A spokesperson for the Houston Housing Authority tells Swamplot the city agency is not and will not be enforcing the previously announced 5-day deadline for all residents of 2100 Memorial to move out with their belongings. A notice delivered earlier this week by the building’s owner, an affiliate organization of the agency, to all 188 residents of the low-income-housing-tax-credit senior living facility labeled the structure “totally unusable for residential purposes due to health and safety reasons” after it was discovered that floodwaters had damaged the 14-story former Holiday Inn’s fire, electrical, and water systems.
The move-out deadline has not been altered, but the agency says it “understands it will take time to pack and move so they are working closely with the residents to help move in an orderly fashion.”
The photo at top shows the setup for a well-attended emergency meeting held yesterday afternoon on the second level of the building’s parking garage. At the meeting the HHA’s Board of Commissioners approved a $250,000 loan to the building’s management for relocation expenses, which it will then ask FEMA to cover. The funds will provide movers at no cost to residents to help them relocate their belongings to available residences in “Greater Houston” it has identified: 230 tax-credit units with similar rules to those governing 2100 Memorial — or 250 affordable housing units of other types.
Residents who have already hired their own movers, the spokesperson says, will be reimbursed. The agency says displaced residents will be given preference in returning to the building when it can be determined to be safe.
- Previously on Swamplot:Â Inside 2100 Memorial, Where More Than 180 Elderly or Disabled Residents Have 2 Days Left To Move Out;Â Residents of 2100 Memorial Senior Highrise Now Have 5 Days To Move Out of Their ‘Uninhabitable’ Apartments
Photos:Â Swamplot inbox (meeting setup) Realtor.com (building)
Too little, too late. HHA has quite the history and yet it continues. So sad! Just fire them all and start anew.
Kinda late for a lot of the elderly poor who lived there ….
We have plenty of room for people :)
@Cody I’ve been meaning to ask…What exactly is it that you do?
WebsterResident: Good question. My friends and wife ask me that all the time. Short answer is I own and manage a few apt buidings in Houston. mostly inside the loop. Some commercial stuff too, but mostly the older C class garden style places you drive by and say “Man, when is someone going to buy that thing and knock it down?”
I agree with HouCynic here. The HHA has a very spotty record in the last few decades. There’s a reason for it. Houston doesn’t have its own, local tenants rights and housing advocacy group. We rely mostly on the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service (John Henneberger’s group). But they’re based in Austin and really don’t have a full grasp on the many intricacies of housing in Houston. The result is that a lot of things slip through the cracks here that shouldn’t. And the HHA can get away with a lot more than it should be able to.