HOUSTON – Councilmember Letitia Plummer is sharing the reason why she delayed a vote on creating the ‘Fifth Ward Voluntary Relocation Fund.’
The proposal would have the city set aside $5 million from the General Fund and help relocate people who choose to leave. However, the vote never happened.
Council member Plummer delayed the proposal citing resident concerns.
“I tagged the item because although I’m grateful that the mayor is taking a stance and creating a fund for us,” Plummer said. “There was too much uncertainty in the community in the community that we just hadn’t dealt with.”
Following last week’s council meeting, Plummer called some Fifth Ward residents to gauge exactly what they need. She said the residents held small meetings with other residents and came up with a list of questions.
Plummer shared those questions with KPRC 2′s Rilwan Balogun.
Here are some of the questions:
- Is the money just for relocation or are there other options on the table, like more testing?
- I want to stay in my home, but I believe my home needs to be tested. Will the fund cover testing inside my home such as Radon testing and radon extraction?
- My property and land are worth more than $250k. Will I get more money?
- The home title was never transferred to my name after my grandmother passed. If I want to move, is there a plan for me?
- What happens to the homes in the Fifth Ward once they are sold? Who will own that land (City of Houston, Houston Land Bank, Houston Land Trust. What is the plan for those parcels of land?
Most of the questions center around what will happen to the land once the homeowners are gone.
“It’s such a bigger conversation, this is a good start,” Plummer said. “But how do we make sure that this is not just a start -- I think that’s the bigger question.”
Union Pacific has agreed to testing with oversight from the Environmental Protection Agency. Plummer wants to get the results of the testing to really understand where things stand.
“If the EPA finds that there’s not a high enough level of toxicity to cause harm to the community then question is UP going to contribute? Is the county going to come and put money in the fund? Will the city of Houston be in the next administration? Will they find means to put money into the fund?” asked Plummer.
Plummer recommends putting together a legally binding community benefits agreement.
“The next administration if they don’t see the reason why this is important then we are definitely concerned the five million seed will be all that we get,” she said. “We could move people out of the community if it’s harmful, absolutely, make them whole. Have them in a safe space. But what if we find out it’s not harmful? How do we give people reparations of loss and death and illness when we move them, they’ll still be sick,” Plummer said.