Houston woman receives keys to new home more than 5 years after Hurricane Harvey destroyed her old one
HOUSTON - A Houston woman received keys to a new home Tuesday after Hurricane Harvey destroyed her previous house.
"I didn’t show it, you’re not supposed to, but I was miserable," said Dorothy J. Diggs.
BACKGROUND: Great-grandmother in Houston struggling in home damaged by Hurricane Harvey 5 years ago
We first did a news report with Diggs in August, five years after Hurricane Harvey hit Texas. Ever since the hurricane, Diggs had been living in the house off Bay Cedar Drive filled with mold and rats. The plumbing didn’t work, and she had no insurance.
"I was doing what I had to do, because I couldn’t do no better," said Diggs. "I’m sure the people living like that right now are going through the same thing I went through."
According to Diggs, she applied submitted paperwork through the city for help soon after the storm.
""The earliest I was approved was 2018," said Diggs in an August interview. "They’ve been putting me off ever since."
A spokesperson from the Texas General Land Office says they approved construction on the new home last January. However, paperwork and permits slowed down the process. Soon after our second story with Diggs aired in September, the 79-year-old was moved into a hotel, so demolition could begin.
RELATED: Great-grandmother waiting on paperwork to reconstruct home damaged by Hurricane Harvey
"[The news reports were] really helpful," said Brittany Eck from the Texas General Land Office. "Sometimes you have to draw attention to these hiccups to the system. It really did help push that forward."
Eck says the General Land Office has $5.7 billion for Hurricane Harvey recovery funds. So far, they’ve re-constructed more than 7,000 Texas homes damaged by Harvey, including at least 1,000 in Harris County. However, she estimates roughly 400 people in Houston continue to wait for the process to play out.
MORE HURRICANE HARVEY COVERAGE
"We have about 400 people left in the pipeline," said Eck. "Some of those are individuals that haven’t responded to our inquiries for documentations. The money is available to us. We want to be able to use it. It doesn’t do us any good [to not use it]. We want to make sure we get those applications completed, so we can build houses."
On Tuesday, Diggs received keys to her new home. The great-grandmother says she’s thankful for all of the people who helped her, and she plans to live here for a long time.
"I was hoping and praying [this day would come]," said Diggs. "A lot of people have hands on it. I can’t thank them enough. I’ll be here until God calls me home. I’ll be here."