Hurricane Rita Housing Program Round 2

Project Description

In the wake of Hurricane Rita, the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) received an appropriation from the HUD CDBG Program for the repair and reconstruction of housing damaged from the storm.  TDHCA hired ACS, Inc. and the Shaw Group as Program Managers to administer $190M in disaster recovery funds along the Texas Gulf Coast.  Known as THAP Round 2 locally due to how the funds were allocated, the Program Managers solicited, hired, and directed JWTC on the rehabilitation and reconstruction of homes in the disaster area.

The $190M program received over 2000 individual applicants with a construction split of 1900 reconstruction and 290 rehabilitation projects.  JWTC was selected as a pre-qualified contractor based on our capability and experience with both rehabilitation and reconstruction services and our experience with HUD CDBG programs.  All construction projects were awarded individually and are required to be completed within a 90 day schedule.  JWTC’s average construction time was the best of all contractors participating in the program, with an average of 17 days.

The majority of the projects in the area are awarded to low income and elderly residents, requiring special considerations in terms of accessibility for older adults and care in handling the needs of lower income groups.

The project scope includes developing scopes of work for individual project, bidding and documentation, implementation of a data management system, conducting site visits, building code review, preparing bid packages and bidding, attending pre-bid conferences, contract award, attending pre-construction conferences, conducting necessary construction, submitting invoices for progress payments, project closeout and homeowner evaluations.