Recovering From The Flood

Recently, the Community Disaster Recovery Coalition of Miami, Oklahoma has been concerned about the impact of the flood on long-term housing recovery. Temporary housing (mobile homes) provided by FEMA, will soon be suspended. The Tulsa HUD office worked with the Miami Housing Authority to propose a strategy to address the issue.

Jack Trask, Executive Director, met with the group to offer assistance and strategy. Discussion involved the development of a housing group to negotiate with FEMA for acquisition of the mobile homes and discussion with the City of Miami to support low/moderate income housing development.

Trask also proposed partnering with local tribes to find solutions to the limited supply of affordable housing in the City of Miami. The community accepted the challenge and will continue to pursue long-term housing solutions with the Miami Housing Authority and the City of Miami.

Tulsa's HUD office has been working with the Miami community in its development of a long-term recovery strategy. In partnership with the Ottawa County office of the United Way, headed by Tisha Abell, Executive Director, the community formed the Community Disaster Recovery Coalition, a non-profit organization.

The Coalition includes the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference, the Boys and Girls Club, the Salvation Army, Mount Olive Lutheran Church, First Methodist Church, First Christian Church and several other local churches.

Also included is the City of Miami, representatives of FEMA and Oklahoma Emergency Management. The Coalition received funding for operations from the local churches to enable it to have administrative staff and volunteer outreach workers.