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Mother slipping on Ike’s traces
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| The roof of the apartment complex on Helgra Street collapsed when Hurricane Ike hit the area. One of former residents of the complex, Debbie Cleburn, said the representatives of Federal Emergency Management Agency say that agency's records don't show the apartment is unlivable. FEMA doesn't cover her hotel expenses any longer, she said. |
By KOSAKU NARIOKA
Debbie Cleburn, 34, a former resident of the apartment complex on Helgra Street, was set to look for a job on Monday, Oct. 27 in an attire given by one of her friends when the staff of the hotel, Hampton Inn, where she has been temporarily staying for about a month told her the Federal Emergency Management Agency didn't cover her expenses any longer.
“They (The hotel staff) didn’t even know why,” Cleburn said. “I mean they were confused.”
She said the representatives of the federal agency said the agency’s records don’t show the apartment is unlivable.
The roof of the apartment complex on Helgra Street collapsed while Hurricane Ike was passing through the area in September. Cleburn and her two sons lived upstairs, but that night they stayed in Baytown, where the youngest son's father lives.
Cleburn was able to find a hotel room about a week and half after the hurricane.
An employee of the hotel is temporarily sheltering Cleburn and her oldest son, a 14-year-old Deer Park Junior High student, at the employee’s home while the youngest son, 11, is living in Baytown, she said.
Simon Chabel, a FEMA spokesman, said the agency sends inspectors and if they determine the apartment is livable, meaning safe and sanitary, it will not provide the temporary hotel payments.
While noting privacy act laws prevent the agency staff from discussing specific cases, Chabel said an apartment without roof would likely be determined “unlivable.”
The agency spokesman added people can always appeal the decision and that anyone who has registered with FEMA can initiate the process by calling the FEMA helpline.
Cleburn said she has talked to 30-50 FEMA representatives over the phone, but everyone she talks to says “something different,” and that she has provided all information that they asked for, but then they ask for something else. And now they are saying, Cleburn said, their records are not showing that her apartment is unlivable.
Cleburn said she didn’t have insurance because she couldn't afford it and there are no places her son and she can go in the Houston and surrounding areas.
While a FEMA Web site provides information on a few rental units available in Deer Park, she said her rental history records an eviction and she has to “pay a big deposit” to move into apartments.
One day, about a week after they started staying at the hotel, the hotel staff had to fix what Cleburn calls “a FEMA mistake,” and she was waiting outside for two hours. She consequently missed a mandatory Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission class and lost her job waiting tables, she said.
According to a letter to FEMA that Cleburn shared with the Deer Park Broadcaster, she received $1,704 as rental assistance on Sept. 24 from FEMA, but “she had no choice but to use the funds available” to provide for her family.
“At this point, I don’t even know when it’s going to get better,” Cleburn said. “I know it will, but at this point, I don’t know when, and I’m going to have to uproot my kids from this good school that I worked so hard to get them in so that I can guarantee that my kids have a chance.”
Cleburn moved into the apartment complex on Helgra from another Deer Park area about two months before the hurricane hit, and paid $575 a month. She said, “It was affordable to a single mother.” She said the complex didn’t look like a nice place, but it really was.
“We were a quiet complex with friendly people,” she said.
“Losing everything, you don’t really know until you’ve been through it,” Cleburn said. “I can honestly say and openly apologize to Katrina people because I’ve made little snotty comments before.”
“They (The hotel staff) didn’t even know why,” Cleburn said. “I mean they were confused.”
She said the representatives of the federal agency said the agency’s records don’t show the apartment is unlivable.
The roof of the apartment complex on Helgra Street collapsed while Hurricane Ike was passing through the area in September. Cleburn and her two sons lived upstairs, but that night they stayed in Baytown, where the youngest son's father lives.
Cleburn was able to find a hotel room about a week and half after the hurricane.
An employee of the hotel is temporarily sheltering Cleburn and her oldest son, a 14-year-old Deer Park Junior High student, at the employee’s home while the youngest son, 11, is living in Baytown, she said.
Simon Chabel, a FEMA spokesman, said the agency sends inspectors and if they determine the apartment is livable, meaning safe and sanitary, it will not provide the temporary hotel payments.
While noting privacy act laws prevent the agency staff from discussing specific cases, Chabel said an apartment without roof would likely be determined “unlivable.”
The agency spokesman added people can always appeal the decision and that anyone who has registered with FEMA can initiate the process by calling the FEMA helpline.
Cleburn said she has talked to 30-50 FEMA representatives over the phone, but everyone she talks to says “something different,” and that she has provided all information that they asked for, but then they ask for something else. And now they are saying, Cleburn said, their records are not showing that her apartment is unlivable.
Cleburn said she didn’t have insurance because she couldn't afford it and there are no places her son and she can go in the Houston and surrounding areas.
While a FEMA Web site provides information on a few rental units available in Deer Park, she said her rental history records an eviction and she has to “pay a big deposit” to move into apartments.
One day, about a week after they started staying at the hotel, the hotel staff had to fix what Cleburn calls “a FEMA mistake,” and she was waiting outside for two hours. She consequently missed a mandatory Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission class and lost her job waiting tables, she said.
According to a letter to FEMA that Cleburn shared with the Deer Park Broadcaster, she received $1,704 as rental assistance on Sept. 24 from FEMA, but “she had no choice but to use the funds available” to provide for her family.
“At this point, I don’t even know when it’s going to get better,” Cleburn said. “I know it will, but at this point, I don’t know when, and I’m going to have to uproot my kids from this good school that I worked so hard to get them in so that I can guarantee that my kids have a chance.”
Cleburn moved into the apartment complex on Helgra from another Deer Park area about two months before the hurricane hit, and paid $575 a month. She said, “It was affordable to a single mother.” She said the complex didn’t look like a nice place, but it really was.
“We were a quiet complex with friendly people,” she said.
“Losing everything, you don’t really know until you’ve been through it,” Cleburn said. “I can honestly say and openly apologize to Katrina people because I’ve made little snotty comments before.”
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