NY organization helps families ‘fill the gaps’ when other assistance stops

When a tornado, hurricane or other disaster strikes, there is typically a rush of media attention and emergency assistance. But then, the spotlight shifts and families are left to struggle to fill the “gaps” that remain, on their own.

That’s what happened when Tropical Storm Irene hit the Eastern Coast on Aug. 29, 2011, and flood waters poured out of the Adirondack Mountains through the tiny town of Keene, in northern New York. The area was declared a disaster zone, and even after federal funds and private donations poured in, many families and businesses were still fighting to “stay afloat” months later. Fortunately, Housing Assistance Program of Essex County (HAPEC), which is celebrating its 10th year as a member of the NeighborWorks network, considers filling gaps to be its core mission.

Consider the story of Russ and Angie. The flood waters seriously damaged the stone foundation and first floor of the front section of their modest home, and the back addition with the bedrooms for their two preschool-aged children was destroyed.

The family of four moved temporarily onto the grounds of a local summer camp, while they began repairs using funds from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), community donations and their own retirement savings. However, although they were able to move back into their home in March of 2012, they didn’t have enough money to rebuild their children’s bedrooms, forcing the family to “double-up” in cramped quarters. Government assistance had dried up, and “donor fatigue” had set in, even among their friends. “Our family is at the end of our rope emotionally,” Russ wrote in one email to HAPEC, describing their plight.

A team from Habitat for Humanity joined HAPEC to help
re-build the family home of Russ and Angie.

That’s when HAPEC stepped in. With the help of a NeighborWorks America emergency-assistance grant, the organization helped the family pay off its outstanding loans, prepped the site for the re-build and recruited a Habitat for Humanity team to construct the new shell. Russ and Angie finished the walls and flooring. The finishing touch, again provided by HAPEC, was a wood-pellet stove for heating.

“Given what they had been through, and the exhaustion of their personal savings, Russ and Angie would not have been able to complete this work on their own for quite some time,” says Bruce Misarski, community development director for HAPEC. “Now, their house is ‘whole’ again, and they have bedrooms for their kids.”

HAPEC was founded in 1976 as the first local organization qualified to receive and administer HUD Section 8 rental assistance, which had just been authorized by Congress two years before. Today, HAPEC defines its focus much more broadly: to “alleviate economic distress, enhance personal dignity and cultivate self-reliance” in a rural county where employment mostly depends on low-wage, seasonal tourism and the household median income is 18 percent below the national average.

HAPEC services range from assistance with homebuyer education, to home repairs, to partnerships for the development of affordable multi-family housing. An impact assessment conducted for HAPEC and published in 2011 found that in one year, the organization:

• Created nearly 92 jobs – one of every 200 jobs in Essex County alone.
• Assisted 35 families in purchasing their first home.
• Helped 57 homeowners rehab their existing houses.
• Issued 650 rental-assistance vouchers.
• Managed 25 apartments for senior citizens.
• Provided foreclosure counseling for 44 families.

Alan Hipps, executive director, points to two keys that are instrumental to his organization’s success: effective fundraising – more than $2.5 million a year – and creative partnerships with other institutions, such as Habitat for Humanity and NeighborWorks America. “Our mission is simple, but ambitious: We strive to recognize community development and housing needs, advocate change and respond to opportunities.”

NeighborWorks America Teams Up With Neighborhood Housing Services of Oklahoma City to Help Tornado Victims

By Brian Levinson, public affairs and communications advisor for the midwest region, NeighborWorks America

A fireplace is all that's left of this house in Moore, Oklahoma
Photo credit: Travis Marak

Soon after tornados struck Moore, Oklahoma on May 20, the extent of the devastation was apparent. Entire blocks and neighborhoods were flattened or heavily damaged, including two elementary schools, and 24 people were killed. Less than two weeks later, a second twister with winds exceeding 200 mph struck western Oklahoma City and El Reno, Oklahoma. It killed more than 20 people and went on record as the widest tornado ever recorded.

When the first storms hit, NeighborWorks America staff immediately reached out to Roland Chupik, executive director of Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) of Oklahoma City, to check on staff and clients. As Chupik received preliminary damage estimates, he quickly focused his team on immediate housing issues: helping residents deal with FEMA, insurance companies, mortgage lenders and other organizations that were providing financial assistance.

“The emotional impact of losing your home is almost impossible to imagine. Most homeowners are overwhelmed with that loss, which can make it difficult to shift gears to start the recovery process,” Chupik said. “The NHS staff was not directly impacted by the tornados and has the expertise helping clients deal with government agencies and lenders, so we immediately jumped into action and offered our help to homeowners applying for assistance and completing insurance claims.”

Then, Chupik and NeighborWorks America staff focused on the next need: temporary housing. With 12,000 homes damaged and 1,400 destroyed, creating additional affordable housing units became critical. NeighborWorks America gave NHS of Oklahoma City a $100,000 grant to begin repairs on 15 foreclosed properties donated by J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America.

Front Row, right to left:  Corinne Cahill, deputy regional director, midwest region, NeighborWorks America;  Janet Barresi, Oklahoma State superintendent of public instruction;  Roland Chupik, executive director of Neighborhood Housing Services of Oklahoma City (NHSOKC);  Elizabeth Jones, City of Moore director of community development
Back Row, right to left:  Wiley Rice, chairman, board of directors of NHSOKC;  Linda Rowe, director of home ownership, NHSOKC;  William Fulmer, housing director, NHSOKC;  Ashley Dickenson, neighborhood capacity builder, Neighborhood Alliance of Oklahoma City;  Jared Jakubowski, City of Moore special projects coordinator.

“The NeighborWorks grant will help us immediately start fixing up these homes so that some of the families who lost their homes can have a place to live,” Chupik said. “It will also help us pursue funds from private funding sources, so that we can rehab all 15 homes as quickly as possible.”

The third phase of the recovery effort is focused on a critical, long-term need: storm shelters. NeighborWorks America is working with all three network members in Oklahoma – NHS of Oklahoma City, Community Action Project of Tulsa and Little Dixie Community Action Agency in Hugo – to develop a strategy for building storm shelters for existing single-family home and multi-family projects, as well as incorporating storm shelters into future developments.

John Santner, Midwest Region director for NeighborWorks America, said the collaborative and multi-pronged approach to dealing with the housing needs reflects NeighborWorks America’s commitment to working with local groups who are in the best position to assess community needs, and addressing affordable housing needs in a way that has a long-term, positive impact on residents.

“We are eager to help our Oklahoma network members respond to these devastating storms in a comprehensive way that creates more and safer affordable housing in the communities they serve,” Santner said.

SMHA Promotes Prosperity for Rural Communities

NeighborWorks America is celebrating its 35 anniversary this year. This blog is part of our 35^th Anniversary Celebration series, highlighting NeighborWorks affiliates which are celebrating milestone years marking either their membership in the network or their incorporation as an organization. 

By Brittany Hutson, NeighborWorks
America Public Relations fellow

Since 1969, Southern Mutual Help Association (SMHA), based in New Iberia, Louisiana, has worked to build prosperous rural communities by addressing poverty and equality issues for individuals and families whose livelihoods are dependent on the land and water. This year SMHA celebrates its fifth year as a NeighborWorks charter member.

SMHA has changed a great deal over the years. In the beginning, SMHA tackled political and local issues that threatened the quality of life for sugar cane farm workers in southern Louisiana. The organization advocated for better wages and more access to homeownership. They also established community-based programs.

In the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Denise Galatas, special assistant to the president, says the organization is proud  to have been first responders, especially in isolated communities, where they helped individuals, families and business

SMHA's Assistant Executive Director/Life Quality Director, Helen Vinton, 
(right) with a fisher (left) who received assistance from SMHA
to repair his boat and stay in business

owners navigate through their recovery.

After Katrina, SMHA launched a Rural Recovery Response and raised approximately $10.5 million to rebuild communities across Louisiana. More than 1,500 individual homes, churches and businesses were aided by that effort. In response to the 2010 oil spill, SMHA raised funds to provide fishing business owners with grants and loans to help them stay in business. SMHA is currently working to create a Gulf Coast Fishers Loan Fund so shrimpers, fin fishers, oyster fishers and crabbers have access to affordable capital.

Intracoastal Seafood employees hard at work processing shrimp.
SMHA helped this Vermilion Parish seafood dock continue its
operations following storms in 2005 and 2008.

Galatas says SMHA will continue to create solutions while finding ways to remove barriers to equity. This strategy also includes working to increase knowledge and investment in rural communities. Galatas says NeighborWorks has been an excellent partner in assisting SMHA with its mission. “We have connected with strong and efficient organizations across the country that we may not have otherwise linked up with,” she says. “We have made new friends and partners because of our affiliation with NeighborWorks.”

Learn more about SMHA at www.southernmutualhelp.org.

Recovering from Hurricane Sandy

This blog comes to us from Donna Blaze, CEO of our affiliate Affordable Housing Alliance in Eatontown New Jersey. We thank her for making time out of her extremely busy schedule to share updates on what’s happening in her community post Hurricane Sandy. 

By Donna Blaze
Affordable Housing Alliance, CEO

Monmouth County, New Jersey, is a seaside region and when Hurricane Sandy struck on October 29, it hit hard.  More than15,000 residents in this community have been personally affected by the disaster. Some of their homes have been blown out to sea, while others were in 8 to 12 feet of water and now uninhabitable.  Making things worse, many local restaurants and businesses catering to tourists have had the same catastrophic losses, leaving some both without a home and job.

A boarded-up home in Monmouth County

My nonprofit, Affordable Housing Alliance, had a full plate prior to the storm. We were in the midst of expanding to two offices, constructing five affordable housing developments, and administering a county-wide utility program.  Now, however, we feel obligated to take on more. After all, these storm victims are our friends, our neighbors and our clients.

One of the biggest challenges right now is a lack of temporary housing within the county. Available homes are located in places like Atlantic City – more than an hour away in some cases. For people who have lost cars or who rely on public transportation, this means added stress and time in their daily commutes.

A beachfront home, devastated by the storm

 Unfortunately, this is just one component of what people are struggling with. Many have lost important mortgage and identification documents, complicating their ability to get help. Even those who are lucky enough to have papers and insurance must deal with the absence of family mementos – a baby footprint, a letter from grandma -- many of those little things that make up who you are.

Last week I took NeighborWorks America’s CEO Eileen Fitzgerald and COO Chuck Wehrwein to see what’s happening here. I introduced them to the residents at Union Beach Disaster Recovery Center, which is a combination of local volunteer efforts and FEMA  disaster center.

Chuck Wehrwein and Eileen Fitzgerald
talking to Union Beach center volunteer

I also took Chuck and Eileen to sites where we hope temporary housing can be made available. Fort Monmouth, an abandoned military site, has 600 potential temporary housing units. We had been considering moving our office to this location prior to the storm, and its size and current vacancy make it an appealing prospect. Another location is a manufactured home park with an estimated 16 spaces available. This could be converted quickly to either temporary or permanent (rent-to-own) housing.

Cards sent from schoolchildren in Virginia decorate
the walls of the Union Beach Disaster Recovery Center

Our current focus is to help people understand what options are available to them and to help them make the right decisions. Sometimes we don’t know the answer, but we are working to find out. We appreciate the tremendous outpouring of support and the $100,000 grant from NeighborWorks America. We also appreciate the chance to learn from cities that have suffered similar disasters. For example, Bill Stallworth, executive director of NeighborWorks affiliate Hope CDA, offered good recovery advice based on his experiences in post-Katrina Biloxi, Mississippi. 

It is by sharing our knowledge and our resources that we can return our residents to homes and to the communities they remember before the storm in a more timely way.  

Note: NeighborWorks America recently made grants to organizations affected by Hurricane Sandy, including,  Affordable Housing Alliance ($100,000), Asian Americans for Equality ($50,000), Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City ($50,000), Community Development Corporation of Long Island ($20,000), NeighborWorks New Horizons ($20,000) and Brand New Day ($10,000). Typically NeighborWorks America grants to organizations serving this area have generated more than $50 in direct local investment for every grant dollar awarded, which would amount to more than $12.5 million in this case.

One Year Later: NeighborWorks and Post-Disaster Community Rebuilding

The tornadoes were powerful enough to  not
not only destroy homes but also buildings.

On April 27, 2011, a swath of tornadoes devastated communities across the southeast, resulting in 324 tornado-related deaths across six states. Recently, a NeighborWorks America team spent three days touring a number of affected communities. The visit bore witness to the rebuilding efforts being carried out by local NeighborWorks organizations.

At the invitation of NeighborWorks network member, Community Action Partnership (The Partnership), Congressman Robert Aderholt (Alabama - 4th district) joined the group as it toured sites in his district. “As we remember one-year ago today, my thoughts and prayers are with all those that were affected by the devastating storms that ripped through our state and changed our lives forever,” said Congressman Aderholt. “However the damage, destruction and loss of life that was suffered on April 27, 2011, did not break us...In the wake of such devastation, we came together. The unprecedented storms brought unprecedented coordination between first responders and emergency teams, elected officials and government agencies, and countless relief and faith-based organizations. There were neighbors helping neighbors and oftentimes strangers helping strangers.”

Opening of Housing Resource Center in Phil Campbell, Alabama. (l-r) Relationship Manager Dollie Whittle, Director of Field Operations Robert Burns, The Partnership’s Chief Outcomes Officer Jack Green, Congressman Robert Aderholt and son Robert Hayes, and The Partnership’s Executive Director Mike Tubbs.

NeighborWorks America, through its Southern District, based in Atlanta, has facilitated the development of a comprehensive collaborative service delivery strategy for Alabama that reflected shared goals and incorporated the strengths of key network members. “Faced with a challenging economy and the recent disasters, the NeighborWorks network members thought it was necessary to work collaboratively to provide needed services to communities across the state,” said District Director Donald Phoenix. “The key was to help organizations rally around common challenges and capitalize on each other’s strengths to create market-driven solutions for Alabama residents in need.”

The NeighborWorks organizations helping Alabama communities recover include The Partnership, Neighborhood Housing Services of Birmingham (NHSB), Community Service Programs (CSP), and the Kentucky-based network member Fahe (also known as the Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises).

New homeowner Kim Cole is flanked by
Jack Green, the Partnership and
Congressman Aderholt

In the aftermath of the disaster, CSP’s executive director Cynthia Burton explained that she used funding from NeighborWorks America to provide medical care, gas cards and, in one location, a grocery and resource store for residents.

In West Liberty, Kentucky, 73 businesses were destroyed and more than 400 homes were ruined or made uninhabitable. FAHE is using $50,000 from NeighborWorks America to cover expenses related to food, water, temporary shelter and home restoration.

John Colon, executive director of NHSB, is currently focused on constructing houses that offer additional protection and savings opportunity for residents. “NHSB plans to build two single-family, energy-efficient homes utilizing some of the best building technologies available today,” he said. “In addition to energy efficiency, each home will feature resistance against stronger winds and an underground storm shelter for greater protection."

This forward thinking approach is characteristic of NeighborWorks efforts in post-disaster areas. In our last fiscal year, NeighborWorks America made more than $1.7 million in grants to NeighborWorks organizations assisting in recovery from tornadoes and hurricanes, and we continue to support long-term rebuilding efforts in Gulf communities seven years after Hurricane Katrina.

To read the incredible stories about disaster survival and recovery in Alabama, download this presentation.