Cornyn Encouraged By Progress Made In Dispersing Overdue Rita Recovery Funds

Press Release

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, today hosted a briefing on Hurricane Rita Housing Recovery with Michael Gerber, Executive Director of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA), Shaun Davis, Executive Director of the South East Texas Regional Planning Committee, local elected officials, and representatives from several Councils of Government in the region. Among those who attended were: U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, Walter Diggles, Executive Director of the Deep East Texas Council of Government, and Jack Steele, Executive Director of the Houston-Galveston Council of Government.

Community leaders and officials provided updates on the status of recovery and repairs in their respective regions. Executive Director Gerber discussed steps that have been taken to expedite the overdue relief assistance, and the process for disbursing the second round of Community Development Block Grant housing repair funding, approximately $222 million, to local residents.

"Today I'm pleased to report that the reasons for delay were addressed and significant progress is being made in the disbursement of overdue Rita recovery funds," Sen. Cornyn said. "I was encouraged to hear from the Councils of Government representatives that hurricane victims in their regions are finally receiving the assistance they need to make repairs to their homes. Today's briefing also gave each of us more confidence in the disbursement process for round two of recovery assistance. The process TDHCA Executive Director Gerber detailed appears both thorough and efficient, and I'm hopeful Southeast Texans still in need of assistance will receive it in a timely manner."

Sen. Cornyn has made it a top priority to speed the disbursement of housing repair and recovery funds, which were first made available to Texas in January 2006. A report issued in November 2007 indicated only 13 of more than 4,000 applicants had received housing recovery assistance. Following the report, Sen. Cornyn intervened to identify the reasons for the unacceptable delays, and steps that could be taken to expedite delivery of the much-needed assistance. Since then, Sen. Cornyn's staff has worked closely with TDHCA and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to move the disbursement process forward. As of today, there are more than 130 homes under construction through the program.

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