Ike’s anniversary is coming up, an event which will be well-covered locally. We’re doing out part with the September 10 issue; until then we’ll be posting some Ike-related items to whet the appetite.
In the 1950s the famous comedy team of Abbott and Costello developed what is probably their most popular routine, “Who’s on First.” The premise of the comedy routine is that Bud Abbott is identifying the players of a make believe baseball team for Lou Costello, but the team players names, for example “Who” is the name of the person playing first base and “What” is the name of the person playing second base, come off as non-responsive answers to Costello’s questions.
The routine went something like this:
Costello: “Do you know the name of the first baseman?”
Abbott: “Who’s on first.”
Costello: “That’s what I’m asking you, what is the name of the person who plays first base?
Abbott: “No, What’s on second. Who’s on first.”
On September 13, 2008, my house, along with thousands of others, was heavily damaged when Hurricane Ike swept through the Gulf of Mexico with the surge of a category four storm and landed in Galveston Bay. I spent the better part of the following year working with FEMA and the Houston Housing Authority (HHA) while my home was being rebuilt.
During this period there were times when I felt as hopelessly lost in a bureaucratic system filled with a comedy of errors as Costello did in trying to interpret Abbott’s explanation of the fictional team roster. In my attempts to navigate the process of acquiring transitional housing, more often than not, like Costello, I found myself back on first base.
I’ve used America’s favorite past time as an analogy to describe the sequence of events that took place in my own version of “Who’s on First.” In an attempt to stay in character, and protect the innocent, I have replaced the given names of the HHA staff with those used by Abbott and Costello.
September 13 — Hurricane Ike hits Galveston Bay.
The song “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” plays in the background as the announcer takes the mic.
September 22 — FEMA/HHA establish the Disaster Housing Assistance Program-Ike (DHAP-Ike) to help citizens displaced by Ike find temporary housing.
The players enter the field.
September 23-October 30 — Worked with FEMA/HHA to qualify for temporary housing.
The Governor throws out the ceremonial first pitch. Play ball.
November 3 — Went to HHA office and met with occupancy technician (OT);
given paperwork to start the process. Batter up. HHA has the home team
advantage.
November 4-10 — Tried to find housing. Was told by apartment locators that
apartment complexes in the Clear Lake area refused to work with HHA
because it was too difficult to get paid. Strike one.
November 10 — A colleague at the university offered to let us rent her
townhouse. She agreed to work with HHA despite warnings about delayed
payments. It’s a hit.
November 11 — Mailed the paperwork to OT at HHA. Faxed over copies as a
backup. Batter runs to first base.
November 23 — Discovered the OT had not received the fax or the mailed
copies of paperwork. Held at first.
November 24 — Remailed copies of paperwork. Told to provide additional
paperwork to HHA person who processes the leases.
New batter is in the box.
November 26 — Mailed/faxed new paperwork. Batter bunts and races to first.
December 4 — Discovered that the paperwork never reached the person who
processes the leases at HHA. What! First-base runner heads for second
but is caught in a rundown between first and second basemen.
Was able to get lease processor on the telephone — no easy task. This
time I was provided with an e-mail address — an even harder task. I
scanned all of the paperwork and sent it via e-mail. First baseman
drops the ball and runner steals second.
December 18 — Met HHA inspector at the prospective rental property. The
property passed inspection. I was assured that once the paperwork was
processed, I would be approved to move in. How long to process the
paperwork? I Don’t Know is playing third base; runners are holding at
first and second.
December 20 — Called HHA to try and get permission to move in time for
Christmas. Could not reach OT. Was told by two different Option 3
Operators that I could move in now because I had passed the inspection.
Skeptical about making the move without official permission from OT, I
called the DHAP-Ike number and learned I had been reassigned to a new
OT. Left messages for OT #2, but could not get her on the phone until
Dec. 22. Given approval to move in Jan. 1, 2009. Batter strikes out
swinging at a slider in the dirt. Second base runner advances to third
hoping for a hitter to bring him home.
January 1 — Moved into approved temporary housing. It’s a long drive to
right field. Runners slide into home and they SCORE!
January 28 — Landlord
called to say she has still not been paid for January rent. Tried to
call OT #2 to find out why. Left messages. Phone calls not returned.
Called DHAP-Ike number, learned I had been reassigned, again, to a new
OT. Swing batter, batter.
February 1 — Called OT #3 to find out why my landlord had not been
authorized payment through corporate lodging. She couldn’t find my
paperwork. Asked to meet with her in person to bring paperwork and
insure it would not get lost. Relief pitcher can’t find the zone and
walks batter to first.
February 5 — Met with OT #3 to deliver paperwork.
She said she would have it fast tracked. It’s a fly ball and the crowd
goes wild.
Before I left the parking lot, a telephone call came through asking me
to phone the HHA person responsible for appraising/approving leases.
Left fielder catches the ball at the warning track and throws the
runner out at second.
Instead of returning the phone call, I went back inside. Appraiser was
sorry, but we would have to move out and find new temporary housing
because she couldn’t verify what a comparable townhouse in the area
rents for using the Houston Area Rental (HAR) website.
Foul Ball!
HAR only lists properties that are available to rent. Because Hurricane
Ike displaced so many people in our area, most of the available rent
property was taken. This meant HAR had very few listings available for
our area. To find out what comparable property in the area rents for
would require individual phone calls to individual properties. A more
time consuming task to be sure, but hardly more time consuming than
moving an entire family out of housing it had taken more than three
months to acquire and asking them to start the process over. More
importantly, why was HHA processing us for appraisal after we’d already
been approved to move in?! As a consolation, she said this doesn’t
usually happen after a family had been living in a place for a month.
It usually happened after they had only been in for a day or two. This
was the moment of a major league meltdown — the point where the team
manager finally loses it with the umpire during an obviously rigged
game.
The manager and umpire exchange heated words; manager kicks dirt on the
ump’s shoes. The lease appraiser agreed to allow me to work with her to
find comparable rental property to use as a means of appraisal. Spent
the rest of the afternoon tracking down rent rates. E-mailed them back
to HHA. Received reply e-mail that she had also been able to track down
rates for comparable housing.
Batter is back in the box.
February 6 — HHA said we can stay in the townhouse. Batter hits the ball
out of the field. March 5 – HHA Corporate Lodging pays landlord rent.
HOMERUN!
March 7 — Contacted by a new person at HHA who was checking in to see
if I, as a Hurricane Ike victim, wanted to apply for temporary housing
assistance. “Who’s on first!?”
In the months following, there were other similar incidences. It wasn’t
until June 2009 that we were resettled in our own home.
Abbott and
Costello’s routine to identify “Who’s on First” ends with a stumped
Costello finally blurting out, “I don’t know, and I don’t care.” I’m
lucky to live in a country that does care. In the last 10 years alone
Houston has dealt with direct hits from Hurricane Ike and tropical
storm Allison as well as refugees from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and
Gustav. So, how is it a crises rescue system experienced with so many
disasters operates so inefficiently and, more importantly, how can we
make it better?
As it happens, I’m in a position to offer some
suggestions:
• The appraisal step should clearly take place prior to approval, not
after. No one should ever be placed in a home and then be told to move
back out – whether one month or one day after finally getting settled.
• Electronic file sharing would help keep paper files from getting
passed around from one person to the next. No wonder my files kept
getting lost.
• And speaking of getting lost in the system, a family
should have the same occupancy technician/caseworker without being
passed around like so many file folders.
This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 2, 2009.