Lawsuit: FEMA discriminated against poor in doling Dolly aid

HARLINGEN — Four months after Hurricane Dolly, Jose Gonzales' home remains in complete disrepair.

The roof still leaks.

Mold has sprouted in some areas.

And the 50-year-old and his wife have been forced to cede entire rooms to the destruction, pulling out furniture, carpeting and other belongings to protect them from further harm.

"If I could get up and fix it myself, I would do it," said Gonzales, a quadriplegic. "But I can't get depressed. If I do, it will only seem worse."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency denied hurricane aid to the Gonzaleses - and to more than 10,000 other low-income Rio Grande Valley residents - on the basis that their homes had sustained "insufficient damage" to warrant government assistance.

Now, 14 of those homeowners and social justice advocacy group La Union del Pueblo Entero, have sued the agency in a Brownsville federal court.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday, they demanded an explanation of how FEMA determines eligibility for aid and asked it to reconsider their requests for help.

In many cases, FEMA has blamed the damage Dolly caused on the fact that their homes were poorly constructed and maintained even before the storm hit, according to the suit.

Explanations like that amount to an "institutionalized policy of discrimination against poor people," said attorney Jerome Wesevich of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, the organization representing the homeowners.

"The people in the Valley did not choose to be hit by Hurricane Dolly," he said. "They did not build cheap homes or defer repairs hoping that some day they'd get hit by a hurricane and get assistance.

"They need disaster relief and they need it quickly."

FEMA guidelines allow for emergency assistance that would bring storm-affected homes up to minimal building codes, even if that would improve the house from its original condition.

But Maria Gallardo would just be content to have her home the way it was before.

Water now streams down the interior walls of her austere San Juan residence every time it rains. Dolly tore part of the roof off the building and completely collapsed the room where her daughter and three young grandchildren used to sleep.

FEMA inspectors visited the Gallardo house soon after the storm and told her the building was unsafe to live in, according to the lawsuit. But in September, she received a letter saying the home had sustained insufficient damage to warrant aid.

Two months later, her daughter has moved out. The house reeks of mildew and rotting carpet. And Gallardo worries every day that the growing mold problem will sicken her and her husband.

FEMA spokeswoman Ashley Small declined to comment on Gallardo's specific situation or that of any of the other 13 plaintiffs, but Small said the agency has granted more than $44 million in individual assistance to South Texas homeowners since Dolly swept through the region in July.

Gonzales, the quadriplegic Harlingen resident, just hopes some of that money will come his way soon.

Living off an annual income of less than $9,000 in food stamps and state disability payments, it's unlikely he and his wife will be able to afford the estimated $8,000 of needed repairs anytime soon.

"Us poor people, we didn't get the help we expected," he said. "Now what are we going to do?"

A hearing date on the lawsuit has not yet been set.

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Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.