Harvey $: Snooze, ya lose: 5 offices to open up in Jefferson for hurricane aid

Published 9:26 pm Thursday, November 29, 2018

Texas General Land Office Commissioner George P. Bush has announced that applications for homeowner federal disaster recovery money are available at five offices in the South East Texas Region, which includes Jefferson, Hardin and Orange counties.

Those sites and their locations are:

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• First City Building: 505 Orleans St., Beaumont, Texas, 77701; 8-6 Monday-Friday, 10-2 Saturday.

• Rose Hill Acres Town Hall, 100 Jordan Road, Lumberton, Texas, 77657; 9-4, Wednesday-Thursday.

• Alma M. Carpenter Public Library, 300 S. Ann St., Sour Lake, Texas, 77659; 9-4, Monday-Tuesday.

• Port Arthur Economic Development Corp., 501 Procter St., Port Arthur, Texas, 77640; 9-4, Tuesday-Thursday.

• Orange County Convention and Expo Center, 11475 FM 1442, Orange, Texas, 77630; 9-4, Tuesday-Thursday.

Eligible applicants can also access applications at recovery.texas.gov.

Bush’s office also announced that 52 completed applications were recorded in the South East Texas region Thursday. Some 300 applications are in progress.

Spokeswoman Brittany Eck said those include 42 completed applications in Jefferson, 120 applications in the draft stage in Jefferson and 50 applications that are pending an upload.

Bush visited Jefferson County on Wednesday and announced both the availability of applications and a six-month extension for survivors of Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey to use Federal Emergency Management Agency temporary housing units — trailers, usually. The deadline for leaving the trailers had been set at Feb. 25; the extension is to Aug. 25.

Applicants for the homeowner assistance must own their own homes, damaged or destroyed by Harvey, and it must be their primary residence — in addition to other eligibility factors.

The Homeowner Assistance Program will distribute $205,019,250 in the three-county area of $1,098,011,316 distributed in Texas. Money will be distributed to eligible homeowners first come, first serve.

In addition to the Beaumont center, the Port Arthur City Council allocated $127,000 to establish a “one-stop” assistance site to distribute applications and advise eligible applicants on the best course of action for their applications for federal assistance. It is located at the 501 Building — 501 Procter St.

Residents can download their applications, travel to Beaumont to the site on Orleans Street or go to the one-stop site in downtown Port Arthur, where advisers will help them with their applications, if necessary.