It appears that the rebuilding of the 569 public housing in Galveston demolished in the wake of Hurricane Ike may be back on track. Sources tell me that the Galveston Housing Authority voted today 4-1 to accept the requirements of the Texas General Land Office concerning the rebuilding of public housing. Last week the Galveston City […]
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Tag Archives: Galveston
State halts Galveston funding over failure to build public housing: TX Land Commissioner Patterson explains
April 11, 2013 
1 Comment
By Jerry Patterson The city of Galveston has a choice to make as we try to move forward with plans to complete the recovery from Hurricane Ike: Either quit dragging its feet and comply with the federal requirements as well as the city of Galveston’s own council resolution to rebuild public housing adopted on Sept. […]
Read more Once again recovery from a hurricane bypasses the poor
November 9, 2012 Comments Off
A New York Times editorial laments the type of government neglect that public housing residents in Texas know all too well. “Ten days after the hurricane [Sandy] struck, thousands of people in New York City’s public housing are still without heat, water, electricity or food. Many people needed assistance after the storm, but the most […]
Read more When the overwhelming majority of good people don’t confront prejudice, an entire community suffers
August 2, 2011 1 Comment
I received a phone call yesterday from Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski about my June 25 blog post, ”The racism of New Berlin is growing in Galveston.” The mayor told me someone contacted him who thought I was accusing everyone in Galveston of being racist. All I could say to the mayor was, “Did the person who called you […]
Read more Wait gets longer for public housing in Galveston | Houston Chronicle
July 2, 2011 Comments Off
There is an interesting and sobering story about rebuilding Galveston public housing that ran in today’s Houston Chronicle. The story is exerted below. The Galveston Housing Authority (GHA) needs to address the fears of the community that rebuilding will take too long — in fact it already has taken too long. The GHA board of […]
Read more The racism of New Berlin is growing in Galveston
June 25, 2011 9 Comments
We noted yesterday the United States Department of Justice brought suit alleging the City of New Berlin, Wisconsin had violated the Fair Housing Act by denying a developer permission to build a mixed senior, family development financed with Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). I just read the Justice Department’s compliant in the case. The same […]
Read more Galveston housing authority director resigns
June 13, 2011 Comments Off
The Galveston County Daily News is reporting Galveston Housing Authority Executive Director Harish Krishnarao resigned effective immediately during an executive session of the housing authority’s board of directors. Krishnarao has come under criticism for the slow process of the planning process for rebuilding 569 public housing units demolished by the housing authority after Hurricane Ike. […]
Read more Hurricane Disaster Spending–an opportunity to repair homes *and* create jobs in affected communities
May 27, 2011 Comments Off
Texas Low Income Housing Information Service is working with residents in Galveston, Houston and the Valley to make sure that under-employed and unemployed Texans get as much work as possible from the Hurricane Recovery dollars. Section 3 says that when HUD dollars are spent on housing or infrastructure projects and low-income people in the affected […]
Read moreGalveston Long Term Recovery Plan should focus on what it takes to allow survivors to return home
June 12, 2009 2 Comments
Lots of hard work has gone into the production of the Galveston Long Term Recovery Plan. The citizens behind this work are to be commended for their efforts. I carefully reviewed the housing portions of the plan and offer the following constructive criticisms. Unfortunately, as a blueprint for the reconstruction of housing, the plan falls far […]
Read moreThe “Ike Dike” is no excuse for diverting money from rebuilding homes
June 11, 2009 Comments Off
The June 4 issue of the Wall Street Journal reports that Houston leaders are pushing a plan to protect against future hurricanes by building a giant dike with movable barriers across Galveston Bay. The dike could easily cost in excess of $4 billion. As the Gulf Coast braces for hurricane season, Houston-area leaders are pushing […]
Read moreHow Ike and future hurricanes impact Black households disproportionately
June 10, 2009 Comments Off
African-American households reside in areas most vulnerable to hurricanes in the greater Galveston Bay area. Census tracts in which 60% or more of the population is comprised of African-American households are in the areas that were hardest hit by Hurricane Ike and remain most vulnerable to future damage in even low-grade tropical storms and category […]
Read moreTexas will be forced to ration hurricane home repair grants
January 7, 2009 Comments Off
Texas should allocate the limited disaster funds so that they take care of the housing needs of Hurricane Ike/Dolly survivors as the State’s top priority and relegate funding for government programs to a lower priority. Families’ recovery should come first and government second. If even after making housing the State’s top funding priority, not enough […]
Read moreGovernor Perry must act to let hurricane victims move into apartments
December 29, 2008 1 Comment
More than half of 5,000 Galveston County families displaced by Hurricane Ike and given federal vouchers to rent homes or apartments are still living in hotels or with relatives, officials have said. The reason: many apartment managers and owners in a tight housing market prefer not to go to the extra effort to handle housing […]
Read moreWhat’s with FEMA’s high denial rate of Galveston area requests for help?
November 16, 2008 1 Comment
Anger is widespread over the fact that people are still living in tents in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. Data just obtained from FEMA shows the agency is approving less than 10 % of the applications for help from hurricane survivors in Galveston. Hurricane Ike was a huge storm that destroyed homes across the Southeast […]
Read moreA New Orleans obituary has lessons for Galveston
September 15, 2008 Comments Off
They have their hands full right now, but someday before the plans for rebuilding are set the city leaders in Galveston need to read the critique of the rebuilding effort in New Orleans in Sunday’s paper by Nicolai Ouroussoff, the architecture critic for The New York Times. The critique is brilliant and rings true. It […]
Read moreOur ten point plan for rehousing low income Hurricane Ike survivors
September 14, 2008 Comments Off
There are many critical housing needs facing Hurricane Ike survivors of all incomes. Our focus is on the area of housing for low-income families. This is our ten point plan to rehouse low income Hurricane Ike survivors. We learned a lot about how low-income families fare in the wake of natural disaster through the Hurricane […]
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