Houston Agency Administer Housing Assistance

A small, Houston-based agency with 25 employees has been chosen to administer housing assistance for about 11,000 families around the country who were displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Harris County Housing Authority will pay rent and provide social services to about 6,000 families in the Houston area, 4,000 in New Orleans and neighboring St. Bernard Parish and about 1,000 more families in 37 states, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development officials said Tuesday.

This represents more than one-third of the roughly 30,000 families enrolled nationally in HUD's Disaster Housing Assistance Program, or DHAP.

The HUD program, which began Dec. 1, will require participating families to make gradually escalating payments toward their rent starting in March until the program ends in March 2009. It will provide case management and counseling services to help evacuees find jobs and take other steps to rebuild their lives.