A federal investigation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) into the Texas General Land Office’s (GLO) distribution of disaster relief funds has concluded, with HUD finding no evidence of racial discrimination in the awarding of grants.
The inquiry, conducted by HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, examined whether Texas officials had directed federal disaster funding toward predominantly white and affluent areas at the expense of minority communities. According to a press release from HUD, the office determined that the GLO did not discriminate on the basis of race when distributing grant awards.
This decision marks another chapter in ongoing policy debates over fair housing enforcement that have spanned three presidential administrations. President Joe Biden reinstated a fair housing rule early in his term that had previously been removed during Donald Trump’s presidency.
“The Biden administration politicized enforcement of federal civil rights law and deprived rural communities of essential disaster mitigation funds,” said HUD Secretary Scott Turner in a statement. Turner, who was confirmed as HUD secretary in February after serving as a pastor in Plano, Texas, criticized how the issue was handled.
Earlier findings from 2022 had indicated that none of the $1 billion in federal funds allocated to Texas for disaster mitigation went to high-risk neighborhoods in Houston—areas frequently affected by flooding. The agency previously stated that excluding Black and Hispanic communities from these grants amounted to discrimination. Reports indicated that if Texas had used different criteria for distributing funds, significantly more Black and Hispanic residents would have benefited.
Texas officials rejected claims of discrimination and appealed HUD’s earlier conclusions. They argued that their approach to administering the grant program followed guidelines approved by HUD two years prior and described objections as “politically motivated.”
Secretary Turner also published an opinion piece on January 19 outlining a proposed new rule to eliminate use of “disparate-impact theory” in fair housing cases. The Library of Congress defines disparate-impact discrimination as occurring when neutral policies result in disproportionate harm to certain groups without intent.
HUD’s recent statement emphasized that Texas applied a race-neutral competition standard for its disaster mitigation projects.
