Block Grant Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) Program provides eligible grantees assistance in areas impacted by recent disasters to carry out strategic and high-impact activities to mitigate disaster risks and reduce future losses. Congress appropriated $12 billion in CDBG funds in February 2018 specifically for mitigation activities for qualifying disasters in 2015, 2016, and 2017, and HUD was able to allocate an additional $3.9 billion, bringing the amount available for mitigation to nearly $16 billion.

The program defines mitigation as activities that increase resilience to disasters and reduce or eliminate the long-term risk of loss of life, injury, damage to and loss of property, and suffering and hardship by lessening the impact of future disasters.

The State of Texas has received $4 billion dollars which have been programed for various activities, including mitigation projects and the program is administered by the Texas General Land Office (GLO). The City of Houston is eligible to participate in the 2016 and Harvey competitions. For more information about the mitigation program, visit https://recovery.texas.gov/mitigation. The following City of Houston project was awarded funding:

2020 Texas Water Development Board – Flood Infrastructure Fund (FIF)  Applications

Passed by the Legislature and approved by Texas voters through a constitutional amendment, the FIF program provides financial assistance in the form of loans and grants for flood control, flood mitigation, and drainage projects. The Flood Intended Use Plan (Flood IUP) details the structure of each funding cycle. For more information visit http://www.twdb.texas.gov/financial/programs/fif/index.asp.

In 2020, 2 applications were submitted and subsequently approved for funding:

  1. Taylor Gully Flood Reduction Project, a $15 Million 0% interest loan application for improvements along Taylor Gully
  2. Wynnewood Project, a $12.3 Million 0% interest and grant for storm system and roadside ditch improvements

FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Projects

Following Hurricane Harvey, the City of Houston submitted applications for flood risk reduction. These include channel improvements, detention basins, dam improvements, and home elevation. Four applications have been approved and funded for the design and construction phases. For more information on the four approved projects, visit https://www.engagehouston.org.