Chronicle Reporting Shows Ike Damaged 50%+ Of Houston's Apartments - 150 Complexes Severely Damaged

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Hurricane Ike's fearsome winds damaged more than half of Houston's 2,000 apartment complexes, tearing off roofs, tumbling walls and wreaking havoc on buildings with a history of decay and neglect, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis of new city data. Nearly 150 apartment complexes — home to more than 93,000 renters — were damaged severely. Most of those apartments were located among the city's most vulnerable neighborhoods, where blight already had driven many buildings into disrepair even before the storm, according to the data.

Although many residents have resolved to rebuild their homes and resume their lives, others were driven into federal aid programs or new complexes, where the damage was less severe. "Many of those (apartments) we were looking at because of maintenance issues had sustained considerable damage," said Doug Anders, a Houston police officer recently tapped to push for better coordination among the various city departments with apartment inspection responsibility. "The materials are falling apart to start with, and the wind comes along and tears them down the rest of the way," he said.

Apartment damage could be particularly widespread in Houston. More than half of its residents rent, and the city has a glut of older, low-income units that grew during Houston's boom three decades ago, when many apartments were built quickly to accommodate housing demand.

Mayor Bill White in recent months has ordered increased scrutiny of multifamily structures, pledging $1 million a year in new staff after the Houston Chronicle earlier this year documented substandard conditions citywide.

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hurricane/ike/6069431.html