Miss-Delectable
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Evacuees hoping to receive home aid get help with paperwork
The line of hurricane evacuees stretched down a corridor, through the lobby, out the front door, past a shaded area and out into the hot sun. Elderly people sat in wheelchairs, babies shrieked on their mothers' hips, and parents fretted that they wouldn't finish in time to collect their children from school.
An estimated 700 evacuees showed up Wednesday at the West Gray Multi-Service Center to get help filling out forms and collecting documents they need to continue receiving federal housing assistance. Some showed up at 8 a.m. for an event that began five hours later, said Cindy Gabriel, a spokeswoman for Houston's Joint Hurricane Housing Task Force.
The turnout prompted city officials to schedule a second event for the same purpose on Monday in a larger building.
The city, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies organized the events because only about 6,000 of the 24,000 eligible evacuee households have submitted the forms, which are due Oct. 31. Several evacuees and volunteers helping them said they didn't know the forms were required until they received telephone messages from city officials this week.
"They just let me know yesterday," said evacuee Dolores Corco, perched on a chair near the front of the line after waiting for an hour outside and another hour inside.
FEMA says it has sent multiple notices informing evacuees of the applicable deadlines and the need to "recertify" their eligibility for assistance. But most of these notices went to landlords rather than to the evacuees themselves, said Katherine Johnson, a caseworker who helped evacuees fill out forms on Wednesday.
FEMA spokesman Charlie Henderson said the agency has worked hard to keep evacuees informed. "There has been and will continue to be an active outreach to get people into the recertification process," Henderson said.
The process requires filling out a one-page form and attaching various documents such as rent receipts and a written plan for obtaining and paying for housing after federal assistance ends. Many evacuees lost personal documents during Hurricane Katrina, and in such cases evacuees should explain this on the forms, officials said.
Outside the multi-service center Wednesday, a small group of deaf evacuees gathered around Detra Stewart of the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services. Stewart said no volunteers were available Wednesday to interpret for the deaf evacuees, a consistent problem since they began arriving in Houston a year ago.
"Every event the city has had, it has not been accessible to them," said Stewart, who said at least 50 deaf people were among the evacuees who came to Houston.
Gabriel said a volunteer capable of communicating through sign language was en route to Wednesday's event, and others would be available at the second workshop Monday.
The line of hurricane evacuees stretched down a corridor, through the lobby, out the front door, past a shaded area and out into the hot sun. Elderly people sat in wheelchairs, babies shrieked on their mothers' hips, and parents fretted that they wouldn't finish in time to collect their children from school.
An estimated 700 evacuees showed up Wednesday at the West Gray Multi-Service Center to get help filling out forms and collecting documents they need to continue receiving federal housing assistance. Some showed up at 8 a.m. for an event that began five hours later, said Cindy Gabriel, a spokeswoman for Houston's Joint Hurricane Housing Task Force.
The turnout prompted city officials to schedule a second event for the same purpose on Monday in a larger building.
The city, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies organized the events because only about 6,000 of the 24,000 eligible evacuee households have submitted the forms, which are due Oct. 31. Several evacuees and volunteers helping them said they didn't know the forms were required until they received telephone messages from city officials this week.
"They just let me know yesterday," said evacuee Dolores Corco, perched on a chair near the front of the line after waiting for an hour outside and another hour inside.
FEMA says it has sent multiple notices informing evacuees of the applicable deadlines and the need to "recertify" their eligibility for assistance. But most of these notices went to landlords rather than to the evacuees themselves, said Katherine Johnson, a caseworker who helped evacuees fill out forms on Wednesday.
FEMA spokesman Charlie Henderson said the agency has worked hard to keep evacuees informed. "There has been and will continue to be an active outreach to get people into the recertification process," Henderson said.
The process requires filling out a one-page form and attaching various documents such as rent receipts and a written plan for obtaining and paying for housing after federal assistance ends. Many evacuees lost personal documents during Hurricane Katrina, and in such cases evacuees should explain this on the forms, officials said.
Outside the multi-service center Wednesday, a small group of deaf evacuees gathered around Detra Stewart of the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services. Stewart said no volunteers were available Wednesday to interpret for the deaf evacuees, a consistent problem since they began arriving in Houston a year ago.
"Every event the city has had, it has not been accessible to them," said Stewart, who said at least 50 deaf people were among the evacuees who came to Houston.
Gabriel said a volunteer capable of communicating through sign language was en route to Wednesday's event, and others would be available at the second workshop Monday.
