Housing and Community Development Department

Press Release

City Housing Department Ramps up to Deliver on Harvey Recovery

March 14, 2018 -- The city’s Housing and Community Development Department (HCD) added five disaster recovery, affordable housing and finance experts to its already disaster-seasoned staff. Together the team will focus on meeting the extensive short-term housing needs of Hurricane Harvey survivors and preparing for the long-term federal disaster recovery funds expected to be available to Houston in late summer.

“Full recovery takes time and resources,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner. “Harvey was a storm of historic proportions. We have to ramp up if we are to meet the needs of our residents who still cannot return to their homes.”

HCD Director Tom McCasland agreed and said the department strategically selected the new staff to fill gaps and increase capacity in the fields of finance, disaster recovery, policy development, constituent services and compliance. “These are all areas crucial to our ability to deliver the programs that will get our neighbors impacted by Harvey home again as quickly as possible,” McCasland said.

Joining HCD are:

These professionals join an executive team whose leadership has a combined 50-plus years of city experience, including work on Houston’s three federally declared disasters that preceded Harvey. This team includes:

“The additional expertise, with the support of an experienced team that has diligently worked to support affordable housing and home repair before, during and since Harvey, shows that HCD is not only up to the task of disaster recovery, it overwhelmingly embraces it,” McCasland said.

For information on disaster recovery assistance and available programs, call HCD’s Housing Call Center at 832-394-6200 or visit www.houstonrecovers.org and www.houstontx.gov/housing.