Blog Stage 6-Texas Aid

Original Post

Katrina had Rita were devastating hurricanes that affected millions. It’s hard to believe that this tragedy was over two years ago. Many people who were not directly affected by this disaster have seemed to put this catastrophe incident out of their minds, and the horrible aftermath this has caused to so many. We take for granted that we have a home and warm bed to go home to every night. There are still thousands of people without a place to call home. What is even more disgraceful is that the Texas housing agency has received more than $400 million from the Federal Government to help aid people affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, but they have only helped four families, which came from the state auditor’s report, released Thursday. The Texas Department of Housing and Community affairs was awarded $42.6 million in grants to assist hurricane victims in buying or repairing their homes, and as of September 14, the agency had only built a mere thirteen homes, out of the 4000+ families that applied for aid.

The Federal Government gave Texas this money to help the thousands of evacuees who came to this great state. What these helpless people probably didn’t realize was that the Texas housing agency would take years, if you were the lucky one chosen, to help out. It amazes me that we have only helped out a handful of families, while everyone is in ignorant bliss, thinking that the government is doing its job in assisting these evacuees.

Former Beaumont Mayor Guy Godson, who was in office when Hurricane Rita hit in 2005 said, “We need to be able to distribute the funds faster and get contractors out working on the homes, because the damages accrue greater and greater as time passes," he said. "There's no one working on these homes, and I expect these people are living in acute living conditions that have worsened in the time since the hurricane." With the state making everyone reapply for an application to get assistance, this will only add to the lag time.

This is a disgrace, and I am appalled at the time it has taken to get these victims the economic assistance they need. They have already been through so much, and it is the American way to help others, but we are not doing that. Texas needs to live up to their saying “Everything’s bigger in Texas”, because I’m embarrassed to say that we’ve only helped out a few families out of the thousands affected.

Lea Lundin





My comments


I agree with the post on Texas State Housing on texasgovtevolution. It is sad that Texas has recieved so much in grants from the federal government; yet, they have failed to aid families that need assistance. It is understanding that the process would take sometime to get things processed, but 2005 was a long time ago and the fact that it will be 3 years since the disasters is unacceptable.