There is really no other way to characterize the plan Governor Perry submitted to HUD to spend $1.7 billion in federal disaster recovery funds. The Texas plan is to take money away from those suffering and in need to give to those not in need – reverse Robin Hood. HUD’s research, summarized in the map [...]
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Tag Archives: Hurricane Ike
HUD pushes Governor to redirect hurricane rebuilding funds to hurricane impacted counties
January 11, 2010
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Things did not slow down during the holidays over the shape of Hurricane Ike and Dolly rebuilding programs in Texas, but my blogging did. This update recounts what has been happening. The concerns we have been raising for the past two years came to a head as the State of Texas moved to request an [...]
Read moreWhat the State of Texas must do to fix the Hurricane rebuilding plan (and what we plan to do to make sure it does)
November 23, 2009
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People have asked me what we want from the Texas CDBG Disaster Rebuilding Plan that we have criticized and that HUD has asked the Governor to revise. The complete answer lies in the extensive comments that we have submitted on repeated occasions to the State of Texas and in our complaints to HUD. Here is [...]
Read moreHUD denies Governor Perry’s Amended Recovery Plan
November 17, 2009
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On November 10, HUD Assistant Secretary Mercedes Marquez issued a letter to Governor Rick Perry denying the State of Texas’s Amendment 1 of the Action Plan for CDBG Disaster Recovery Grantees. The proposed amendment would give the state $1.7 billion in supplemental CDBG funds for Hurricane Ike Recovery. Secretary Marquez cites the State’s proposed amendment [...]
Read moreHUD Rejects State of Texas CDBG Disaster Recovery Plan
November 16, 2009
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HUD has rejected the State of Texas Plan to spend $1.7 billion in CDBG disaster recovery funds for Hurricane Dolly and Ike recovery. In rejecting the plan HUD mirrors concerning that we have expressed over the past months. We applaud HUD’s decision. More analysis will follow. Read HUD’s letter to Governor Perry rejecting the Texas [...]
Read moreHUD should reject the State of Texas plan to misspend $3 billion in CDBG disaster recovery funds
September 25, 2009
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The State of Texas is required to submit a plan amendment to HUD by September 30 outlining its final plan for spending the $3 billion in CDBG funds earmarked for Texas for disaster recovery from hurricanes Ike and Katrina. The state’s long road to producing this plan has been plagued by false starts and reversals. [...]
Read moreGovernor orders $1.3B Hurricane recovery plan changed but fails to fix the problem
September 16, 2009
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Not surprisingly the ill-conceived “weather report plan” proposed by ORCA to divide up the federal disaster recovery dollars in Texas attracted such a firestorm of opposition that Governor Perry ordered it changed today. The weather report plan allocated funds based on wind and rain rather than damages incurred and allowed ORCA staff to shift funds [...]
Read moreHow much housing money is needed for Ike/Dolly rebuilding?
September 10, 2009
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ORCA has proposed to allocate the remaining $1.3 billion of the $3,057,991,440 in Ike/Dolly CDBG rebuilding funds based on a model of how much wind, storm surge and rain fell in a place rather than the amount of damage the area suffered. This is clearly wrong, a fact that most people now acknowledge. There is another [...]
Read moreTestimony describes absurdity of Texas hurricane disaster fund allocation plan
September 6, 2009
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Joe Higgs, organizer for Gulf Coast Interfaith, laid out clearly the problems with the proposed State of Texas plan to spend $1.3 billion in federal Hurricane Ike and Dolly CDBG rebuilding funds. His testimony was presented at the board meeting of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs on September 3, 2009. Here is [...]
Read moreHouston Chronicle columnist Rick Casey on the politics of hurricane rebuilding
September 6, 2009
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In his column today Houston Chronicle featured columnist Rick Casey speculates about why Governor Perry is allowing the Texas Office of Rural Community Affairs (ORCA) to so badly misallocate federal hurricane disaster rebuilding funds. Casey correctly describes ORCA’s bizarre plan to allocate $1.3 billion in disaster recovery funds not on the basis of the damage [...]
Read moreGovernor Perry’s disaster rebuilding plan is the latest disaster to strike Texas
August 8, 2009
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We share the state auditor’s concerns in a report just released about the unacceptable length of time it takes the councils of governments (COGs) and the state agencies (ORCA and TDHCA) to deliver hurricane assistance to Texas families and communities. The state auditor’s report examined the COGs’ and state agencies’ performance in managing roughly half a [...]
Read moreGetting closer to finding out why so many Texas hurricane survivors were denied housing assistance
June 17, 2009
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The pieces are slowly coming together to answer the question, why were so many applications for FEMA housing assistance in the wake of Hurricane Ike denied by FEMA? While more than 82,000 households affected by Ike have received almost $371 million in FEMA funds for repairs, more than 730,000 families requested help from FEMA, meaning [...]
Read moreKatrina Cottage pilot program woes due to failure at all levels
June 15, 2009
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How many times do we have to hear the story before it sinks in? Let’s sum up the government response to the plight of impoverished hurricane survivors… The federal government is slow and bungling. The state government is slow and would rather spend money on economic development rather than helping poor disaster victims get back [...]
Read moreTX Legislature seeks better homes, faster repairs for hurricane survivors
June 13, 2009
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It has been almost a year since Hurricane Ike’s and Hurricane Dolly’s floodwaters rose above streets, and above doors and windows, destroying countless Texas homes and affecting the lives of an estimated one million Texans. Today, far too many homes still remain in need of repair. Amid the destruction, the agony of families, and the [...]
Read moreGalveston Long Term Recovery Plan should focus on what it takes to allow survivors to return home
June 12, 2009
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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 moreRental housing most vulnerable in Hurricane Ike shortchanged in reconstruction plan
June 11, 2009
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Renters and rental housing were particularly hard hit by Hurricane Ike. Yet renters and rental housing needs are being shortchanged by local officials as they make decisions on how to allocate federal CDBG dollars for hurricane rebuilding. Thanks to the research of graduate students in community and regional planning at the University of Texas at [...]
Read moreThe “Ike Dike” is no excuse for diverting money from rebuilding homes
June 11, 2009
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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
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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 moreA confession: we’ve learned firsthand the reasons for disaster rebuilding delays
June 9, 2009
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I have to fess up. Having pointed out in yesterday’s blog the unacceptably slow pace of rebuilding homes destroyed in the Texas hurricanes, it’s only right that I point out the delays that we ourselves have encountered in a disaster housing rebuilding project we are associated with. We call the project Texas Grow Homes. It’s [...]
Read moreHousing advocates tell HUD that TX Disaster recovery plan fails to disclose how the money will be spent
March 4, 2009
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After reviewing the Disaster Recovery Plan that the Texas Office of Rural Community Affairs (ORCA) submitted to HUD the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service, Texas Appleseed and Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid wrote HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan a letter pointing out that the ORCA plan did not really constitute a plan but was a [...]
Read moreA failed housing program will always come back and bite the responsible entity
February 20, 2009
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One had to feel sorry for Michael Gerber Thursday morning. Appearing before a subcommittee of the Texas House Appropriations Committee he was forced to listen as as the Legislators were presented a state auditor’s report excoriating the failure of the state’s initial efforts to provide housing assistance to victims of Hurricane Rita. House members were [...]
Read moreTexas will be forced to ration hurricane home repair grants
January 7, 2009
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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 morePBS film documements role of race, class and politics in rebuilding hurricane damaged homes
January 2, 2009
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Watch the trailer for the PBS Frontline film, “The Old Man and the Storm.” Several of President Bush’s top aides publicly proclaimed last week that failures to adequately respond to the rescue and rebuilding challenges posed by Hurricane Katrina did more than anything else to sink the Bush Presidency. Today Texas is struggling to put [...]
Read moreGovernor Perry must act to let hurricane victims move into apartments
December 29, 2008
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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 moreHouston’s Tropical Storm Allison home repair debacle provides warning regarding Hurricane Ike funds
December 26, 2008
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The State of Texas is considering turning over administrative responsibility for $1.3 billion in Hurricane Ike rebuilding funds to local governments. A story in today’s Houston Chronicle offers an especially important warning of potential problems with the past administration of these type of funds by the local government positioned to receive the largest share of [...]
Read moreIt is time to stop pretending the COG disaster housing rebuilding program is the answer
December 20, 2008
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In Wednesday’s blog entry I reported on the performance of the Councils of Governments (COGs) in carrying out Round 1 of the Texas Hurricane Rita housing repair and rebuilding program. The data in my blog was drawn from a report presented by the staff of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs to their [...]
Read moreExamining claims of local effectiveness in administration of housing disaster funds
December 18, 2008
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There have been a lot of claims voiced by Councils of Governments (COGs), local officials and the Texas Office of Rural Community Affairs (ORCA) that there will be greater efficiencies and cost savings in allowing disaster recovery funds to be administered locally by COGs. To test the accuracy of these claims we can examine the [...]
Read moreTexas official in charge of disaster assistance refuses to state housing needs will be funded
December 16, 2008
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I predicted the process for allocating funds set out in the draft ORCA Hurricane Ike/Dolly Disaster Plan will result in a gross underfunding of the housing needs of hurricane survivors. Now we have proof that this is indeed a real possibility from the testimony of none other than the executive director of the state agency [...]
Read morePut an end to FEMA trailers by moving people quickly into permanent housing
December 15, 2008
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She says it far better than I can. We shot this interview with a woman whose home suffered major damage from Hurricane Rita. She describes the type of problems thousands of low income Texas families have encountered trying to get their homes repaired working with FEMA. [BTW - her house is still not repaired today, [...]
Read moreMy suggestions for a Texas disaster housing program
December 14, 2008
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In developing a plan to help Texas survivors of Hurricanes Ike and Dolly rebuild their homes I believe the starting point should be the existing Hurricane Rita housing program operated by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA). For the reasons I detailed in earlier blog entries, I strongly feel that the basic [...]
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Bo McCarver’s housing news clips for May
- Mitt Romney at private fundraiser: I might eliminate HUD – The Washington Post
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Bo’s housing news clips: Study finds zoning segregates lower-income students in lower-scoring schools.
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Texas LIHTC housing program rocked by second earthquake in two months
- Low-Income Housing Program Compels Building in Poor Texas Areas – NYTimes.com
