Habitat for Humanity to open office in Refugio County

Sept. 11--REFUGIO -- Habitat for Humanity will open a satellite office in Refugio County to help repair the county's badly damaged housing stock after Hurricane Harvey.

More than year after Harvey made landfall, hundreds of homes in the small county remain damaged or unlivable.

Golden Crescent Habitat for Humanity, the Victoria affiliate of the international Habitat, announced its newest office at a news conference Monday. The office is opening with the help of $1.1 million in funding from the Rebuild Texas Fund and the American Red Cross.

Cynthia Staley, the president of Golden Crescent Habitat for Humanity, said she had heard numerous stories about the slow road to recovery in Refugio, including one about a homeless family that was doubling up in another family's home. All members of the homeless family were sleeping on air mattresses in the living room.

Refugio County Judge Robert Blaschke, the county's top elected official, said everyone working on recovery efforts in the county had stories like these. Blaschke said a year after Harvey, many Texans had forgotten or didn't know about the widespread damage in Refugio County.

Habitat has committed to rebuilding at least 18 homes damaged by Harvey in Refugio and hopes to do additional work in the county if funding allows, Staley said.

Habitat was able to open its satellite office because it received about $499,000 from the American Red Cross and another $637,000 from the Rebuild Texas Fund.

Cristina Cornejo, program officer for the Rebuild Texas Fund, said the need in Refugio County was still significant. Hurricane Harvey damaged the majority of homes in Refugio County, which is home to about 7,200 people.

"We really want to focus on these areas because we don't think they've had enough attention," Cornejo said. "We want to go in and get resources to the people who need them most."

Cornejo pointed to a study from the South Texas Economic Development Center, part of Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, that concluded 70 percent of Refugio County's housing stock was damaged by Harvey.

Dorey Williams, director of the Refugio County Volunteer Reception Center, said she thought the percentage of damaged homes could be more than that based on her experience on the ground.

Since Harvey made landfall, Williams has been working to track the damages to hundreds of homes in Refugio County, cataloging repairs needed by residents in a massive wall of Post-its in her office. Williams said the Harvey recovery effort was "still at the very beginning" in Refugio County because it had taken so long for funding to come to the small community.

The local affiliate of Habitat was given temporary permission to expand its services to Refugio while the Harvey recovery effort continues, Staley said. The group is expecting to open a mobile office there next week. The office will be located at 305 N. Swift St. in Refugio, outside of the Refugio County Community Center. Habitat's work in Refugio County will be headed by Ashley Jett, and Habitat plans to hire at least two additional employees to work on the ground in Refugio.

Habitat will initially focus its work in Refugio on the homes so badly damaged that they need to be totally rebuilt, Staley said. If funding allows, Habitat will expand to do additional repair work.

Ciara McCarthy covers local government for the Victoria Advocate as a Report for America corps member. You can reach her at [email protected] or at 580-6597 or on Twitter at @mccarthy_ciara.

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