Homeowners in Ike program facing liens
For months, the multimillion-dollar disaster housing program, which is meant to rebuild or rehabilitate homes damaged during Hurricane Ike in 2008, has been criticized by residents long displaced from their homes. While homeowners said their houses weren’t getting built, contractors and suppliers said they weren’t getting paid.
Nearly 200 payouts to contractors and their subcontractors were behind in January, said Mark Howard, senior program manager at URS, which is the new program administrator, and by early March, about half of those outstanding bills had been paid.
Subcontractors mailed out thousands of dollars in bills to homeowners to collect, and some homeowners in the program, mostly low-income residents, who haven’t been able to pay the bills have received notice of a lien being placed on their home.
With a new administrator managing the program and an approaching September deadline, city officials said they’re working with URS to pay the outstanding bills, release the liens on the homeowners and speed up the program.
More at http://galvestondailynews.com/story/303470