Media Stop

Published on November 28th, 2017 | by David Morales

0

Habitat for Humanity Hammers Back

Habitat for Humanity is reaching out and discussing ways we can rebuild after hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. Experts say that estimated damages may top $200 billion. But can you really put a price on losing a home or everything that you own in one disaster? With the help of local Habitat for Humanity offices in Texas, Florida and the Caribbean, Habitat is assessing the shelter and housing needs in areas impacted by the hurricanes, but long-term housing repair and construction plans will depend on the level of support received from donors, volunteers, corporate partners and other community organizations. That is why Jonathan Rockford joins The Hype Magazine from Houston to kick off the repair and rebuilding phase of Habitat’s Habitat Hammers Back hurricane recovery initiative.

I understand that you’re joining me from Texas in the efforts to reconstruct Houston after Hurricane Harvey

That’s right, we’re here in Houston but really to announce how Habitats going to hammer back our response to both Harvey, Maria and Irma. So, we’re announcing today a goal of helping more than 2,000 families across Texas, build back after Hurricane Harvey, more than 2,000 families across Florida build back from Hurricane Erma and more than 2,000 families in Puerto Rico build back from Hurricane Maria.

What’s the average cost for each family who lost their home?

It really ranges across the region. In Texas, many of the families were flooded they’re going to get some FEMA payments but that won’t be nearly enough to cover the gap and we think it’ll be between $25,000 and $30,000 per family probably to rehab these homes and get them completely back in action across Florida. It’s a whole range from repairs where some families just need a new roof to other families that are going to need complete rehabs or a reconstruction and Puerto Rico it’s a whole mix. We’ve got a first phase which our shelter repair kits where we’re actually helping families because the whole infrastructure is destroyed. They will be able to do simple repairs to get dry at least in the near term and then as we’re doing damage assessments, we’ll start that next phase of doing a reconstruction.

Puerto Rico was hit with two hurricanes, what kind of damage are you looking at in Porto Rico?

Puerto Rico is just devastating. The electric grid is down, the clean water is scarce and there are tens of thousands of homes that have been destroyed or badly damaged. So, it’s going to be years of rebuilding. There’s a huge amount of work to do.

How can we get involved?

We would love for people to join in this effort to help Habitat Hammer Back if people go to habitat.org. We love advocates, donors, supports. We actually need to raise still a lot of funds. We’ve raised about $15 million so far. We estimated we’ll take about $100 million dollars to complete the level of response that we’re aiming for and so we are still in fundraising mode. But there are also lots of other ways people can help as well.

Where can we go for more information?

So, if people go to habitat.org, you can learn about what habitat is doing in each of the areas more about the damage and more about how to get involved and you can learn more about how some of our wonderful partners like General Motors have been helping catalyze this response and getting involved with us to help build back.

 


Tags:


About the Author

is the Executive Editor of The Hype magazine. A graduate of Eastern Michigan University, David has a background as an artist manager, writer, blogger, drummer, and in the human services industry. He is passionate about helping others, learning and has a deep empathy for the creative process. You can follow his social media @dcypherstudios


Comments are closed.

Back to Top ↑