admin posted on March 02, 2011 08:02
The nightmare continues for many after devastation hit the Texas coast in the form of one of natures worst events, a hurricane. The roof still has holes. Mold grows in nooks and crannies. And there is no heating or air conditioning in many storm damaged homes in Galveston, Texas... over two years after it was battered by Hurricane Ike.
Approximately 1,500 Galveston homeowners are still waiting for repairs or reconstruction promised over a year ago when the city of Galveston received more than $160 million in federal Hurricane IKE recovery funds. Many are still living in storm-damaged homes with little hope of anything happening anytime soon.
With funds held up for more than a year by federal and state red tape, the much needed money was finally released to the City of Galveston early last year. City officials had hoped that construction and repairs would get under way last spring, but so far not a single new home has been built nor a single repair completed.
The unusual long delay led city leaders and council to meet in a special session recently to find out why contractor Camp, Dresser and McKee, known as CDM, hasn't moved faster. The council then authorized hiring a monitor, to be paid out of about $16 million in fees expected to be paid to CDM, to supervise the company's customer services.
Waiting for all this to happen is putting a strain on folks that already have suffered financial hits that will last for years.
No one knows why but it was found that CDM has begun repairs on nine houses, but construction on the first new house might not begin for a month or more making it all the more frustrating for flood damaged home owners.
Foreclosure looms for some as only answer
It is a shame that it has come to foreclosure being the only exit from the homeowners' financial burden of these homes. The effort is too little, too late for many, including Hershel, 57. Hershel staved off foreclosure on his damaged home once, but he became ill and the house has again been posted for foreclosure.
About 70 percent of all structures in Galveston suffered storm damage. But only about 2,000 applications for the housing repair program, intended to cover damages not covered by insurance or other aid programs, were received in a city that had about 60,000 residents before Ike struck on Sept. 13, 2008.
To meet state and federal requirements for the program, residents must present reams of documentation. Many applicants lost all their documents in the storm, making an unwieldy process even more difficult.
To make matters worse, the bureaucratic back log and seemingly unfettered employees that process the paperwork, make foreclosure as their only option to get on with their lives.