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Houston and FEMA in Whirlwind Over Evacuees
In providing housing to Hurricane Katrina victims just after the storm, FEMA adn the City of Houston came together to house tens of thousands of displaced evacuees. But they don't see eye-to-eye over the payment of rent for the month of July for those evacuees.
While a spokesperson from the city's Joint Hurricane Housing Task Force (JHHTF) assures Houston apartment owners who've opened their doors to shelter victims left homeless by Katrina that rent for the 7,000 evacuees whose determination for eligibility for continued relief is still up in the air will definitely be paid through the end of July, a spokesperson for FEMA says it's not going to be FEMA picking up the tab.
Ericka Lopez in FEMA's Austin office said late Wednesday that if FEMA has agreed to pay rents for an additional month, it was news to her. "I have authorization that FEMA will pay rents for evacuees in Houston only through the end of June, not until the end of July."
But Lopez added she wanted to get back with HoustonRealNews after she checked to see if 'something slipped by me' yet maintained she doubted if anything had as she would be one of the first to know.
However, Cindy Gabriel of JHHTF recently assured Houston real estate investors and apartment owners that rents for the 7,000 they have been providing homes for will be covered through the end of July. This assurance occurred after HoustonRealNews reported that the City had requested FEMA re-examine the determination of "Ineligible" for some 7,000 evacuees.
Houston is now committed to covering the cost through that time period as a 30-day cancellation notice of the rental apartments is required which now could be filed, at the earliest, by July 1.
The City of Houston, although committing to Houston real estate investors and the Houston Apartment Association (HAA) for the longer period of coverage, is dependent on FEMA for reimbursement. So If FEMA doesn't decide to extend coverage, the question is, who will reimburse the city?
Andy Teas of HAA in referring to the July 31 coverage date said on Wednesday that even with extended rental payments, tenants are still in danger of being evicted because utilities are the tenant's responsibility.
FEMA has singled out 7,000 of the approximately 37,000 New Orleans evacuees who fled to Houston seeking refuge after Hurricane Katrina flooded the city last August as possibly being ineligible for continued relief for various reasons. The most common is FEMA's determination that some evacuees' homes are livable now, even though they may not be available to the evacuees because they've already been rented for more money than what the evacuees were originally paying.
In many cases, along with basic repairs to these dwellings came remodeling and updating that have increased the value of the units. This has resulted in many properties demanding higher rents than what they leased for before the hurricane devastated the city.
While it may be property owners in New Orelans who have taken capital risk in rebuilding the city, here in Houston, investors and property owners were asked to house non-working tenants for a year by the City of Houston and FEMA.
HoustonRealNews reported that FEMA (and later the City) knew that the "One-Year Leases" were sure to be broken early.
The property owners were not informed of the intent to terminate the leases early. Once property owners were made aware that leases would probably not last a year, they stopped accepting the vouchers.
The current spat between FEMA and the City of Houston may get FEMA one month closer to fulfilling a promise they made to property owners just after the hurricane. Even if the City has to drag them there kicking and screaming.### Kay Henderson has written and edited weeklies and magazines in the Houston area.
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