it is. I think this Texas situation is going to get ugly in the next 2 weeks. I expect that what will happen, is that the people like Jackson and Sharpton will argue that these people should simply be given public assistance: housing, welfare, food stamps - and just be allowed to enter the regular texas populace in Houston, San Antonio, etc.
Geraldo is tears now holding a 15 month old baby!
Oh I see a state income tax for the future of Texas.
I think you are right.
Texas is going to rue the day they were generous. I hate to say that.
People going to the Red Cross office here are also sent to the Human Resources office where they can be issued food stamps.
Texas eyes more permanent homes for refugees
By MIKE WARD
Cox News Service
Friday, September 02, 2005
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas officials are considering an unprecedented plan to relocate thousands of New Orleans hurricane refugees into vacant apartments throughout the eastern half of the state, in what could become months of a more permanent relocation.
On Wednesday, as part of an initial step to secure federal approval of the plan, Gov. Rick Perry sought permission from federal officials to waive federal rules on who can occupy those apartments and eliminate much of the red tape for renters. On Thursday, the governor declared Texas a disaster area because of the refugee influx — a first step to qualify for federal aid to pay for the housing relocations and disaster-relief initiatives.
Kathy Walt, Perry's press secretary, said the housing relocation initiative was spurred by the "sea of humanity that has been displaced and seems to be moving to Texas, almost overnight.
"It is creative, one of a number of ways state agencies are looking at to provide disaster assistance," she said. "We're looking at people who are being displaced for what will be months. Housing people for that long in the Astrodome or Reunion Arena is not ideal. We have to find ways to house these people for longer periods in a safe environment."
Using housing vouchers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency under the proposal, refugees could occupy now-vacant apartments that were built with federal tax credits, officials said. Approximately 7,200 vacant units have been identified so far in the parts of Texas east of I-35, officials said.
Thursday's development came as Perry toured Dallas' Reunion Arena, where as many as 20,000 refugees are to be temporarily housed along with another 23,000 in Houston's Astrodome. Another 25,000 are slated to be housed at San Antonio's former Kelly Air Force Base and others will be housed in Beaumont's Ford Center, state officials confirmed.
Edwina Carrington, executive director of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, said that the type of housing relocation for which state officials are seeking a federal rules waiver are privately owned, multi-family units that were built with federal tax credits. State officials said they could not immediately provide a list of the vacant units by town or city.
"There are lots of rules on occupancy and a lot of information that must be submitted that these folks (hurricane victims from Louisiana) don't have," Carrington said. "We're working with the owners and managers of these properties around the state so that they can start leasing."
Carrington said similar programs were undertaken in 2004 after hurricanes in Florida and floods in Ohio and Louisiana. But it would be a first for Texas and perhaps the largest such initiative ever proposed nationally, other officials said.
Federal housing officials in Washington did not return phone calls for comment Thursday on Texas' pending request. In his letter to Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark Everson, Perry requested that Texas be allowed to use "currently vacant housing tax credit units to temporarily house those persons who have been displaced by this unprecedented natural disaster."
In other Texas hurricane-assistance news Thursday:
— State Health and Human Services Commission officials extended office hours in some areas of Texas and provided Medicaid prescription information on Louisiana residents to Texas pharmacies to make it easier for them to refill their medications.
— Attorney General Greg Abbott issued a warning about bogus charities and solicitation scams that have sprung up in the wake of the tragedy, seeking donations of cash in door-to-door fund drives and in online solicitations.