My name is Clanton Beamon and I am Executive Director of the Delta Housing Development Corporation (DHDC), based in Indianola, Miss. DHDC is a nonprofit minority corporation chartered in 1971 in response to the devastation caused by a tornado on February 7th of that year. DHDC currently owns and manages 249 units of multifamily housing in three Mississippi counties.
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| Clanton Beamon, Exec. Dir., Delta Housing Development Corp., Indianola, Miss. – Courtesy of Fannie Mae Foundation |
In response to Hurricane Katrina, we at Delta Housing Development Corporation, like many housing, religious, and other organizations across the region and the nation, are trying to do our part.
On September 1, 2005 DHDC had a total of 18 vacancies. We contacted USDA Rural Development and requested authorization to waive standard requirements of waiting lists, security deposits, credit checks, and income verifications in order to place Katrina evacuees on priority basis. I received word the same day that the national office of USDA’s Rural Housing Service had already sent directives to its state offices with instructions on how to assist Katrina evacuees in USDA-financed housing units, and we have since filled our 18 spots.
I next contacted National Equity Fund and Mississippi Home Corporation to
get authorization to house evacuees in our Low Income Housing Tax Credit development, where we had six vacancies. The request was approved immediately.
On Friday, September 9, 2005 we received notification from the Foundation of the Mid-South that DHDC had been designated to receive funds from the Walton Family Foundation and disburse them to families and churches that are providing housing and food to the evacuees.
Additionally, we have been collecting donations from local churches to assist families with utility deposits, collecting food and clothing, and partnering with other groups, such as the local Community Action Agency, to provide families with rental assistance.
I would like to share my first encounter with a family displaced by Hurricane Katrina. On Friday, September 2 nd, I met with Doris, a single mother, and her ten children. Through our conversation I determined she was living in an apartment owned by the New Orleans Housing Authority and supported by Section 8. I reasoned that there was a good chance she would receive another Section 8 voucher at some point in the future and invited her and her family to stay in a four-bedroom apartment we had vacant. I told her we were going to have to walk out on faith in hopes that help would come later. She was very appreciative and very emotional. So was I.
This narrative is excerpted from testimony presented to the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee’s Housing Subcommittee on September 15, 2005. The full testimony is available at http://financialservices.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=414.
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Posted: September 21, 2005.
