Thread by @TexasTribune

1/ Hurricane Harvey caused $125 billion in damages. Applications for two assistance programs are due this month.

Advocates say hundreds of eligible applicants have been turned away for largely bureaucratic reasons — like a state agency losing documents. bit.ly/2Eh6eWV

2/ Christine Lopez first applied for aid in December 2018, but said she learned just last week that she was denied because of missing paperwork.

She maintains the agency lost track of documents she had turned in long before. bit.ly/2Eh6eWV

3/ Lopez and her family are living in a rented RV and bathing about twice a week at a neighbor’s house because their partially restored house lacks hot water. bit.ly/2Eh6eWV

4/ The Texas General Land Office, which administers the federally funded home-repair programs, says Lopez’s claims are “not factual,” and that the agency made repeated efforts to reach her by phone and email to get ahold of her missing paperwork. bit.ly/2Eh6eWV

5/ But Lopez isn't the only person who has had issues with an application.

Local advocates say hundreds of eligible applicants have been turned away, and they’ve laid blame at the feet of the GLO. bit.ly/2Eh6eWV

6/ According to a spokesperson, the agency has already helped nearly 3,000 people in Texas get aid with homebuilding or home repair and expects that number to grow to roughly 10,000 before the programs end. bit.ly/2Eh6eWV

7/ But in Galveston County alone, the agency approved 103 applications for the Homeowner Reimbursement Program and found 400 ineligible, while another 749 remained unfinished. bit.ly/2Eh6eWV

8/8 Lopez says she'll appeal her rejection to the GLO, and that she'll try to remain optimistic even if she's denied again: “Guess what — my family’s already been through hell and back."

Read more from @ewalterstx: bit.ly/2Eh6eWV