As Houston continues its recovery efforts from Hurricane Harvey, which swept through South Texas in September this year, one organization said it is important to ensure those who are in most need of help, receive it.
Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast at the end of August into the beginning of September, wreaking havoc on South Texas and destroying thousands of homes.
Now, Houston Housing Authority explained it has finished collecting the information it needs from the city’s residents, and is now waiting on approval and funding from FEMA to move forward with its next steps.
“You have thousands and thousands of other low income Houstonians who needed help before the storm, and they’re going to need help after the storm,” HHA President and CEO Tory Gunsolley said in an interview with HousingWire. “They are just not, as a family, resilient.”
“They were one paycheck away, one flooded out car away from real trouble,” Gunsolley said. “As an entire system, we need to spend some time and energy on how to we help that area of Houston recover from the storm.”
He explained that as many parties are actively reaching out for help to recover from the storm, the most vulnerable population stands to lose the most.
“I’m worried that they will get left out of the conversation as all of the competing demands of people who have experienced real loss are vying for attention,” Gunsolley said. “This is a group that’s not politically active, and they’re not donors to campaigns and yet their lives have been upended.”
And Houston isn’t alone in its recovery efforts. Department of Housing and Urban Development Deputy Secretary Pam Patenaude and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced recently that HUD is providing more than $5 billion to the state of Texas to be used for the recovery efforts from Hurricane Harvey.
