Texas Leaders Seek Hurricane Relief Money From Congress

An array of Texas officials–from the mayors of Houston and Galveston to Lt. Governor David Dewhurst–appeared in Washington today to seek hurricane relief funding from Congress and testify before the the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Interestingly, the figures set forth by the officials for recovery varied widly. Houston Mayor Bill White said the state would need $20 to $40 billion for the recovery. Lt. Governor David Dewhurst put the price tag at $11.5 billion, not including the cost of cleaning up Galveston.

The Houston Chronicle’s Texans On The Potomac Blog has the best coverage from the hearing. We’ll take a look at some of the highlights.

First of all, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst has reversed his position (or rather, the state has evidently reversed its position) on FEMA trailers:

Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst told a Senate panel this morning that the state would ask the Federal Emergency Management Agency for as many trailer homes as were available to alleviate a housing shortage for workers and emergency responders in the disaster area.

Dewhurst told the hearing on post-Ike recovery that the state would “not accept tainted trailers” but added that officials were confident that FEMA would not offer trailers that had the high levels of formaldehyde that prompted claims of ill-health by evacuees from Hurricane Katrina.

Dewhurst did not immediately provide an estimate on the number of trailers that would be needed.

Dewhurst told the Houston Chronicle after his testimony that the state of Texas had asked FEMA to provide as many trailers as possible to Texas communities to house emergency workers, oil refinery workers and displaced homeowners.

Here is Dewhurst’s estimation on rebuilding:

His testimony also said that it will take six months to make Galveston, Orange and other heavily impacted areas habitable. He said that there is critical shortage of housing for workers in heavy impact areas.

Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas discussed rebuilding low-income housing with the committee:

Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas told the Senate hearing the city was hoping –with federal help — to rebuild housing in devastated section north of Broadway.

In response to a question from panel chair Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., Thomas said that the city would apply for funds from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development for the rebuilding in the low- and moderate-income neighborhood.

For the time being, she said, many of these people are housed in temporary shelter in Texas City.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., told Houston Mayor Bill White that he understood that federal funds were slowing in coming. Yet in a response to Domenici’s question about how the federal government had responded at this point, White said, “so far, so good.”

Domenici said he was troubled that in cities such as Galveston and New Orleans there was no state or federal mechanism that allowed them to go in and deal with complete neighborhoods rather than dealing with one house at a time.

Thomas agreed.

And, from Houston Mayor Bill White, via the Dallas Morning News:

“It’s a new FEMA, compared to what we were dealing with a couple of years ago,” Houston Mayor Bill White said.

[...]

But Mr. White also had some suggestions to improve the federal response to natural disasters, including allowing FEMA to carry out innovative programs while breaking their reliance on standard operating procedures.

Mr. White also said housing voucher programs should be flexible and tailored to local communities, suggested making the Army Corps of Engineers Blue Roof program more user-friendly, and allowing FEMA to enter into reimbursement agreements with local governments when dealing with the cost of debris removal and increased policing in the wake of serious storms.

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Technorati Tags Bill White, David Dewhurst, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Galveston, Houston, Hurricane Ike, Hurricane Katrina, Lyda Ann Thomas, Mary Landrieu, Pete Domenici, Texas City

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