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 [...]
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Tag Archives: Hurricane Ike
Governor orders $1.3B Hurricane recovery plan changed but fails to fix the problem
September 16, 2009
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How 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 [...]
Read moreExisting statewide housing program should be the vehicle for assisting Hurricane Ike survivors
December 11, 2008
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The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) has received criticism from elected officials over the slow pace of the Department’s program to repair and rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane Rita. As an advocate for low income families’ housing needs I have been following and commenting on TDHCA’s efforts to set up and operate [...]
Read moreTexas disaster recovery plan is based on bad data and faulty assumptions
December 8, 2008
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Today I continue the analysis begun yesterday of the draft plan developed by the Texas Office of Rural Community Affairs (ORCA) for spending $1.3 billion in federal CDBG funds set aside to help Texans recover from Hurricanes Dolly and Ike. Yesterday I described how the ORCA plan proposed to turn over all the funds to [...]
Read moreTexas disaster plan – an ill conceived pork barrel
December 7, 2008
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Texas’ just released plan for $1.3 billion in federal Community Development Block Grant funds for Hurricanes Dolly and Ike fails to provide the type of plan required by federal law. The plan proposes an arbitrary, pork barrel style allocation of disaster recovery funds that will leave the critical housing needs of Texas families unmet. The [...]
Read moreGalveston public housing conditions illustrate results of HUD’s failure to give a damn
December 5, 2008
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I toured the three devastated public housing developments in Galveston this week and what I saw sickened, depressed and angered me. The condition of the public housing developments in Galveston, almost three months after the flooding is a classic example of government incompetency. In a community that is struggling to rebuild, the condition of these [...]
Read moreIs federal disaster assistance an entitlement?
December 1, 2008
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The back-and-forth between the Texas governor and the US Secretary of Homeland Security over who will pay for the removal of disaster debris from Hurricane Ike raises the question, “Is federal disaster assistance an entitlement?” Governor Perry has blasted the federal government for paying to bail out Wall Street banks but refusing to bear 100 [...]
Read moreCloser scrutiny will follow Texas expenditure of $1.3 billion in hurricane relief
November 29, 2008
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HUD has allocated Texas $1.3 billion of the $2.1 billion in Community Development Block Grant funds that Congress has recently appropriated for disaster recovery. Major allocations also went to Louisiana for Hurricane Edwardo recovery ($438m) and Iowa for flood recovery ($125m). Texas officials had submitted to the feds estimates of about $27 billion for Ike-related [...]
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