Houston’s housing needs persist

Shelter crowds shrink, but thousands still require aid

HOUSTON — Onecoupledisplaced by Harvey managed to get a hotel room but got kicked out after one night for lacking state identification that was lost to the flooding. A man whose cellphone was wrecked by floodwaters is staying at a convention center, waiting for government offices to reopen Tuesday.

While the number of evacuees seeking refuge in Houston’s emergency shelters has dwindled, thousands are still in dire need of housing. Some returned to complexes inundated with sewage and mud. Others are staying with family and friends.

More than 50,000 went to government-paid hotels, some far away from homes and schools.

“You can’t just pick the hotel,” said D’ona Spears, who has no way of getting her children to school when it resumes next week.

Spears and Brandon Polson had gotten a government-funded hotel room near downtown, but without ID they had to leave. After going to the Toyota Center, the basketball arena housing evacuees, they were taken to a motel.

At the George R. Brown Convention Center, about 1,500 people remain, and several said they were homeless, disabled or from public housing. About 2,800 were at the NRG Center, which opened after George R. Brown reached double its original capacity.

Morris Mack, who arrived at the convention center Aug. 30, sat outside the main entrance, sharing a cigarette. He hasn’t been able to re-enter his home in a public housing development in northwest Houston, and he didn’t know whether it would be flooded.

While he registered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for assistance, Mack’s cellphone was damaged by floodwaters, and he didn’t have a working email address, making it difficult for the agency to get in touch with him or send him a check. He was hoping that once government offices reopen, he could get a government assistance card, which he could then use to get a cellphone.

“I’m just trying. I can only wait now,” Mack said.

FEMA said about 560,000 families are registered for its housing assistance program. It said 53,630 residents displaced by Harvey are currently in government-funded hotel rooms.