HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Thirty million taxpayer dollars designated for flood-related problems were controversially diverted earlier this year to demolish old buildings, as the City of Houston argued it would stop illegal dumping and improve drainage. But has it?<\/p>\n
Anita Gomez has lived on Kashmere Street in the Fifth Ward for a long time.<\/p>\n
“I’ve lived here since about 1964,” Gomez said.<\/p>\n
Gomez said she watched as the house across from her changed from a vibrant family home to an abandoned building. People would break into the home and sleep there, vandalize it, and dump garbage.<\/p>\n
“A lot of trash and a lot of people who come and sleep there,” Gomez said.<\/p>\n
The home was the first in a series of buildings demolished using part of a $30-million pot diverted from Houston’s flood mitigation fund. A controversial move, as critics, including Houston Controller Chris Hollins, argued it could not be guaranteed that demolitions would improve drainage, and diverting the flood dollars could open the city to legal issues.<\/p>\n
In 2025, the City of Houston settled after being sued for improperly using flood money.<\/p>\n
A month after demolition began, ABC13 visited four addresses on Houston’s east side to find out whether removing the buildings had fixed the illegal dumping problem.<\/p>\n
“No, no, as you can see, there is a lot of trash thrown in the ditch there,” Gomez said.<\/p>\n
Gomez said the dumping on Kashmere stopped for a while, but last week the ditch filled back up. A couch, a desk, and bags of clothes litter the ditch, which is filled with standing water.<\/p>\n
“The city has tried to clean it, and people come over there and throw trash,” Gomez said.<\/p>\n
Eyewitness News also stopped by 1307 Genova Street, 4017 Caplin Street, and 3312 Nettleton Street, which were clear of dumping.<\/p>\n
“We were on top of it. Every time they would dump, we would call 311, they would come out here, and they would have to move it,” Callie Radley said.<\/p>\n
Radley said she and her neighbors spent decades calling the city to have the trash dumped at the abandoned home on Caplin Street cleaned up. A month after demolition, she said they haven’t had to call the city again.<\/p>\n
Radley said the flood money was well spent.<\/p>\n
“Wonderful. Yeah, you can see it’s real clean over there,” Radley said.<\/p>\n
The city said that, so far, 105 buildings have been demolished using stormwater funding, totaling about $1.6 million. The city has previously said it has identified about 2,000 buildings it wants to demolish.<\/p>\n
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