People with Disabilities: Harvey Recovery Resources Update

Posted By: Melanie Manville September 12, 2017

Sent on behalf of the city of Houston Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities.

Community,

Below are some of the resources that have been developed to assist Harvey survivors with recovery effort. Further updates will be sent as more information becomes available.

The MOPD is posting updates and resources and updates on our Facebook and Twitter feeds. Over the weekend, Mayor Turner participated in a disability community durable medical equipment distribution, where 100 people were provided with wheelchairs and other equipment. You can see pictures from the event here: https://www.facebook.com/pg/United-Spinal-Association-of-Houston-242864895787477/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1707422399331712 and here:  https://www.facebook.com/RSVPtexas/posts/1426717564081101

Protect Texas Fragile Kids and  Trach Mommas of Louisiana also worked through the weekend organizing medical supplies for children with disabilities.

The deaf community coordinated an excellent FEMA assistance workshop in American Sign Language. You can watch the workshop in its entirety here: http://www.streetleverage.com/fema-assistance-disaster-relief-recovery/

An enormous thanks to everyone involved in these recovery efforts and so many others. Below you will find recovery resources related to the City of Houston, home clean up, the Red Cross, and FEMA.

Houstonrecovers.org

The City of Houston has established the website www.houstonrecovers.org that houses all our information in an easy to navigate format.

It has three sections: “I need help”           “I want to help”                     “I want to donate”

By clicking on one of those headings, you will find updated info on what activities are going on locally, with updates from all 23 City of Houston Departments. This also includes an update from FEMA.

Crisis Clean Up

People needing support as they clean their homes and property damaged by Hurricane Harvey can sign up for help from the Cleanup Assistance Hotline at 1-844-965-1386.

The hotline will share the information of those requiring assistance with volunteer relief agencies and civic and community leaders. The hotline will give priority to vulnerable people such as people with disabilities and seniors. The hotline closes Sept. 15 and will only sign up people who live in Texas. For more information about the hotline, visit www.crisiscleanup.org.

Red Cross

The American Red Cross will be providing financial assistance to Texas households that were severely impacted by Harvey and need help taking care of emergency needs. Right now, we are in the initial few hours of this effort and are focusing on helping people in emergency shelters. Register for assistance http://www.RedCross.org/hhia

Registration will be open for 30 days. The Red Cross is experiencing extremely high demand right now. If you have problems registering for assistance, please try again tomorrow.

In the meantime, please note that assistance will be available for those significantly affected by Hurricane Harvey which includes:

  Primary residence was severely impacted by Harvey.

  Household is in need of emergency assistance.

  Household was displaced by the impact of Harvey

  Verifiable pre-disaster primary address in one of these 39 Texas counties:

Aransas, Austin, Bastrop, Bee, Brazoria, Calhoun, Chambers, Colorado, DeWitt, Fayette, Fort Bend, Galveston, Goliad, Gonzalez, Hardin, Harris, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Karnes, Kleberg, Lavaca, Lee, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Newton, Nueces, Orange, Polk, Refugio, Sabine, San Jacinto, San Patricio, Tyler, Victoria, Walker, Waller and Wharton.

The Red Cross is a charity, not a government agency, and people do not need to be American citizens to receive  assistance.

FEMA

FEMA has created a comprehensive web page for Harvey survivors. Go here for information on how to apply for assistance, tips on clean up and more.  https://www.fema.gov/disaster/4332

FEMA opened three Disaster Recovery Centers. Disaster recovery centers offer in-person support to individuals and businesses in 39 counties included in the Texas federal disaster declaration for Hurricane Harvey and the subsequent floods. Recovery specialists from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), the State and other agencies will be at the centers to talk about assistance and to help anyone who needs guidance in filing an application. The new centers are at the following locations:

Greenspoint Mall (Harris County)
263 Greenspoint Mall
Houston TX 77060
Hours: Daily, 7 a.m.-7 p.m.

Katy Mills Mall (Fort Bend County)
5000 Katy Mills Circle
Katy TX 77494
Hours: Daily, 7 a.m.-7 p.m.

Baytown Community Center (Harris County)
2407 Market Street
Baytown TX 77520
Hours: Daily, 7 a.m.-7 p.m.

Disaster Recovery Centers are accessible to people with disabilities. Centers have assistive technology equipment allowing disaster survivors to use amplified telephones, phones that display text, amplified listening devices for people with hearing loss, and magnifiers for people with vision loss. Video Remote Interpreting is available and in-person sign language is available by request. The centers also have accessible parking, ramps and restrooms.

If possible, homeowners, renters and businesses should register with FEMA before visiting a recovery center. Eligible residents may register for assistance the following ways:

  • Online at DisasterAssistance.gov.
  • Phone 800-621-3362 (voice, 711/VRS-Video Relay Service) (TTY: 800-462-7585). Multilingual operators are available (press 2 for Spanish).
  • Via the FEMA app, available for Apple and Android mobile devices. To download visit: fema.gov/mobile-app.

The following information is helpful when registering:

  • Address of the location where the damage occurred (pre-disaster address).
  • Current mailing address.
  • Current telephone number.
  • Insurance information.
  • Total household annual income.
  • Routing and account number for checking or savings account (this allows FEMA to directly transfer disaster assistance funds into a bank account).
  • A description of disaster-caused damage and losses.

Disaster survivors can visit any of the centers for assistance. Locations of other recovery centers are online at www.fema.gov/DRC.