Board Member Reflects on Rebuilding Housing in Galveston
After Hurricane Ike hit Galveston, thousands of people lost their homes. But the state of Texas didn’t spend the disaster recovery funds it received in an equitable way. Below is Texas Appleseed board member Allan Van Fleet’s telling of what happened on the Island in the wake of the hurricane, and how Texas Appleseed helped direct disaster recovery funds to the families who needed them most.
My grandparents moved to Texas at the turn of the Twentieth Century, and I grew up in Huntsville and San Marcos. The first family vacation I can remember was spent in a cramped trailer on East Beach on Galveston Island.
It may be trite, but I became a lawyer because of To Kill A Mockingbird : I wanted to make a difference in the still-segregated South. African Americans protesting in 1967 to finally integrate Huntsville public schools were jailed less than a block from my house. I could hear them long into the night.
I have practiced litigation and antitrust law for nearly 40 years. Lately I’ve been mostly teaching, writing, and doing pro bono work.
I joined the Texas Appleseed board of directors in 1998. Gib Walton, the late former President of the State Bar of Texas and a founding director of Texas Appleseed, came into my office and said, “I’ve got your next community service gig.” I’ve been on the board ever since.
What I love about the organization is that the project directors – and the board directors – get out there and get their hands dirty in the work. They don’t just write reports and pontificate from the comfort of their offices. I got to participate in this innovative advocacy approach in the wake of Hurricanes Ike and Dolly.
The hurricanes hit in 2008, and the devastation was widespread. My home received some damage from Ike and I spent a few nights in my downtown Houston office, where the power came back first. But all in all I was very lucky personally. Few Houstonians know how hard other communities were hit.
I was dismayed by the way the state government rolled out relief allocation. It was as if it were a meteorological map exercise: they left so little to the people who were hurt the most. I was even more dismayed when I understood that some people in Galveston wanted to use the disaster to keep African American residents from returning to the Island.
Maddie Sloan is Texas Appleseed’s Director of Disaster Recovery and Fair Housing Project. Beginning in 2009, I had the privilege of working with Maddie to redirect disaster recovery money to rebuild public housing. We met with Mayor Jaworski and the forces of light to rebuild housing in a way that was inclusive. It was a lot of work. In addition to working with the Mayor, we met with housing officials and participated in town hall meetings. During that time, it was hard to see neighbors so bitterly divided over the issue. The Island had lost its “Live and Let Live” attitude.
Not everyone believed that rebuilding integrative public housing was the right thing to do. Mayor Jaworski lost his re-election bid over the issue, and he was a true profile in courage. When we couldn’t make any more progress at the local level, Maddie and I worked with state and federal housing agencies to convince the new Mayor and Council to rebuild public housing on the Island. The prospect of losing $250,000,000 will focus the mind.
I spend a lot of time on the Island these days. I am becoming a part of the community. Other people have been waiting for 8 years to come home. When I see the attractive, well-built housing going up for low-income Galveston residents, I feel such pride in the work Texas Appleseed did. Not only are people finally able to come home, but that culture of inclusiveness is returning. I like to think that Atticus Finch – of both novels – would smile.
This post is part of Texas Appleseed’s 20th anniversary celebration. Between now and the end of December, we’re celebrating 20 of our proudest accomplishments. Learn about the rest of our work here and on social media.Donate nowif you want to support the next 20 years of fighting for justice.