Sept. 2, 2005, 10:11PM
18,000 apartments across the state open to evacuees
Requirements waived, making families eligible to get voucher
By POLLY ROSS HUGHES
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN - An estimated 18,000 vacant apartment units statewide opened for hurricane victims Friday when the federal government waived special income requirements, Gov. Rick Perry announced Friday. Families eligible for Federal Emergency Management Agency financial aid can receive vouchers to move into the apartments.
The governor sought the Internal Revenue Service waiver as the state mobilized aid for those fleeing Hurricane Katrina. "We will do all we can as a state and a people to help our neighbors to the east who have lost so much," Perry said.
The effort to move as many hurricane evacuees out of shelters and into more permanent housing coincided with more than 15,000 beds opening up in shelters stretching from Austin to Corpus Christi to El Paso, the governor's office said.
"We're just trying to cut through the red tape for them and get them permanent housing. Obviously the Astrodome is not a permanent home," said Perry spokesman Robert Black.
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