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Habitat for Humanity planning to rebuild homes in Refugio County

An entire complex in the area remains fenced off and abandoned; and in the middle of town, the Refugio Volunteer Fire Station sits with its roof ripped off by Harvey's powerful winds.

Corpus Christi (KIII news) — Habitat for Humanity made a big announcement Monday. They plan to help those still recovering from Hurricane Harvey in Refugio County.

The storm damaged or destroyed more than an estimated 70-percent of the homes in Refugio County. Now, the organization is partnering with the American Red Cross and the Rebuild Texas Fund to inject over $1 million into repair work for low-income families.

The assistance will be a shot in the arm for Refugio County. Just driving around the neighborhoods there, you can see plenty of homes in desperate need of repairs. It's been a slow recovery, and some homes are still barely livable.

Dorey Williams and Commissioner Anne Lopez took 3News down one street after another Monday, showing the damage that still remains.

"Water has come in and saturated the sheetrock on the inside. The ceiling has caved in, and he is living in these conditions still," Williams said as we stopped in front of one home.

An entire apartment complex in the area remains fenced off and abandoned; and in the middle of town, the Refugio Volunteer Fire Station sits with its roof ripped off by Harvey's powerful winds.

"We're used to it now, to come in and see the floor wet and the trucks wet," Fire Chief Don Pullin said. "All the guys do is come in and get their gear out of their locker and leave. We don't hang around because there's mold."

As part of their new partnership, Golden Crescent Habitat for Humanity now aims to spend more than $1 million to focus on homes that are so damaged they will need to be torn down and rebuilt.

"Our commitment is to come in and rebuild 18 homes. However, our prayer is that we can do more homes than that, and do some repair work," said Cynthia Staley, President of Golden Crescent Habitat for Humanity which is based out of Victoria.

The organizations are hoping to make a difference by also bringing in a new RV park, as well as construct new structures for the fire departments both in Refugio and Woodsboro.

"Those are going to be constructed in the next three to six months, serve as shelter for trucks and equipment the volunteer fire departments need," said Cristina Cornejo of the Rebuild Texas Fund.

Habitat for Humanity will remain in Refugio through 2021. They will begin to assess which homes will be rebuilt starting in October.

Qualifying applicants of the new home construction program will need to be legal residents of the U.S., living and working in the counties Habitat serves for at least 12 months prior to their application, and living in inadequate conditions. For more information, click here.

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