GLO advice: Visit, call but apply for aid
Published 11:16 am Monday, December 24, 2018
By Ken Stickney
A local representative of the Texas General Land Office is urging Greater Port Arthur and Mid County people with Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey-related housing needs to seek GLO’s counsel about applying for federal help.
Visit one of several sites where GLO-affiliated counselors will help you apply.
Or call 844-893-8937, from 7-7, and talk with specialists.
Visit, call, but apply.
Rhonda Masters, GLO community outreach coordinator, said response to the recently enacted, federally funded Homeowner Assistance Program has been brisk but that homeowners with damages from the storm need to line up for help. If they don’t seek the Department of Housing and Urban Development assistance, someone else will — it’s first come, first serve.
Masters was a guest Thursday on The Port Arthur News’ Facebook livestream newsmaker show. She works in the area of community development and revitalization for Southeastern Texas, including Jefferson, Orange, Hardin and Chambers counties.
Three of those counties — Jefferson, Orange and Hardin — are in a single designated district that will receive $205 million in homeowner assistance. That federal assistance program started Nov. 28 and the following week, Port Arthur opened its “one-stop shop” for applying through GLO for federal aid at the 501 Building on Procter Street.
GLO is overseeing the distribution of federal aid at the behest of Gov. Greg Abbott. Masters said GLO oversaw federal aid in Texas for other natural disasters, including Hurricanes Rita in 2005 and Ike in 2008.
The “one-stop-shop” is one of several sites where local people can seek the homeowner funding, 70 percent of which must be allocated to low- or moderate-income people. The site, managed by AECOM, has counselors on site to guide applicants through the aid process. The site is open 9-4, Tuesday through Thursday.
There are other application sites, including in Beaumont, Sour Lake and Orange.
She said the homeowner assistance portion of federal assistance is one part of $10 billion in federal aid allocated to Texas by President Trump. In January, federal funds will be allocated to reimburse qualified homeowners who have already spent money on fixing their homes.
She said some $400 million has been allocated to address hurricane-related infrastructure needs in areas outside Houston: roads, bridges, drainage.
She reminded homeowners who sustained hurricane damage that GLO, led by Land Commissioner George P. Bush, has attempted to limit red tape and streamline the application process.
She said GLO hopes to have “hammers swinging” on rebuilding projects in Southeast Texas by January or February.
