Some Galveston County residents still living in FEMA-issued mobile homes hope to qualify for community development block grant funds to rebuild their homes. They face a March eviction from the FEMA trailers.
County leaders are working with federal emergency management officials to find a way to help Hurricane Ike victims who are facing a deadline for getting out of government-issued mobile homes but who might me eligible for federal block grants to help repair their houses.
People living in FEMA trailers are supposed to be out of them by March, but many are counting on help through the county’s share of community development block grants for housing. The county has yet to start taking applications for those funds.
About 500 Galveston County residents still live in mobile homes provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Of those, 346 live in mobile homes outside the city of Galveston. Many live in the unincorporated parts of the county, including the Bolivar Peninsula, San Leon, Freddiesville, Old Bayou Vista and lower Hitchcock.
The federal agency is pressing those still in the mobile homes to move on. In a handful of cases, the agency has moved to evict some, saying they have not made enough progress in finding permanent housing or in repairing damaged homes.
Many of those who face eviction are hoping to qualify for some of the $100 million in community development block grant funds the county is supposed to distribute to help homeowners rebuild their homes. The federal funds have been slow in coming, and the county’s program to take applications hasn’t started.
County Judge Jim Yarbrough said he and Galveston County Emergency Management Coordinator John Simsen have met with federal officials, hoping to get them to back off pressuring people who are living in FEMA trailers and who likely will be eligible for funds from the block grants.
The county also will try to make sure those living in FEMA trailers are at the top of the application pile when the county starts accepting the block grant applications for housing, Yarbrough said.
The recovery coordinator, James Wilson, said county residents who live outside Galveston — the city has its own housing assistance program — should register with the Ike RISE network or Catholic Charities. The social workers at RISE and Catholic Charities are supposed to relay the information to county officials when the housing program starts taking applications, Wilson said.
Yarbrough said the county was considering requesting that FEMA extend its temporary housing program. But he stressed that was not a sure thing, and he said any request would not come until January and only if he and county commissioners saw significant progress was being made in getting those in the mobile homes into other alternative housing.
FEMA officials said they don’t expect the deadline to be extended.
