The decisions made in Washington on federal spending, immigration enforcement, disaster relief, and housing programs can trickle down to Houston, affecting local funding for projects that impact residents’ lives.
For every one of those decisions, Houston’s leaders navigate laws and policies that could potentially bring in federal dollars for key projects.
But, as local leaders pointed out, they are not always easy to navigate.
“It is very challenging, the restrictions that come down, not just from the federal government, but from the state as well,” said Houston City Council Member Dr. Carolyn Evans-Shabazz. “It puts us in a position where we’re playing politics.”
What changed?
Recent decisions by Congress have triggered a wave of federal spending freezes and agency rollbacks that have affected Harris County and Houston in several ways.
Harris County Commissioner Lesley Briones said that when the Trump Administration cut nearly $600 million in federal grants, the county’s financial security came “under attack.”
“From refugee healthcare to food assistance for families and seniors, disaster preparation and relief organizations, and legal services for immigrants, the fallout from losing these funds creates ripples through our community,” Briones said. “Federal cuts, combined with unfunded state mandates, have increased county costs and strained the system.”
Fred Flickinger, Council Member
“Over the last several years, especially back during COVID, the decisions in Washington were to send a whole lot of money to the cities and the states. That helped us quite a bit. That got us by. We were able to put quite a bit of money into our reserve fund, although there were some significant expenses…Unfortunately, we’ve gotten to the point where I don’t think Washington is really able to send out as much money as they were able to. We’re going to have to figure out how to do it.”
Meanwhile, the administration’s proposed FY2027 federal budget would eliminate both the Community Development Block Grant Program, funded at $3.3 billion nationally in fiscal year 2025, and the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, which provided $1.125 billion to local governments for affordable housing.
For Houston, which City Council Member Tiffany Thomas describes as an “entitlement city” receiving roughly $50 million in annual CDBG and HOME allocations, these programs are essential for affordable housing and homelessness services.
“The demand on those limited funds is impacted,” Thomas said. “Constituents throughout the city want services for homelessness. They want apartments, rehab for their home, services for youth aging out of foster care.”
Houston: By the numbers
Houston had been awarded $43.4 million through the federal Reconnecting Communities program to build sidewalks in the Kashmere Gardens and Gulfton neighborhoods, two of the city’s most underserved communities. The funding is now gone.
“The administration canceled all the funding for all of it, not just our city, but for the entire country,” said Council Member Tarsha Jackson, whose district covers Kashmere Gardens. “Our residents were very excited because it was going to be a huge project to build sidewalks in Kashmere and in Gulfton. It’s no longer happening.”
The city’s health department, which Council Member Mario Castillo noted is “mostly grant-funded”, faces similar uncertainty. Programs like “See to Succeed”, which provide vision assessments and glasses to schoolchildren, depend on federal dollars.
“It’s tough when you see grants eliminated or when you see just broad swaths of funding go away,” Castillo said. “Where do we make up for that? It pushes us as local leaders to get more creative on new funding or other funding sources that can keep critical vital programs running with the day-to-day whims of the federal government, now just shifting. It’s one day this, the next day something totally different, and it’s something you probably didn’t even see coming.”
When policy becomes personal, it hits different.
— Defender Network (@defendernetwork) April 23, 2026
It’s about families, not just law. Where should the line be drawn in your community? Let’s hear it.⁰⁰@AbbieKamin⁰@PollardforHTX@whitmire_john
⁰https://t.co/ecdsnyt5yd pic.twitter.com/gxl9kp8wXs
On environmental justice, the U.S. Department of Justice is retreating from its monitoring of illegal dumping in Houston’s Black and Latino neighborhoods in 2025, part of a broader dismantling of environmental justice initiatives.
“The previous administration definitely took a lot more seriously the environmental concerns our community has, and this administration hasn’t shown any concern for that,” Jackson said.
Tom Ramsey, Harris County Commissioner
“Despite concerns about federal funding policy changes, the only substantial decreases Harris County has seen in federal spending are due to ARPA and Hurricane Harvey recovery programs coming to an end. Both programs offered a fixed amount of assistance and made it known that the funds would eventually run out. I advocated for only spending these funds on one-time projects and initiatives to ensure no long-term fiscal impacts; unfortunately, the funds went toward services that, while well-intended, are now expected and difficult to end. This includes childcare, homelessness, and food insecurities.”
The local response
Hurricane Harvey made clear that every community in Harris County deserves real flood protection, not delay, guesswork, or partial answers. I championed the language in the 2018 Flood Bond that promised to deliver equitable infrastructure investments in communities across Harris… pic.twitter.com/Tx6BAkNojX
— Rodney Ellis (@RodneyEllis) April 22, 2026
“Harris County cannot replace every federal dollar, but we are using every local tool to protect services and invest in housing, health care, child care, workforce pathways, flood resilience, and infrastructure,” said Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis.
Relationships, Council Member Mary Nun Huffman argues, are becoming as important as policy.
“Greg Abbott has been supportive of the city of Houston, and relationships do matter,” Huffman said. “Because Mayor Whitmire was the dean of the Senate and he’d been in Austin so long and he formed those relationships, politicians in Austin are trusting him to be financially responsible with the money that they give us.”
For Houston residents, Council Member Alejandra Salinas said they are trying to navigate federal policies on a city level, but there is more to the equation.
“We cannot just ever succumb to what the federal or state government wants because they give us funding,” Salinas said. “We have to understand when it’s right to fight and when not to. When Houstonians’ constitutional rights are being affected, you have to stand up if something is truly wrong, but do so in a way that ensures that we still protect Houstonians and recognize that the state and federal government are our partners.”
Tom Ramsey, Harris County Commissioner
Federal assistance from the current administration has been beneficial for Precinct 3. This past April, the current EPA administration made a historic decision to hold the responsible parties accountable in the cleanup of the San Jacinto River Northern Waste Pits. This is an environmental issue that has impacted East Harris County residents for decades, and we’re thankful to our federal partners for their support. The federal government is also providing approximately $800 million for Harris County to complete critical flood mitigation projects, including the voter-approved projects from the 2018 Flood Control Bond. Harris County is working with state partners to ensure we remain on track to meet deadlines and maintain the security of these funds accordingly.
