YOUR DESCRIPTION HAS REACHED THE LIMIT OF CHARACTERS ALLOWED AND WAS CUT. BEAUMONT- by Haley BullThe Beaumont Housing Authority is moving ahead with plans to modernize Concord Homes after losing out on more than $12 million in Hurricane Ike recovery funds to rebuild them. The agency's original plan was to rebuild Concord homes in Beaumont's north end, then later in Beaumont's west end. But with the use of the funds expiring at the end of this year and no approved plan, the Southeast Texas Regional Planning Commission approved the reallocation of the money from public housing to general housing."We were pulling for Beaumont Housing Authority but it came to a point, we're in the final months of this contract, we had to have an eligible project or risk losing the money and nobody wants that," Shaun P. Davis, the executive director of the Southeast Texas Regional Planning Commission, said.Davis said with no eligible project, the board was forced to reallocate the funds before the December 2015 deadlines. "We were not trying to be obstinate. We presented four very viable options, we compromised as much as we could," Beaumont Housing Authority Director Robert Reyna said, "But quite honestly, I'm very proud of our board, I'm very proud of our agency taking the position that no our word is our bond and even $12.5 million is not worth going back on a promise."The promise, according to Reyna, is to keep Concord Homes, part of a revitalization effort by a number of groups in the north end that's included more than $280 million invested in the revival. Reyna said the agency submitted four plans. The first plan included demolishing and rebuilding the units on the same footprint. The second plan included a mix of public housing units and market rate units on the same property. A third plan included market rate units on land in Beaumont's west end. The fourth plan included both market value and public housing units on land in Beaumont's west end. According to the housing authority, Concord Homes was removed from the application for construction in the west end and would have been rehabilitated with other funding.Reyna said all the plans were rejected by state and advocacy groups.A spokesman for the Texas General Land Office said the Beaumont Housing Authority plans didn't follow federal guidelines. Reyna said three of the four plans could have met federal guidelines, but pointed to opposition from advocacy groups."Easily what the advocates were asking us to do was to not only demolish it, but not rebuild it and make the families that live there move to a place unfamiliar to them. It would impact the schools, it would impact the churches, it would it would impact the neighborhood and it would negatively affect this community," Reyna said.A spokeswoman for the Austin-based advocacy group Texas Appleseed told KFDM News:"We are so deeply disappointed that the Beaumont Housing Authority after being told repeatedly for over two years by the federal government, by the state government, that their plans did not comply with federal law, turned down $12.5 million rather than comply with federal fair housing law. That's money that would have served the needs of the most vulnerable families in Beaumont. This is really a tragedy."The families in Beaumont living at Concord Homes are now forced to wait a little longer to see improvements. Reyna vows the agency is not going back on their word to keep Concord Homes. While they won't have the millions of dollars in aid, Reyna said they'll use money from their own budget to modernize the units in the 60-year old property.The director for the Southeast Texas Regional Planning Commission said they will likely decide what to do with the Hurricane Ike recovery money at its next meetin

• published: 02 Jun 2015
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