Neighbors Helping Neighbors
The ethos of the Hunt Preservation Society (HPS) flood recovery has always been Neighbors Helping Neighbors. What began with local volunteers trying to support the community in any way possible has evolved into a formal set of programs with a growing number of disaster case managers designed to help those in the Hunt and West Kerr area rebuild their homes and lives.
We are pleased to share updated information on our newest housing programs for Hunt and Ingram. Developed and funded by The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill County, the HPS Housing Program for primary residents now includes added assistance for complex repair needs, down payment assistance, RV assistance, and an unmet needs pool to cover those remaining needs not addressed in the other programs. These new programs are part of the Community Foundation’s $40,000,000 Housing Program commitment for primary residents of Kerr County and Comfort announced in late August.
Adjusting Housing Eligibility Requirements
The Community Foundation has funded over $4,300,000 in Hunt programs alone to stabilize the community with emergency relief, health and wellness, housing, and community stabilization programs, including an initial $1,750,000 to fund HPS’s Housing Program. The HPS Housing Program, led by the HPS Community Allocation Committee (CAC), is the heartbeat of our Hunt recovery and provides disaster recovery case managers to support hundreds of impacted residents.
The CAC, utilizing data and feedback from the community and their intimate knowledge of the individual cases, advocated for easing the eligibility requirements for housing assistance. Based on this input, the Community Foundation recently made the decision to increase the Annual Median Income (AMI) eligibility requirement from 120% to 150% for those over 65-years-old, households with children, veterans, and disabled persons, meaning more Hunt and Ingram residents will be approved.
Because of this change in the eligibility scale, we expect a greater number of our impacted neighbors will qualify. This change in the AMI requirement is another example of how the Community Foundation is working together with our team to help as many residents as possible.
Within the CAC, the team is managing recovery cases, drafting grant requests, allocating resources for housing and local businesses, and with the Kerr Together Long-term Recovery Group (KTLRG), driving an engineering grant to repair and upgrade Hunt area water systems. The CAC currently has fifteen homes under construction and twenty-one in the preconstruction stage. The team’s goal is to get at least ten families back in their homes before the end of the year.
Partnering to Extend Funding Resources
With multiple sources estimating nearly a billion dollars in damage across Kerr County and Comfort, it is not realistic to expect the Community Foundation to solely fund the entire recovery of the declared disaster area. To extend and amplify the dollars granted by the Community Foundation, HPS is partnering with volunteer organizations who are actively supporting getting people back into their homes, including Arcadia Recovery Collaboration, Somebody Cares, Reach Global, and Samaritan’s Purse. In addition, HPS is partnering with KTLRG, led by Todd Bock, Executive Director KerrEDC (Economic Development Corporation), and the Community Foundation which funded disaster recovery specialists such as LIFT and Global Empowerment Mission (GEM), to support recovery of area businesses. As the need is beyond what any one organization can solve, it will take creative collaboration with multiple entities to achieve a comprehensive and complete Hunt and West Kerr recovery.
Preserving the Tapestry of Hunt
The close collaboration between the HPS and the Community Foundation has given the team a strong catalyst for recovery. Now that urgent humanitarian and housing needs are stabilizing, HPS is increasing recovery efforts for the rest of the Hunt community.
Over the last 100 years, the camps and Crider’s forged a brand called Hunt, Texas. A few decades later, The Hunt Store was established, strengthening the legacy of Hunt and providing the only local supply of fuel, groceries, and café to feed our locals. The HPS believes strongly that these businesses are critical to the tapestry and social fabric of our community. The mission of the Hunt Preservation Society remains to protect and preserve the beauty and iconic nature of Hunt. This means supporting humanitarian recovery in concert with community revitalization, a purpose aligned with the objectives of the Community Foundation and KTLRG to return the Hunt area to a vibrant community and resilient economy for generations to come.
Flood victims are encouraged to apply for home repair assistance through the Community Foundation’s flood recovery website at RebuildKerr.org, where residents can also sign up for weekly updates on continued recovery efforts.
