Greater Houston Flood Mitigation Consortium Blog http://consortium.graysuit.org Greater Houston Flood Mitigation ConsortiumBlog en-us <![CDATA[Report: Close To Half A Million Harris County Residents Live In Units At Risk Of Flooding]]> The study looked at how flood risk is exacerbating the challenge of finding safe, affordable housing in Houston.


More than 475,000 people in Harris County currently live in multi-family units that are located in a flood risk area, according to a new report by the Greater Houston Flood Mitigation Consortium.  


The study looked at how flood risk is exacerbating the challenge of finding safe, affordable housing in Houston, especially in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which damaged thousands of units across the county.


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<![CDATA[New reports by the Greater Houston Flood Mitigation Consortium encourage a new look at drainage, detention and development regulations that impact flooding in the city and county]]> Reports suggest current regional detention regulations may be allowing some new development to increase downstream flooding; adapting region’s approach to address Houston’s changing realities

The Greater Houston Flood Mitigation Consortium has released dual research reports that examine current standards in the area’s drainage, detention, and development regulations. The reports also include findings that encourage implementation of new and updated flood management infrastructure approaches and regulations to mitigate the risk of future flooding.


According to Consortium Project Manager Christof Spieler, “This research is intended to inform and unite our city and county leadership, development community and residents in planning for our region’s future. Some of the current regulations are not sufficient to address current flood risk and are further compounded by our region’s growth. Taking time to consider how we could benefit from updated regulations isn’t trying to limit that growth, but would set into motion the research and creative solutions required for growing in more resilient ways.”


Research Paper 1: Detention & Drainage Regulations:


According to researchers from Rice University’s SSPEED Center and report contributors Houston Advanced Research Center, as more and more land in and around Houston is developed, runoff and an inability for the land to absorb water from heavy rain events become contributing factors to flooding. The report goes on to identify areas where current detention regulations, which are in place to prevent those negative impacts, may in some situations be allowing new development to increase downstream flooding.


Specifically, the report findings state current regulations, with the biggest impact being from projects of 50 acres or less on greenfield sites:



  • Overestimate the runoff from some undeveloped sites and, as a result, underestimate detention required to maintain current conditions;

  • Use one-size-fits-all drainage formulas that do not reflect the variation in soils, vegetation and topography across the county; and

  • Only address maximum flow rate, not total runoff volume, meaning the cumulative effect of multiple developments can still increase flood levels. Further, downstream flooding can last longer while multi-day events can have a greater impact even if current requirements are met.


Suggestions to improve current regulations:



  • Increase the default minimum detention requirements set by the City of Houston and Harris County Flood Control District for development sites of all sizes to be a more conservative figure.

  • Allow developers / property owners with sites of any size to provide less than the default minimum detention requirements, provided there is an engineering study, based on field operations, that quantifies pre-development runoff.

  • Install gauges to collect measurable data on runoff in a variety of undeveloped watersheds.

  • Commission engineering studies for the undeveloped portions of Harris County’s major watersheds to understand cumulative effects and determine appropriate parameters.

    • Based on the studies, set specific criteria for the watershed, which could be coordinated across multiple jurisdictions in the watershed.



  • Require evaluation of cumulative effects across entire watersheds.

  • Require evaluation of multi-day events (three, five or seven days) as well as storms lasting a day or less.


Research Paper 2: Development Regulations:


According to the researchers from Kinder Institute for Urban Research Rice University, Texas Southern University, and Houston Advanced Research Center, the region can embrace a form of growth and innovation that sees opportunities in rules and systems that encourage resilient growth to avoid placing people and property in harm’s way.


Suggested approach for considering new regulations and policies:



  • Create regulations and policies to ensure both residents and officials understand that there is a range of flood risks both in and outside of current mapped floodplains.

  • Create systems that utilize both green and gray infrastructure elements for public and private infrastructure to maximize our ability to mitigate flooding.

  • Create land use and development policies that minimize future risk and address existing issues rather than relying too much on expensive infrastructure projects.


The report points out that these regulations are instituted and enforced by a variety of jurisdictions and operate within a legal framework set by the Texas Legislature. Changing the framework can require actions at many levels, and no one entity is solely responsible. Keeping the above points in mind and considering best practice research, key report takeaways include:



  • Tailor new developments to avoid at-risk areas in such a way as to keep people and structures from harm’s way and to reduce the number of existing vulnerable residents and structures.

  • Adopt regulations that inform residents about their flood risks and their options to mitigate those risks. This information should be proactively accessible to homeowners and renters both in and out of the mapped floodplains.

  • rovide public funding and programming to assist low-income residents in bringing their older, flood-prone homes up to new standards.

  • Require design standards and development permitting to incorporate broader resilience goals to help facilitate a more resilient region.

  • Implement regulations and design standards to encourage both green and gray infrastructure solutions to maximize our ability to reduce flooding. In order to see their use increased, green infrastructure efforts should be incentivized or even required, as the City of Houston is now studying.

  • Successful stormwater and floodplain management needs to be implemented at the regional level with the cooperation of city, county and regional institutions. Stormwater and floodplain management professionals within these institutions are best suited to put into place new and emerging best practices.

  • Balancing economic goals with regulatory reform can be a struggle. As new data and technology reveal a new picture of flood risks for the Houston region, this balance will likely shift, resulting in the need for a new set of regulatory practices. This report summarizes best practices that are potentially relevant for the Houston region.

  • A link to both reports can be found at houstonconsortium.org.


About the Consortium:


The Greater Houston Flood Mitigation Consortium includes the Greater Houston area’s leading researchers focused on landscape-scale and neighborhood-level flood mitigation strategies that are feasible and have high potential for impact. Huitt-Zollars, a planning, engineering, and architectural firm, manages the consortium. The consortium is funded with support from Houston Endowment, Kinder Foundation, and the Cynthia & George Mitchell Foundation with additional support from the Walton Family Foundation, Cullen Foundation, and Harte Charitable Foundation. More at houstonconsortium.org.


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Media Contact: Claudia Morlan, Elmore Public Relations claudia@elmorepr.com, 832-725-6884 (mobile)

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<![CDATA[Half a million people in the Houston region living in multi-family units are at risk of flooding]]> Compounding the challenge to both affordable housing and the families who depend on it, according to a new report by the Greater Houston Flood Mitigation Consortium


HOUSTON – March 21, 2019 – In the report Affordable Multi-Family Housing: Risks and Opportunities released today by the Greater Houston Flood Mitigation Consortium, Houston and Harris County face several challenges in the effort to provide safe, affordable multi-family housing for residents. There is no single solution, but new policy, regulations and programmatic approaches to increase housing supply for the region should be explored.  


“This report highlights the housing vulnerability of many families in the region,” said Christof Spieler, consortium project manager and vice-president, Huitt-Zollars. “Further, the current challenge for lowincome families to find housing will only worsen if there are extensive buyouts of apartments without a corresponding strategy for new affordable housing units. Properties located in the floodway alone are the equivalent of a year of new multi-family construction in Harris County.”


According to the researchers from Community Design Resource Center atthe University of Houston, Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research,and Houston Local Initiatives Support Corporation, the region would benefit from an affordable housing needs assessment and a comprehensive affordable housing plan for both the City of Houston and Harris County to address the challenges identified in the report. 


Key findings identified in the research report: 


flood risks



  • Half a million people are at risk. A total of 165,793 of the multi-family units in Harris County are in a flood risk area. These units are home to over 475,000 people.

  • There is a widening gap between the supply of and demand for affordable multi-family housing. Based on historic and projected demolition and construction, the Harris County region is falling behind on protecting and constructing new affordable housing, squeezing the most vulnerable of families even before another disaster hits

  • Production lags demand. Between 1990 and 2017, an average of 7,946 new renter households were established in Harris County each year. Over the same time period, a net gain of only 6,112 multi-family homes in buildings with two or more units were recorded each year.

  • There is a loss of supply. An average of 1,850 multi-family units built before 1990 are lost each year in Harris County through demolition. Moving forward, an additional 2,010 affordable multifamily units could be lost each year through expiring subsidies.    

  • Low public subsidy. In Harris County, 1 of every 17 families, or 6% of total households, receive housing assistance directly through a home in public housing, a housing choice voucher or other subsidies. By comparison, in the five counties comprising New York City, 1 of every 6 receive assistance and in Fulton County, GA (Atlanta), 1 of every 7.

  • Reliance on private market for affordable housing. Private market multi-family units comprise more than 87% of Harris County’s multi-family housing supply, potentially creating less stability for existing affordable units. This rate is higher than New York City’s 76% and Fulton County’s 71%. 


Vulnerable families. In Harris County, there are 140,318 renter families who made less than $20,000 per year in 2017, or 1 of every 11 households. This number is nearly twice the number of families who receive housing assistance. 


Suggestions concentrate on three main areas: 1) preservation of affordable multi-family housing, 2) building new affordable multi-family housing and 3) protecting vulnerable families.


Proposals to preserve affordable multi-family housing:



  • Establish a publicly-funded Housing Trust Fund for housing recovery.

  • Focus on areas outside of the floodplain.

  • Establish a privately-funded Housing Strike Fund to assist development and preservation.  Proposals to build new affordable multi-family housing:

  • Establish a program to redirect development away from flood-prone areas – a Transfer of Development Rights and bolster incentives for private affordable housing development outside of the floodplain.

  • Expedite permitting and streamline inspections.

  • Reduce parking requirements and consider flexible density/height requirements.

  • Leverage local housing authorities’ tax-exempt status to initiate private projects with affordable units.

  • Utilize the Houston Land Bank, Houston Community Land Trust, and Opportunity Zones to build new multi-family in low-risk areas.


Proposals to protect vulnerable families:



  • Establish a local disaster-displacement rental assistance program.

  • Require clear flood risk disclosures to renters and owners alike. 

  • Streamline inspections and permitting of multi-family to get units back online.

  • Create a quick-buy program ensuring removal of vulnerable populations from the floodplain. 

  • Provide eviction protection programs.


Expand the Housing Choice Voucher program and protect holders from discrimination. 


Eight study areas were identified based on concentrations of affordable multi-housing and the impact of Hurricane Harvey across the region. Four regions – Greenspoint, Gulfton, Northshore, and Westwood/Alief – were studied in depth. 


A link to the report can be found at houstonconsortium.org.


About the Consortium: 


The Greater Houston Flood Mitigation Consortium includes the Greater Houston area’s leading researchers focused on landscape-scale and neighborhood-level flood mitigation strategies that are feasible and have high potential for impact. Huitt-Zollars, a planning, engineering, and architectural firm, manages the consortium. The consortium is funded with support from Houston Endowment, KinderFoundation, and the Cynthia & George Mitchell Foundation with additional support from the WaltonFamily Foundation,Cullen Foundation, and Harte Charitable Foundation. More at houstonconsortium.org.


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Media Contact: 


Claudia Morlan, Elmore Public Relations claudia@elmorepr.com, 832-725-6884 (mobile)

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<![CDATA[Harris County judge outlines 15 proposals to improve regional flood control]]> Harris County Judge Ed Emmett on Wednesday afternoon outlined 15 proposals to revamp the Houston area's flood control system, citing an urgent need for a "comprehensive plan to redefine Harris County and the surrounding region as a global model for living and working in a flood-prone area."


The wide-ranging plan comes two months after Hurricane Harvey dropped 52 inches of rain and flooded almost an estimated 160,000 homes and structures in the county, killing almost 80 people across the state.


"Now is not the time for a piecemeal approach," Emmett said.


The proposals likely will require significant buy-in from federal, state and local officials. They include:



  • Creating a regional flood control organization that can coordinate water management across county lines. Releases from Lake Conroe in Montgomery County have been fiercely criticized by Harris County residents.




  • Developing an improved flood control system and localized evacuation plan that could utilize volunteer organizations to help first responders, as well as how to coordinate high-water vehicles and private boats. Residents in the areas around Addicks and Barker dams have called for a better warning system, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the dams, considered such a system before dropping the idea two decades ago.



  • Installing automatic barriers at flood-prone underpasses and developing a plan for closing such underpasses. After the Tax Day floods, Emmett said he would lead such an effort.



  • Buying out all homes located in the 100-year floodplain or that have flooded repeatedly. The County has several disparate buyout efforts ongoing, but a larger scale program will probably cost billions of dollars.


Other proposals include asking the state to allow Harris County to collect sales tax money and institute "clear rules" for approval of plats, more comprehensively studying the 22 watersheds in Harris County and modeling where the water flows, building a third reservoir with the state of Texas's "rainy day fund" and jump-starting federal flood control projects around Houston.

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