HOUSTON \u2013 A heated debate is unfolding at Houston City Hall over how millions of dollars meant to protect the city from flooding should be spent and whether the mayor\u2019s plan to use that money is legal.<\/p>\n
The matter centers around Houston\u2019s Stormwater Fund, which is designed to reduce flood risk and maintain the city\u2019s drainage systems. Mayor John Whitmire wants to use $30 million from the fund to demolish abandoned buildings, arguing they contribute to illegal dumping that clogs ditches and worsens flooding.<\/p>\n
Controller Chris Hollins disagrees, calling the proposal both illegal and ineffective.<\/p>\n
The disagreement spilled into public view after Hollins posted a video on X criticizing the plan, accusing the mayor of \u201craiding\u201d the Stormwater Fund to tear down buildings that do not directly impact the city\u2019s drainage system.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Stormwater Fund, when it was created, dictates that those dollars are in a lockbox to only be used for specific things the building and maintenance of ditches, drains, and other stormwater management systems,\u201d Hollins said. \u201cKnocking down a house is not the building or maintenance of a stormwater system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hollins says his office initially refused to certify the spending after asking for evidence that demolitions would directly reduce flooding in November. He claims the mayor\u2019s office failed to show a clear connection and instead moved to expand an existing contract; a move Hollins says bypasses the controller\u2019s required approval for contracts over $100,000.<\/p>\n
In response, Mayor Whitmire dismissed the controller\u2019s objections as political.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, he\u2019s playing politics, and I don\u2019t have time for politics because I\u2019m trying to fix Houston,\u201d Whitmire told KPRC 2 News Reporter Re\u2019Chelle Turner. \u201cAbandoned houses attract illegal dumping, which blocks drainage. We absolutely know what we\u2019re doing, and our city attorney has authorized it as legal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whitmire argues the spending was included in last year\u2019s budget, a budget Hollins certified and says the plan would allow the city to demolish roughly 340 abandoned and dangerous buildings, many located in low-income neighborhoods. He also pointed to what he described as major improvements under his administration, including an increase in the drainage fund balance and a significant reduction in broken water mains.<\/p>\n
Hollins, however, contends that demolishing buildings does not stop illegal dumping or meaningfully improve stormwater management. He pointed to areas where abandoned properties were already torn down but dumping continues.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf removing dilapidated buildings solved the dumping problem, we wouldn\u2019t still be seeing tons of debris in these neighborhoods,\u201d Hollins said. \u201cThis is not only an illegal use of stormwater funds, it\u2019s also a highly ineffective one.\u201d<\/p>\n
The controller also warned that approving the proposal could set a dangerous precedent, allowing dedicated stormwater dollars to be used for projects unrelated to flood prevention.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re asking council for a blank check,\u201d Hollins said. \u201cApprove it today and trust us and we\u2019ll figure out the criteria later.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayor Whitmire says he is confident city council will approve the plan, while Hollins continues to urge council members to reject it.<\/p>\n
City council is expected to vote on the proposal Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 A heated debate is unfolding at Houston City Hall over how millions of dollars meant to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[50086,50087,56,50085,58,57,50088,43199],"class_list":["post-113360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-abandoned-buildings-demolition","tag-flood-prevention-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-drainage-system","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-illegal-dumping-houston","tag-stormwater-fund"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}