On Friday Governor Perry vetoed the “Sunset Bill” for the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) that would…
Category: Disaster Recovery
From preparedness, planning, and equity to rebuilding and mitigation, disaster recovery encompasses issues deeply important to the rehabilitation and recovery of low-income communities living in disaster-prone areas in Texas.
Galveston housing authority director resigns
The Galveston County Daily News is reporting Galveston Housing Authority Executive Director Harish Krishnarao resigned effective immediately during an executive…
Video of Houston Disaster Recovery Town Hall
Last week we highlighted a town hall on Disaster Single Family Home Repair in Houston, hosted by the Texas Organizing…
Hurricane Disaster Spending–an opportunity to repair homes *and* create jobs in affected communities
Texas Low Income Housing Information Service is working with residents in Galveston, Houston and the Valley to make sure that…
Houston Town Hall on Disaster Single Family Home Repair
On Saturday, May 21, 2011, Texas Organizing Project (TOP) along with other supporting organizations spearheaded a record attendance Town Hall…
Chronicle on Houston Disaster Recovery Repair
Saturday’s Houston Chronicle ran a short story on the status of the single-family housing repair program funded with Hurricane Ike…
HUD Approves Phase I of Texas Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing
One of the conditions of the TxLIHIS – Texas Appleseed – State of Texas Fair Housing settlement on hurricane recovery…
Update:2011 Tornado Season
Three weeks ago we had an extensive discussion of the relationship between tornado fatalities and manufactured housing (see Many of…
John Henneberger Testimony at TDHCA Board Meeting on Disaster Recovery Housing Programs
John Henneberger, a Co-Director of the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service, spoke at the May 5, 2011 board meeting…
Many of These Are Preventable Deaths
“Spalding County reports two fatalities. Officials say the severe storms tore a mobile home from its foundation and tossed it…
NYT: Time Runs Out for St. Bernard Parish
This morning’s New York Times has an Op-Ed about HUD’s proposed action regarding housing discrimination by the government of St.…
John Henneberger Testimony at Senate Finance on TDHCA Budget
TxLIHIS co-director John Henneberger testified last week at the Senate Finance Hearing on TDHCA’s budget and Disaster Recovery funding in…
Observer Article on Disaster Recovery
“We had an expensive and painful learning process under Rita, and we didn’t apply those lessons to Ike and…
Two Reports from the HUD OIG on Texas Entities
HUD’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) released two audit reports on Texas entities last week. One report covered $503 million…
Introduction to an “Analysis of Impediments”
One of the conditions of the TxLIHIS – Texas Appleseed – State of Texas Fair Housing settlement on hurricane recovery…
Houston TOP Bus Tour
This blog post is by Elizabeth Nowrouz. In late November, Melissa Cha and I traveled to Houston to gain a…
TxLIHIS Files Comments on Sunset Staff Report on TDHCA
We recently signed on to two sets of comments on the Sunset Staff report on TDHCA. The first set was…
Current FEMA disaster recovery policy will leave low-income hurricane survivors unassisted
Lower income Texas families whose homes are damaged by Hurricane Alex and future hurricanes this season will be denied financial…
Texans prepare for another hurricane in their unique way
The Washingtom Post today reported on preparations for Hurricane Alex by residents on South Padre Island, Texas… Jerry Wilson, 50, also…
New York Times praises State of Texas/TxLIHIS disaster recovery settlement
The New York Times published this editorial Monday about our settlement with the State of Texas. Editorial HUD Steps Up…
Statement on our Fair Housing settlement with the State of Texas
HUD ACCEPTS $1.7 BILLION REVISED DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN PRIORITIZING REBUILDING HOMES OF SURVIVORS An historic agreement between affordable housing advocates,…
The TxLIHIS / TX Appleseed / State of Texas fair housing settlement agreement
The settlement agreement can be viewed as a PDF document on the HUD website: http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/press/press_releases_media_advisories/2010/HUDNo.10-106/conciliationagreement.pdf
HUD announces approval of TxLIHIS – Texas Appleseed – State of Texas Fair Housing settlement on hurricane recovery
HUD has issued an announcement of their approval of of the settlement agreement to the TxLIHIS/Texas Appleseed fair housing complaint…
Houston Chronicle profiles Texas Grow Homes
Widespread destruction of low-income neighborhoods, toxic FEMA trailers, countless homes rotting, vulnerable populations such as the elderly left homeless or…
A conversation series dedicated to developing a disaster housing reconstruction program for low income homeowners
The Texas Grow Home Conversation Series will consist of eight meetings held every third Wednesday from 4pm – 6pm (location…
Another epic, preventable disaster strikes the poor
Somilia, Katrina, Rita, Ike, now Haiti. Another epic disaster strikes a population of desperately poor people. Poor physical living conditions,…
Houston Chronicle reports hurricane rebuilding fund diversion
Mike Synder of the Houston Chronicle this weekend picked up on the story about Governor Perry’s diversion of funds away…
The Texas plan directs rebuilding money away from those in need
There is really no other way to characterize the plan Governor Perry submitted to HUD to spend $1.7 billion in…
HUD pushes Governor to redirect hurricane rebuilding funds to hurricane impacted counties
Things did not slow down during the holidays over the shape of Hurricane Ike and Dolly rebuilding programs in Texas,…
Disaster rebuilding, celebrity style, solution or problem?
Brad Pitt’s Make it Right Foundation is planning to build 150 homes in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. …