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Filing a Complaint or Appeal

Compliance with the Public Information Act 

All information maintained by a state agency is presumed to be public, subject to specific exceptions in the Public Information Act (Chapter 552 of the Texas Government Code) or other law. Any information provided may be disclosed to appropriate investigatory or law enforcement authorities.

With few exceptions, an individual is entitled on request to be informed about the information that the state governmental body collects about the individual. Under Sections 552.021 and 552.023 of the Texas Government Code, the individual is entitled to receive and review the information. Under Section 559.004 of the Texas Government Code, the individual is entitled to have the state governmental body correct information about the individual that is incorrect.

Filing a Complaint or Appeal
Concerned citizens have the ability to file a complaint or appeal a decision to the Texas General Land Office Community Development and Revitalization division (GLO-CDR).
Policies and procedures are in place to help facilitate this process. The GLO will not respond to complaints or appeals posted on social media. A complaint or appeal must be submitted as outlined below:

There are four methods to submit an appeal or complaint to GLO-CDR:

  1. Complete and submit the Appeal & Complaint form online;
  2. Download the Appeal & Complaint form and email it to GLO-CDR at cdr@recovery.texas.gov;
  3. Call the GLO-CDR front desk line at 844-893-8937 or 512-475-5000; or
  4. Letters or printed Appeal & Complaint forms may be mailed directly to:

 

ATTN: GLO-CDR
Texas General Land Office
PO Box 12873
Austin, TX 78711-2873

To file a complaint anonymously, you may call 1-844-893-8937.


Appeals Process

If a homeowner, contractor, city, county, housing authority, or other entity would like to file an appeal, the following steps should be followed. 

Step 1: Submit a written appeal to the entity that issued the denial. For example, if a local jurisdiction is a subrecipient managing the project, the first appeal should be submitted to the subrecipient.

  • The appeal must be sent within ten days of the decision (documented by the certified mail delivery date).
  • Upon receipt of an appeal request, the local jurisdiction or vendor will respond to the appellant in a timely manner, within 15 business days where practical.
  • The vendor/subrecipient will send a written decision approving or denying the appeal. When practical the decision is provided in ten days; however, some cases may require additional time for the review.

 

Step 2: If a denial is received and you would like to receive a second review, submit your second appeal to the GLO-CDR.

  • The GLO will respond to the appellant within 15 business days where practical.
  • GLO-CDR customer relations staff will respond to appellants by coordinating with the applicable subrecipient and/or housing contractor to resolve issues.

Complaint Process

If an individual has a complaint regarding a project utilizing Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) allocations, the following steps should be followed:

Program Complaints:

For program complaints, it is recommended to exhaust the local jurisdiction or vendor’s complaint process first. Contact the entity that is managing the grant and/or program (may include a city, county, public housing authority, council of governors or vendor).

  • The local jurisdiction or vendor must have written citizen complaint procedures that provide a timely written response to complaints and grievances.
  • Citizens must be made aware of the location, days, and hours when copies of the plan are available.

 

Local Jurisdiction, Vendor, or Second Level Complaints:

For complaints involving the entities that manage the program, or if you still have a complaint after the local jurisdiction or vendor has been notified, submit a complaint to the GLO-CDR directly.

  • The GLO will provide a timely response to citizen complaints. The response will be provided within 15 working days of the receipt of the complaint, if practical.
  • Use one of the four methods (form, email, phone, or mail) provided to submit your complaint to the GLO-CDR division.

Fraud, Waste, or Abuse of Government Funds

Complaints alleging violation of fair housing laws will be directed to HUD for immediate review. Refer to HUD’s Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) Complaint page for additional information.

Fraud, Waste, or Abuse of Government Funds

If you know or suspect someone has committed fraud, waste, or abuse related to a GLO program, please tell us about it by completing and submitting the GLO-CDR Fraud/Waste/Abuse form.

Complaints regarding fraud, waste, or abuse of government funds should be forwarded to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General Fraud Hotline (phone: 1-800-347-3735 or email: hotline@hudoig.gov).


GLO'S HOUSING COMMITMENT

The GLO is committed to assisting Texans in the recovery process through this program and has the following services available:

  • Language assistance available by request: 512-463-5139. To request translation assistance with documents, events or other information, please leave a detailed message with your name, phone number and questions, and an interpreter will return your call with additional information. 
  • TTD line for the hearing impaired: 512-463-5330
  • Texas RELAY for speech or hearing impaired: 7-1-1
  • Complaint and Appeals process