The woman who blew the whistle on fraud in the City of Houston’s home repair program, featured in a front…
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.
Houston’s Tropical Storm Allison home repair debacle provides warning regarding Hurricane Ike funds
The State of Texas is considering turning over administrative responsibility for $1.3 billion in Hurricane Ike rebuilding funds to local…
It is time to stop pretending the COG disaster housing rebuilding program is the answer
In Wednesday’s blog entry I reported on the performance of the Councils of Governments (COGs) in carrying out Round 1…
Examining claims of local effectiveness in administration of housing disaster funds
There have been a lot of claims voiced by Councils of Governments (COGs), local officials and the Texas Office of…
Texas official in charge of disaster assistance refuses to state housing needs will be funded
I predicted the process for allocating funds set out in the draft ORCA Hurricane Ike/Dolly Disaster Plan will result in…
Put an end to FEMA trailers by moving people quickly into permanent housing
She says it far better than I can. We shot this interview with a woman whose home suffered major damage…
My suggestions for a Texas disaster housing program
In developing a plan to help Texas survivors of Hurricanes Ike and Dolly rebuild their homes I believe the starting…
Existing statewide housing program should be the vehicle for assisting Hurricane Ike survivors
The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) has received criticism from elected officials over the slow pace of…
Texas disaster recovery plan is based on bad data and faulty assumptions
Today I continue the analysis begun yesterday of the draft plan developed by the Texas Office of Rural Community Affairs…
Texas disaster plan – an ill conceived pork barrel
Texas’ just released plan for $1.3 billion in federal Community Development Block Grant funds for Hurricanes Dolly and Ike fails…
Galveston public housing conditions illustrate results of HUD’s failure to give a damn
I toured the three devastated public housing developments in Galveston this week and what I saw sickened, depressed and angered…
Is federal disaster assistance an entitlement?
The back-and-forth between the Texas governor and the US Secretary of Homeland Security over who will pay for the removal…
Closer scrutiny will follow Texas expenditure of $1.3 billion in hurricane relief
HUD has allocated Texas $1.3 billion of the $2.1 billion in Community Development Block Grant funds that Congress has recently…
Reforming FEMA alone won’t fix the problem
There are hopes that a structural reform and management reorganization of FEMA under the Obama Administration will solve the problems…
Texas must learn from Mississippi CDBG fund misuse
Abdicating its responsibilities and caving to political pressure HUD has allowed the State of Mississippi to redirect $570 million of…
Stories of eleven Texas families document FEMA’s illegal and systemic discrimination against the poor
It has become abundantly clear that FEMA does not treat low-income disaster survivors right. Consider the stories included in a…
What’s with FEMA’s high denial rate of Galveston area requests for help?
Anger is widespread over the fact that people are still living in tents in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. Data…
Slow expenditures, questionable priorities plague Houston and Harris County administered hurricane relief efforts
We have been critical of the decisions of the City of Houston and of Harris County so far as their…
Houston Chronicle urges prioritizing rebuilding Galveston public housing
Amen! House poor Make restoring Galveston’s public housing a priority Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Nov. 10, 2008 More than three…
Texas State officials and FEMA in open war over Ike recovery
It sounds increasingly like open warfare has broken out between Texas officials and FEMA over the Hurricane Ike recovery efforts.…
Louisiana extends its sympathies to Texas regarding FEMA
Our neighbors from Louisiana have offered some sympathy to Texas in the problems we have been experiencing with FEMA. Here…
Confusion and delays plague temporary housing programs for Hurricane Ike survivors
I have been spending some time this week trying to understand the way the FEMA temporary housing assistance programs have…
A public housing advocate senses tide turning against Galvestion public housing rebuilding
Lenwood Johnson, Texas’ foremost public housing advocate, sent me an email this afternoon about the prospects for rebuilding public housing…
Ike housing damages said to be $8.5 billion in Harris County; more than 1/2 of Houston apartments damaged
Two stories in today’s Houston Chronicle point to the staggering cost of housing damages. We are still waiting for the…
Nearly 306,000 Ike damaged properties in Texas have been reviewed by FEMA inspectors
Five weeks after Hurricane Ike made landfall, state and federal financial assistance to help Texas homeowners, renters and businesses recover…
Homeowners rebuilding from Hurricane Ike have basically no consumer protection in Texas
Houston Mayor Bill White threw in the towel this week, ending his modest effort to provide rudimentary consumer protections to…
Southeast Texas elected leaders demand temporary FEMA trailers despite health risks
Some local elected officials are downright furious with FEMA because FEMA will not put travel trailers on the property of…
Gov. Perry picks Eckels, Newby to lead Hurricane Ike recovery and coordination effort
Governor Perry has designated a former Harris County Judge and the Governor’s current chief of staff to “co-lead an effort…
New Orleans de je vue in Galveston
Forrest Wilder’s Texas Observer Blog about high end housing construction on Galveston Island is well worth reading. There should be…
Hurricane Ike emergency housing status
Some of the elements of the Hurricane Ike housing relief package have become know this week. Here is a review…