Senior citizens living in 'deplorable' conditions
Our senior citizens: You would hope they would be treated with dignity and respect- especially during a time of need. However, an 11 News investigation has found thousands of them may be living in what some call “deplorable” and even dangerous conditions all across Houston.

Senior citizens living in 'deplorable' conditions
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
By Mark Greenblatt / 11 News Defenders

However, an 11 News investigation has found thousands of them may be living in what some call “deplorable” and even dangerous conditions all across Houston.   

The reason? 

    
     Gloria Jack's home has been in need of repairs
     ever since Tropical Storm Allison struck.

What some have called "poor decisions," long delays, and mismanagement of a problem-plagued government program intended to funnel millions of dollars of aid to seniors. 

An 11 News Defenders investigation found the city of Houston’s Housing and Community Development Department’s handling of an aid program is mired in long delays that have lasted years -- with a backlog of service that has grown so long, many applicants who qualify for assistance are literally dying before help arrives.

Gloria Jack’s family knows all about the backlog. She and her relatives gathered recently at their longtime home in northeast Houston for a heartbreaking goodbye to the house they had all called home.

It is a place four generations of the Jacks grew up in. Gloria Jack, 75, married there on the day after Christmas in 1952.

But now?

The home is in disrepair, tattered and she says they were forced to move out due to unlivable conditions.   

The problems really began when her husband of more than 30 years, suddenly died in 1988. She was faced with living month-to-month on very little income.  

“I still had my children,” she said. “With God’s help I survived.”

However, Jack’s battles were just beginning. 

Alone and forced to pay the bills herself, Tropical Storm Allison dealt a damaging blow in 2001.

“A tree fell in the top of the house,” Mrs. Jack recalls.  

The damage wasn’t severe. Jack thinks it could have been fixed for several hundred dollars if repairs would have come promptly. 

Unable to pay for repairs on her own, she turned to faith.

“I’ve been calling in for prayers and asking everyone to pray for me to get this house fixed,” she said.

But it turns out there should have been an earthly solution. 

It’s a federal program called the Single Family Home Repair Program, which the City of Houston administers locally. Far from a handout, those who run the program say instead it’s intended to lend a helping hand to the elderly and disabled.

But when Jack asked for assistance under that program, her request got stuck in a logjam of applications.

“It’s unconscionable in my mind,” says John Henneberger, who teaches urban planning at The University of Texas at Austin.

He’s also the executive director for the Texas Low Income Housing Coalition and is a well-regarded expert on low-income housing issues.

“This isn’t rocket science…this is patching roofs, and fixing leaky pipes,” he said. “To let year after year go by and not provide any assistance to them, that’s really wrong.”

So how could this happen?

It turns out, Houston’s home repair program has been problem plagued for years. In 2003, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development found mismanagement, millions of dollars of waste and shoddy work during their review. 

HUD also determined that 2,200 homes needed to have the quality of their work checked before further construction could begin. The city’s Housing and Community Development Department agreed to a series of mandates by HUD that would allow the program to be restarted, and in May 2004 the Department’s Public Information Officer, Kevin Davis, announced, “We anticipate actually getting the work done very soon.”

Nearly four years later, 11 News has found that of those 2,216 homes that needed to be inspected before work could be done, only 760 have been seen.

It turns out, according to a Feb. 1 city document, that one in nine of those homeowners have literally died while waiting to get help.

In fact, the backlog of those who need new repairs has grown so long that the city of Houston simply stopped taking in new applications, shutting the program down back in 2006.

Henneberger finds this situation troubling. “There is no excuse to shut a program that is as vital as this one down, in the face of that over whelming need,” he said.

As for Gloria Jack?

She says she waited so many years for the city to repair her leaky roof, without any action, water spread throughout the home, leading to rot.

Now she says her home of more than 50 years will have to be totally torn down and rebuilt, destroying memories and moments that are priceless for Mrs. Jack and her family.

So who pays for that? Once again, the city does, using money it received from the federal government.

Community activist Karen Hahn says she called the city weekly, trying to prevent the delays, which she believes led to Jack’s home having to be rebuilt.

“I get sick and angry because there’s no reason,” Hahn says. “Spend that $500 to $5,000 to save a roof. Then you don’t have to spend $80,000 to tear down a home.

“(Mrs. Jack) did not want this home replaced. She wanted it fixed.”

And the Jack family isn’t alone. City documents obtained by 11 News show at least nineteen other complete rebuilds approved, with up to 75 anticipated. Each rebuild averages about $85,000.

“Failure to address in a timely manner is a waste of taxpayers’ money,” Henneberger says.

And many seniors don’t want new homes.

Just ask Mary English.

“I want to finish my days right here,” she told 11 News.

The 78-year-old lives month-to-month on a fixed income of $576 and just wants repairs. She’s lived in her home for 46 years – having moved in with her late husband, a veteran of both the Navy and Army, back in 1960. Mrs. English applied to the City’s program and received notice that she was approved in 2006.

But since then?

 â€œI’m waiting. I don’t think they’ve forgotten about me – it’s just that, it’s just not important to them,” she said.

So how does the city of Houston’s Housing and Community Development Department explain all of these delays?

“We made some poor decisions,” Assistant Director Henry Hadnot said. He also pointed the finger at those who came before he took the job in August of 2006.  

“We made some poor judgments,” he added.

But we found that currently the city doesn’t have a single inspector tackling the issue full-time. 

11 News: “But aren't you concerned? People are dying on this waiting list?”

Hadnot: “That’s unfortunate. That I cannot fix.”

11 News: “If you got to this sooner, do you think you may be able to address that?”

Hadnot: “Probably. Probably.”

“I’m just offended,” Houston City Council Member Jolanda Jones said.

She’s the newly appointed chair of Council’s Housing Committee. She says no one’s grandma deserves to wait for help, for years.

“If we don’t protect our seniors and kids, I mean shame on us,” said Jones.

11 News: “Does the program need an audit?”

Jones: “Absolutely.”

As for really finishing old inspections and re-opening the home repair program to new seniors and disabled of Houston who need help?

Jones: “It will be fast tracked. Excuses are not acceptable.”

Gloria Jack prays the help will come soon.

11 News: “You really need the help?”

Jack: “Yes, Lord I do. God knows I do.”

The city wrote us later and claimed its long delays in repairs have not led to problems becoming worse or more costly, either for individual repairs or for homes that now need to be rebuilt entirely.

As for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development?

They have given Houston until 2010 to right its ship. But Jones says that’s way too long for seniors and elderly who need help now. She says she will push the city to act faster on its own.
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