Ike recovery-funded houses to be built

The signs in the yards sum it up: Two couples whose houses were destroyed by Hurricane Ike soon will be in new homes.

A couple in San Leon and another in Hitchcock are the first to have new homes funded by federal dollars managed by the Galveston County Disaster Housing Assistance Program.

Housing officials said construction on the two homes could begin next week. Construction shouldn’t take long. The houses, built by League City-based American Homestar’s Oak Creek Homes division, are modular houses. They are prefabricated at a plant in Fort Worth and hauled to the homesite.

American Homestar is one of five contractors the county hired to build new homes for residents who lost property during the hurricane.

The city of Galveston is managing its own program, using its own slice of federal community development block grant funds to rebuild and repair storm-damaged houses.

Beats A Horse Trailer

For George Fowles and his wife, Laura Jane Weir, the new house will be a far cry from the horse trailer they called home for 31/2 months after Hurricane Ike’s storm surge destroyed their trailer home on 20th Street in San Leon.

Ike took out the trailer home, as well as the barn where Fowles and Weir kept their horse, Moonshine. The family had evacuated to an equestrian center in Katy, where they rode out the storm inside the horse hauler.

When they returned to San Leon, Fowles built a makeshift barn for Moonshine, while he and his wife stayed inside the horse trailer.

“The horse was living better than us,” Weir said.

Especially when temperatures dipped.

“It was kind of like tailgating at the football game and being the beer,” Fowles said.

Weir and Fowles said the trying experience, including the passing of their beloved horse last spring, brought them closer together.

Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Eventually, Fowles and Weir were able to get a mobile home provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which in December told them about the county’s disaster housing program.

“It was like a shot in the dark,” Weir said. “We didn’t think it was really going to happen.”

Like thousands of others who have to muddle their way through government bureaucracies, the couple at times grew frustrated at the slow pace of assistance. Then, about a month ago, they got the call to come meet with the Oak Creek Homes representatives about their new house.

“You know, it’s starting to look like this may work,” Fowles said.

Too Damaged To Rebuild

On McArthur Street in Hitchcock, James Chance and his wife, Lila Nickerson, are reminded each day of the destruction Hurricane Ike caused as they look out the window of their FEMA mobile home.

The trailer next door that Chance called home is a mangled mess of wood, metal and insulation.

After Ike tore the roof off and rain soaked everything inside, Chance at first figured he could rebuild.

“It was still standing,” he said. “The roof was peeled back, but it looked to me it could be fixed.”

He tried to repair the damage, using about $6,000 from FEMA and another $7,000 of his own.

His wife called RISE, the social agency established to help Ike victims find resources to help them put their lives back together.

It was that agency, after determining the extent of the home’s damage was too severe to fix, that suggested Chance and Nickerson sign up for the county’s housing program.

Pleased With The Program

When a program case worker saw what was left of the couple’s home, he said the house was too far gone and they would be better off with a new house. They were eligible for a modular home from Oak Creek.

Nickerson and Chance had nothing but praise for the county and ACS, the consultants hired to manage the operation.

“We have no complaints,” Nickerson said. “They are some of the nicest people. They returned our phone calls and they were prompt and really helped us out.”

Chance said: “They act like they are there because they want to help.”

More Houses To Come

The county has set aside $85 million to repair and rebuild houses. County commissioners Wednesday approved an additional 22 homes to be built — all on the Bolivar Peninsula, program spokeswoman Mary Jo Naschke said.

Those property owners will meet with the contractors and pick out the style of house they want.

As of Friday, more than 1,200 Galveston County homeowners had applied for assistance.

Housing program coordinator James Wilson said about 70 percent of those who apply are deemed eligible for assistance.

Of those, about half are eligible to have a new house built, while the rest will have repairs done by one of 11 repair contractors the county hired two weeks ago.

Wilson expects the number of applicants to increase, especially after the first few houses are built.

Even though the number of qualified applicants will eat up the entire $85 million of federal funds set aside, Wilson said a second round of federal disaster aid — already appropriated by Congress — should be enough to take care of what’s left.