Samantha Breeden has not had an easy life. Family problems and academic struggles caused her to quit high school at 17. Several difficult years passed, and she moved to Galveston from Beaumont just a few months before Hurricane Ike took away the apartment she was sharing with her friend. Now 30 years old and the mother of a 10-year-old son, she regrets quitting high school and is still unable to think of the losses she suffered after the hurricane without crying.

Things have been difficult for Samantha and her son. "I got a job at a fast-food restaurant in the summer right before the hurricane," she said. "Everything was all right before the storm, but we lost everything and we couldn't come back to the island. It was so scary. I hope we never have to live through anything like that again." After receiving a voucher for an apartment through DHAP, things slowly began to get better. "There were a lot of places that would not accept the DHAP voucher because they didn't want any "riffraff" in their place, but I wasn't like that," she said. "I just wanted to go to school and get a better job. I want a career and a good life for my son and me."

Samantha is well on her way. She worked her way through GED classes and successfully received her high school equivalency diploma. "I just finished one year of college at Galveston College," she said. "I am going to become a nurse. Without DHAP's assistance, I could not go to college. That's what DHAP has done for me. I go to classes and I have friends who take care of my son. I struggled really hard to get my GED and I finally got it, and it's a struggle, but I'm going to finish college, too."

These days, Samantha is back working at the fast-food restaurant for the summer but intends to return to school at Galveston College in the fall. "In a few years, I plan to be finished with my nursing program at Galveston College and enrolled at Texas A&M to finish my R.N. degree," she said. "I want to get married one day, and have a real career, a happy son and a happy life. I got a late start, but better late than never. In just a few more years, I won't need help from DHAP anymore and I'll be on my way."

Bolivar Peninsula is considered one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Ike. The trauma Galveston experienced as a result of the storm was terrible enough for residents of the island. For Bolivar residents like LDyyan Jonjock, who were not allowed to return to their homes for many more weeks after Galveston residents could come back, the trauma was compounded. Jonjock said she had heard that Hurricane Ike had virtually obliterated Bolivar Peninsula, but she remained in denial about it until she was finally able to return.

For the four years and four months leading up to the storm, LDyyan Jonjock lived happily in Port Bolivar. "I lived in or near Galveston on and off for 45 years," she said. "This is my second home. My family is here. I love this place." She said that prior to the storm, she had been a Health Unit Coordinator at UTMB on the third floor in Labor and Delivery. "I have a medical background going back to 1970. I worked in home health care before that, and I had retired, moved to Port Bolivar, and I owned two homes that I was renovating at the time of the storm."

The day before Ike made landfall, she heard on the radio that the water had risen on Bolivar to almost 22 feet. "I said to myself, it's time to get out. I had to leave with four dogs but the ferry would not let me on with my animals, so I ended up getting a ride off the island in a medical van that was taking a patient to the mainland. I asked to be dropped off at 17th and Market Street in Galveston, and went to my pastor's house," she said. She rode some of the storm out there, and then, when the water rose above her stomach in that house, she was rescued by the police and went with her beloved dogs to Ball High School. From there, she was taken to Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio. "We were treated incredibly well there," she said. "I saw all the stories on TV about what happened on Bolivar. I didn't believe anyone. I just refused to believe that I no longer had anything."

After four weeks, Jonjock finally was able to return to what was left of Port Bolivar. "There were two out of fifty homes in my neighborhood that were left," she remembered tearfully. "I could not understand what I was seeing. I literally had nothing left. I couldn't understand that I didn't even own a coffee cup anymore, not one article of clothing. I didn't have another pair of shoes. I saw my scarf hanging in a tree. I had nothing at all to my name anymore."

After finally contacting her sister in La Marque, she moved in with her and stayed for three months. "Everything was fine there," she said. "I couldn't go back to Bolivar. I bought a car with FEMA funds and decided to help my pastor clean his home, as he did not return to Galveston. I cleaned mud and mold out of that house for three months because he said he wanted to get it ready to rent." After hearing she might be eligible for rental assistance from DHAP, she applied and interviewed for the assistance and found out she qualified. "So after I put my own money into fixing and cleaning the pastor's house, I am the one who gets to rent it!" she said. "I'm still fixing it, but everything works now. I am so happy because I love plants and now I have a backyard. I have planted banana trees and angels' trumpets, jalapenos and tomatoes. I just love to raise plants. I am so happy with what I have now." These days, as she continues to rehabilitate her rental home, Jonjock also fills her days running errands for the elderly, rescuing animals, and volunteering at the Salvation Army. "I have always been a caretaker," she said. "My whole life's history is about taking care of others."

Within the next few years, Jonjock would like to see her roof redone and her house painted. "I'd like to get some pavement in front and really make it beautiful, like eye candy!" she said. "I plan to stop receiving DHAP assistance by the end of September. I hope to purchase this house I'm renting from my pastor because I just want to be a homeowner again, like I used to be. I've been working to stop needing the assistance and stand on my own again." With the help of DHAP and her caseworker, Sherri Hayes, LDyyan Jonjock's independence is just around the corner.

When Cheryl Greaves Hilburn lived in Branson, Missouri, she happily owned and operated a daycare for dogs. From 2000 to 2007, she opened her heart to her canine “children” and particularly loved caring for handicapped animals that were deaf, blind, or had amputated limbs. Illness forced her to move to Galveston to be near her son, his wife, and her newborn grandchild and receive care at UTMB. Hilburn worked as a hostess at Clary’s Seafood Restaurant in Galveston for three months and was doing fine when Hurricane Ike hit.

I was renting an apartment in the home of my son on Avenue N ½ when the hurricane inundated the whole house,” she recalled. “No one knew it would be as bad as it was. I am 64 years old and I was living in the garage of the house, sleeping in a lawn chair. It was absolutely horrible.” After awhile, FEMA helped her with rent money and she went to find a place to live. “I did find a place, but it wasn’t a good one,” she said. Then, Hilburn suffered yet another catastrophe. A few weeks after the storm, she was walking near 45th and S and was the victim of a brutal attack that nearly killed her. “I was beaten horribly, and I was stabbed in the stomach. My attacker was a woman, who was obviously desperate. There was such despair in Galveston at that time,” she said. “But I try to keep that away from me. I had something to do, so I did it. I love a challenge!”

After surgery and three weeks’ recovery at UTMB, Hilburn said that she survived with the help of her heroic women friends who stuck together in the storms’ aftermath to help her survive. “Over a year ago, DHAP approved me to live here in Hitchcock. I got a great deal here. This building passed all inspections and it was completely furnished, which was great because I had lost everything,” she continued. “I am so blessed.” She added that her friend Robert Russell had helped her after her surgery by changing bandages, helping her walk, feeding her, and caring for her. “I could not have survived without those people,” she said.

If not for the additional setback she suffered as a result of the attack, Hilburn would be back at work. As it is, she is unable to lift much or stay on her feet for more than a few hours. “I can’t now, but I will eventually, that’s for sure!” she said. “I heal well, fortunately. I have been healthy all my life. I never drank or had a drug problem. I appreciate my health and I want to get it back.”

Her goal for the next two years is to reopen her doggie daycare in Galveston. “I want to try to get back on my feet, move back to Galveston, and open my doggie daycare. I have applied for every kind of help I can to purchase the building and get it fixed up. I’m on every list imaginable to do that,” she said. “It’s my goal to accomplish this. I don’t want to need DHAP for the rest of my life. I want my own home and I want my life back. I know some people try to use benefits to try to get away with something, but I will do whatever I can to get back to working. I hope people understand that some of us were forced into taking benefits because we had no other support.”

As an experienced employee at the Galveston County Clerk's office, David Johnson is not sure which has caused him most grief, Hurricane Ike or the 2010 local election.

"I was out of work for a couple of weeks after the hurricane," he says, "but a lot of people were fired after the election and I was one. My five-and-a-half years' service didn't matter. I was associated with the clerk so, like the others, I was out. My job was posted the very next week."

His employment at the office also dictated his actions when Ike made landfall at Galveston. "I didn't plan on leaving until the last minute because we weren't let out of work until the day before the hurricane," he says.

Together with a couple of friends, he retreated to Texas City, which, he says, "was better than being on the island but still bad."

Two weeks later, he moved in with friends in League City, where the county clerk's north-county office had reopened. "It was a small office and there wasn't enough room for all of us so we were told not to go in every day," he says.

About three weeks later, the office's island headquarters reopened and David began commuting to work. "The journey was difficult, though," he says, "so I moved into an island hotel to be nearer my work once more."

Meanwhile, he had revisited his Avenue K home to find nothing but devastation. "Everything was a mess," he says. "The landlord took his time restoring the place and I believe it was finished only a couple of months ago. In the meantime, I moved to 12th Street and I've been there ever since. It's nice and quiet and I have my own parking space, which is wonderful."

So will he stay on the island? "As a BOI (someone born on the island), I would like to, but I'll move if I have to," he says. "I'm looking for a new job and am grateful for all the help I'm being given. I've made some good friends along the way. I'm having to start over once again, but God always opens another door."

Although she had broken up with her boyfriend six months earlier, life was pretty good for Betty Cavanaugh in the summer of 2008. "I was earning more money than I'd ever earned before," she says, "and I had just moved into a cute little rent home in San Leon and was looking for a place to buy with my savings. I had two cars, both paid for, and life was great."

But Hurricane Ike brought an emotional distress not confined to the shock of losing her home and much of its contents. "Suddenly, I realized I was alone," she says. "All around, there were people I had helped working with their families to get their lives back together, but I had no one to share my problems with. It was just me. That gave me a really low feeling."

Nevertheless, Betty, who moved to Galveston County just a few years ago, carried on trying to help people in any way she could. "I moved in with a friend in Friendswood and spent several days taking water and ready-to-eat meals to the folks in San Leon," she says. "My house was full of what I can only describe as sewage. It took me quite a time to clean and rinse the stuff I could reclaim, and then I gave most of it away.

Not long after, she learned her generosity had been too hasty. "I had been my boss' caregiver as well as manager and book keeper of his executive-suites business, so it was devastating when he closed down because of Ike," she says. "From working 80 hours a week with a big salary, I had no work and no income. I suffered depression and stopped eating, so my sister took me to her home in Austin."

She stayed until Thanksgiving 2009, when, mentally refreshed, she returned to live with her pal in Friendswood again and applied for DHAP assistance. It was granted in February 2010 and she moved to her present home in Louisiana Avenue, Bacliff. Later in the year, she began a course at College of the Mainland that led to an administrative assistant's certificate in February this year. "It's increased my skills and my software knowledge and I've just obtained a Pell grant to take an associate's degree in accounting," she says.

"My school work is my social life now, but it's exciting. I have two exams to take within a couple of weeks and I'm aiming for top marks in both."

In the early 1990s, Joseph and Deborah Vallair's family migrated to Louisiana to be near Joseph's mother, who was in poor health. They stayed for 13 years, with Joseph working for a local school district and Deborah at a general hospital.

But, when Deborah, a proud island native, fell sick in 2006, they realized she could receive better treatment at UTMB than in their home away from home, so they returned to the island.

After two weeks' hospitalization, Deborah emerged to a new life at Magnolia Homes as Joseph was no longer able to work because of his wife's sudden need for constant care.

Members of three generations of the family lived in a two-storey three-bedroom apartment until Hurricane Ike forced them into a Dallas hotel for some two weeks. When they returned, they found their ground-floor possessions destroyed and a FEMA ban on entering the property to collect their upstairs belongings.

"They wouldn't let us go in, but they only paid out on what was downstairs," Deborah says. "That came to $1,700, so we lost everything but only had compensation for half of it."

The family stayed with one of Deborah's sisters until, in 2009, they found a new home on Avenue N1/2, where they still live.

"We have a nice place but it's so expensive living in private housing," Deborah says. "It's very hard to make sure we can pay the rent, light, gas and water, so I really want to go back to public housing, where you just have one bill for them all and it's less expensive.

"To make it worse, Joseph is ill now, but he won't go to the doctor. That's a big worry for me."

Prospects seemed brighter in Texas, with better-paid jobs, so Gertrude Sonnier packed her bags and left her native Jennings, La., while still young to make her mark in La Marque.

Two decades passed as she worked in restaurants and as a house cleaner before she decided life would be easier still with a move to Galveston. "That was where most of the work was and I didn't want to drive too far each day any longer," she says.

Eventually, she moved to Avenue R1/2, where she was living when Hurricane Ike came ashore. "Two days before the storm arrived, my niece came from Houston and took me back to live with her there," she says. "I stayed with her about a year."

In gratitude, Gertrude gave her niece her washer-dryer, the only thing she managed to salvage from her island home after the hurricane. "The apartment was pretty messed up," she says. "My niece's washer-dryer had broken down, so I gave her mine."

Because relatives were not eligible as landlords under the DHAP program, Gertrude's only assistance for the year she stayed in Houston was a food-stamp allowance.

Now, she's living on Avenue Q1/2 in Galveston and trying to rekindle her career as a house cleaner. "I would like to go on my own, but I need more work to do that," she says. "I only have three houses to clean right now, two of which are on the mainland, one of them in Dickinson, so I'm still on the hardship program."

Part of her plan to escape her hardship is a computer course. "I'm trying to find an adult class to boost my chances of employment," she says.

"I would like to find one quickly because I'd rather not apply for a home in public housing but, if there's no other way, I would do so. Nobody's accepting DHAP clients any longer, so they need public housing. I don't know why some people say they don't want it."

There are two things Kenneth Willis likes to state straight away when asked about his experience of Hurricane Ike.

"I have saltwater in my veins," he says, "and I have EPS – in fact, I'm a charter member."

For the uninitiated – and who isn't? – EPS is empty pocket syndrome. The way Kenneth mentions it and the fact that he does so long before telling how he's lost all five of his right-foot toes to diabetes are big clues to his good-humored attitude to life.

A former corrections officer with Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the island native was diagnosed with diabetes in the early 1990s but did not think it anything other than a minor inconvenience. "I thought I was impervious to that ordinary stuff," he says.

"Man, do I regret that now. I lost my right big toe in 2005 and the other four toes on the same foot at Easter in 2008 – and it's all my own fault."

After leaving TDCJ, he worked as a driver for a national trucking company until his father's failing health brought him back to Galveston in 2001. With the saltwater stirring in his veins, he stayed, took jobs at the cruise terminal and ferry landing and was living on Church Street when Ike arrived.

"I was going to ride it out but, on the Friday morning, my sister took me to our niece's home in north Houston," he says. "Apart from coming back to Galveston when the city allowed us to return, I lived with my niece until New Year's Eve. My apartment had been condemned and I was unable to move out most of my possessions, other than some clothes, mementos and valuable paperwork."

With the New Year came a new home, in a Texas City apartment block, but it was destined not to last.

"In January 2010, all the residents were told we had to vacate by the end of the month because the management was $50,000 behind in water and garbage-pickup fees," he says.

"We thought we were going to be put on the street but the City of Texas City deserves a lot of credit for the way it handled the situation for the residents."

He moved to Avenue O in Galveston and joined the DHAP program in March that year. At first, he hoped to return to work at the ferry landing, but now he's hoping to land a job as a security officer in Texas City.

"Galveston's my home," he says, "but I'll work wherever there's a good job available."

The biggest change in life for Sandra Otems since being forced from her Palm Terrace home by Hurricane Ike is a lack of the great outdoors.

"We used to sit outside and enjoy each other's company, but I can't do that here," she says of her new home on 43rd Street. "The management won't let us sit outside and everyone is confined to their apartment. I've been inside ever since I moved here in February 2009 and I don't like it. We all have to suffer because of school kids coming through the complex and that's not right."

Sandra's story begins after a 35-year stay in Section 8 housing, when she moved to Oleander Homes less than a year before Ike. "I moved there to be with my brother," she says. About six months later, I moved to Palm Terrace so I could have a home of my own for me and one of my daughters."

She stayed at home through the storm, with an uncle and brother as house guests. "It was scary," she says. "But my brother slept through the whole storm, even though I have never heard as many sounds in my life as I did after the eye passed over. Next time there's a hurricane, I'll be on the bus out of here."

During their "hurricane party," the family cooked on a barbecue pit for three days. But life on the island was unsustainable so, eventually, they went to San Antonio for six weeks. When they returned, they lived in the tent city at Alamo School for almost three months before finding rooms at a seawall hotel.

"When Ike came, I had only just moved in and got new bedroom and living-room suites and a television set and now it was all gone," she says.

Sandra's nomadic life was extended not long after by the arrival of Galveston's annual Lone Star Bike Rally. Bikers from across the nation had booked all the hotel's rooms and the management had to evict its DHAP clients for a week while the visitors were in town.

Fed up with moving around, she found the apartment in which she now lives with two of her daughters and a grandchild. "But I really don't like it," she says. "I would like to go back to public housing – anywhere besides here. I don't care what they say about public housing – it was a people place. This feels more like a prison."

To this day, Sherry Rooks still can't quite comprehend her "evacuation" from Hurricane Ike.

The day the storm hit Galveston, she was already in San Antonio with her three daughters and husband, attending a U.S. Air Force graduation ceremony.

"One of my daughters had asked if we could go because she knew someone in the ceremony," she says. "He wasn't a boyfriend and I couldn't work out why she wanted us all to go so, before agreeing, I prayed for guidance. When I learned about the hurricane, I knew it was a blessing, a lesson in talking to God about something I couldn't understand."

Unable to go back to Texas City, the family remained in San Antonio another two weeks until their apartment-block manager said it was OK to return.

"There did not appear to be any damage, but a bedroom had been flooded and there was mold, so the apartment was declared uninhabitable," Sherry says.

She moved to another apartment complex in the city and returned to her online studies for a bachelor's degree in social science with education concentration. "I started the course in 2006 after working for an island charter school," she says. "I had been teaching social studies but I didn't have a certificate, so I had to leave and the course offered me a way back into the classroom."

She graduated last September and is now halfway through a master's degree course in education with specialization in distance learning. In June last year, she also began studying for her teacher's certificate in family and consumer sciences.

"I'm almost qualified and I have applied to Galveston College for a job when I do," she says. "I already teach Sunday school and I just love education; it's my hobby as well as my intended profession. Poverty has its own culture, which endures until you can reach in and pluck a child from it and give him or her an education. That's what I want to do."

Sherry's determination to achieve her dream seems limitless. She is considering studying for a doctorate in psychology after her master's degree and has already joined the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences.

"But I wouldn't have been able to go back to school after Ike if it hadn't been for the DHAP program," she says. "So, in some ways, the hurricane has been a blessing for me because now I can look forward to making a contribution to island life based on my degree. That's priceless."

Claudette Stinson's first encounter with public housing came shortly after she married, when her husband's low wage qualified the couple for a home at Palm Terrace.

Eventually, they managed to move into the private sector, but the house they rented was condemned in 1982 and Claudette found herself a client of the housing authority once more, this time as a resident at Oleander Homes.

After Cedar Terrace was remodeled a few years later, she moved again and was still living there when Hurricane Ike arrived. At first she worked for a seawall restaurant, but she went back to school at Galveston College to earn her GED and then worked as a private sitter for an island resident in poor health. Later, she took a job at her client's family bookstore and then worked for a big-box store before taking a nurses aid course that qualified her for work as a patient assistant at UTMB.

Having been diagnosed with diabetes in 1999, she retired in 2005 and was living as a contented grandmother at the time of Hurricane Ike.

"Before the hurricane arrived, I decided to leave with my two daughters, five grandchildren and my son-in-law," she says. "We went to Texas City, where my son lives, and I stayed with him about a year."

She tried to find a home for herself in Texas City but could not, so she returned to the island and has lived in a Stewart Road apartment ever since, defying the 2009 loss of a leg due to her diabetes.

"I like it here. The neighborhood and the apartment block's management are fine, but I can't wait for the return of public housing," she says.

Her plans for the future also include a new job. "Eventually, I want to get a little part-time work," she says. "I can't drive at the moment, but I hope to be able to do so eventually. In any case, I can go anywhere if my friends are able to give me a ride."

When island native Linda Mathis moved into Oleander Homes in 1996, she was working as a home health provider for the elderly even though she suffered from arthritis. After moving from an apartment she shared with one of her daughters, she carried on working until, in 2007, her doctor ordered her to retire partly because of the arthritis and partly because she had just suffered two hernias and had spent a month on a ventilator.

One year later, Hurricane Ike brought yet more chaos into her life, submerging her first-floor apartment in eight feet of water and taking all her possessions.

"I had a bad feeling about that hurricane from the start," she says. "I left on the Wednesday and went with my sister to Missouri City, where we stayed about ten days before moving to Texas City to stay with my eldest daughter."

That was ten days before she could go back to Oleander and see her apartment for the first time after the storm. "I opened the door and mud came oozing out," she says. "There were dead snakes, rats and frogs and trash everywhere. There was nothing I could save; it was just awful."

During the visit, Linda discovered that an upstairs neighbor who had decided to ride out the storm at home had been rescued by boat. "I've never seen so much chaos in my life," she says. "We lost everything and had to start over. It was so heartbreaking."

One of her most excruciating losses was her wallet. "Someone started using my I.D. and that caused a lot of problems," she says. "I was told I was disqualified for food stamps and had to go to the inspector general to have it sorted out. Later, I was told my card was being used by a woman who was smuggling people across the border. It was a big mess."

In November, 2008, she found the apartment in Dickinson where she now lives and where she would like to remain. "I like it here," she says. "I'm going to stay because I don't want to be swimming when hurricane season comes."

As a mother of two children, Olivia Payton was accepted for a home at Cedar Terrace in 2006 while working as a ticket-office supervisor at an island tourist attraction.

That was just months before she began suffering from a back condition that numbed her hands and, in July 2008, led to surgery to implant a metal plate to prevent a disc pressing down on her upper spine.

She was still wearing the resulting neck brace when Hurricane Ike arrived, forcing her to join the housing authority's evacuation of residents to Bryan.

Three weeks later, her pain forced another move, to her sister's home in Dallas, where doctors could treat her. She put Julia and James into school there for the rest of the fall semester and stayed until FEMA called for her to inspect the damage at her apartment.

"I wasn't allowed to go in because of my neck brace, so my sister went in for me," she said.

Another problem was that Ike had forced the closure of UTMB, where Olivia was due to have two more surgeries to resolve her back problems.

"There were no specialists to treat me, so I still need another plate implant and a third operation to deal with the pain itself," she said.

"The housing authority gave me the choice of moving off the island, but I'm a BOI and I didn't want to leave," she said.

So she stayed in a hotel until finding a new home on 28th Street in June 2009.

"It has three bedrooms and two bathrooms and I cannot complain," she said.

"It's a lot easier in public housing because the electricity bill is included in the rent, but I will wait until the new public housing is built before I decide whether to stay here or move back."

Reunited with her family, Olivia beams when saying her children are both AB honor-roll students, James at Oppe Elementary and Julia at Central Middle, where she is taking credit classes to speed her progress through Ball High and college, where she wants to study to be a psychologist

"We're doing well," Olivia said. "The housing authority and a whole lot of people have been really helpful to us. That goes a long way when you have a lot of stuff coming at you."

Delincia Williams broke a popular mold when she moved from Houston to Galveston in 2005 – she did so to put her two daughters through school at Ball High.

While many islanders are convinced that mainlanders spurn the island as a home because of its school district, for Delincia and her teens, Mercedes and Tyronica, Ball High's reputation was

The two students were avid basketball payers and wanted to develop their skills in the widely respected GISD program, so Delincia brought them to Galveston even though it meant a 54-mile trip to cosmetology school for herself each day.

Four months later, she found a job in an island salon and another, working at night, in a fast-food restaurant, working 80 hours a week to keep her daughters' education on track. Having qualified for public housing because of her own school course, she was now able to pay the rent for the family's Cedar Terrace home and watched contentedly as Mercedes and Tyronica rewarded her faith in them by shining in both their sporting and academic careers at Ball High. "They wanted to join the school's basketball program and I was happy for them to do so because it was more like a family than anything else," she said.

"I didn't have to worry about them and their grades."

But life took a downturn in 2007, when Delincia's appendix burst and, while recovering, she needed shoulder surgery for a condition that prevented her using her haircutting scissors.

Unable to return to work, she was approved for disability payments in mid 2008.

When Hurricane Ike threatened the island, she sent the girls to her mother in Houston while she and her Chinese pug, Justice, traveled with some neighbors via Huntsville to Sulfur, La. Within days, Justice died, so Delincia returned to Houston, where she stayed with a cousin for 10 days before making it back to Galveston and a three-month stay in a seawall hotel.

"We spent two days in the WalMart parking lot before moving into the hotel," she said.

"My objective was to keep the girls in school at Ball High but the first few months were a madhouse because of constant problems with FEMA paperwork. We didn't know if the agency would pay the rent each month.

"Eventually, we had to leave the island for a couple of days while it was sorted out, but it's run smoothly since then."

Delincia found her present home, on The Strand, in early 2009 but found her expenses rising sharply.

"We went from $300 a month to pay for rent and utilities to almost $1,000 rent and $300 utilities," she said. "It was very hard, especially with no job any longer."

FEMA paid her deposit and she learned to economize in several ways to keep her expenses down.

"I use less lights, cook little and can't wash clothes every day," she said.

"It's hard, but I'm one of the blessed ones because I qualify for DHAP and my landlord is very kind to us."

In the meantime, her daughters have repaid their mom's faith in them by continuing their education after graduating at Ball High. Mercedes is a math major at Lamar University in Beaumont and Tyronica is studying at Galveston College, planning to become a physical education teacher and keeping in touch with her former high-school coaches.

"I'm very proud of them both," Delincia said. "Moving from Houston to Galveston was the right thing to do for them."

Phyllis Moore has twice in her life lost everything. In 2006, her home at Oleander Homes was destroyed by fire. She had just gotten back on her feet and was living in another unit of Oleander Homes when Hurricane Ike hit. At that time, Ms. Moore had been employed by Texas A&M for eleven years working in the cafeteria. She enjoyed her job and with the assistance she received in housing she was able to make ends meet.

Ms. Moore stayed in Galveston when Hurricane Ike struck. After a terrifying night she was shocked to see the destruction in Galveston. She walked to Ball high School with what belongings she could fit into a shopping cart. She was taken to San Antonio where she waited with everyone else to hear the news about when they could return home. While she was at the shelter in San Antonio, she contracted an infection that made her very ill and delayed her return.

After her recovery, she returned to Galveston to learn her home was deemed unsafe and she could no longer live there. With the help of the Disaster Housing Assistance Program she was able to find temporary housing. With a roof now over her head, she was anxious to get back to her job. After a long month of unemployment, she returned to Texas A&M where she continues to work today. Currently, where she is living in the 2800 block of Ave M getting to work is a challenge. Most days she walks to the A&M campus on Pelican Island. If the weather is bad she treats herself to a cab around 51st street. She says moving is not an option. She is barely getting by and having difficulty making her rent payments where she now lives.

Ms. Moore wants to return to public housing. She notes that most people who lost their homes are back in them. Returning home for her would be a starting point for once again rebuilding her life.

Antoinette Burton calls herself one of the "forgotten ones". She tears up as she describes herself as "just a number" in the debate about Public Housing in Galveston. While the deliberations rage on, she wonders if anyone cares that she is on the verge of losing her housing once the Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP) ends. Over two years ago she never thought she would lose all that was dear to her.

Prior to Hurricane Ike, Ms. Burton was living at Oleander Homes. She had four children and had been working at UTMB for sixteen years. She was "grateful" to have housing assistance and was trying to save enough money to get vocational training. Although she was happy with her job, the wages barely covered her expenses. When Hurricane Ike hit she evacuated with her family to the Dallas Fort Worth area. She stayed with her sister for three weeks while they waiting for news to return to Galveston.

She came back to find everything she owned had been destroyed. She quickly learned that her home was considered unsafe. She battled mold and mud trying to salvage photos and other personal items. Homeless, she turned to the Disaster Housing Assistance Program to find a place for her family. After being placed in a hotel she was notified that her employment of sixteen years had ended due to layoffs.

Upon placement in a DHAP housing things would not get easier. Living with her two sons they started to look for employment. The local economy was in shambles immediately following IKE and they struggled. Around Christmas of 2008 her DHAP apartment failed inspection. She was facing the possibility of being homeless again. Fortunately, she was placed in another unit where she continues to live.

Ms. Burton in the last two years has lost, not only her home and job, but also her Mother. Despite this, she continues forward to re-build her life as it was before the hurricane.

Mr. Simmons is a disabled, 48 year old former Magnolia Homes resident. Currently he resides at the Holland House senior development. Prior to the storm, Carl R. Simmons was not employed due to his disability and lived on a limited income. His main concerns were paying bills and living month to month due to a lack of income. When Hurricane Ike stuck, his limited budget was completely destroyed and without assistance from the GHA he would not have made it. Mr. Simmons is currently living at the Holland House Senior Center and does not have a desire to move. At The Holland House, Mr. Simmons is able to interact with other residents more closely and participate in activities hosted by the Housing Authority.

Yolanda Alvarado is 59 year old resident that was affected by Hurricane Ike. Prior to the storm, Ms. Alvarado was on disability, resided alone and did not have transportation. Upon the storm approaching Galveston, Ms. Alvarado utilized the evacuation assistance provided by the Galveston Housing Authority. As a result of the storm, Yolanda Alvarado has had trouble replacing the furniture that was damaged. She is currently residing at Holland House senior center. Ms. Alvarado is not letting the storm or her disability limit her. Her goal is to find a part time job and continue to reside at Holland House. At Holland House, Ms. Alvarado has forged close friendships with the other residents. She never again wants to go through the destruction and upheaval that came with Hurricane Ike.

Gloria Francisco is a 67 year old resident that was affected by the storm. Prior to the storm, Ms. Francisco resided alone and was retired. She lived in one of the GHA scattered sites. When the storm made land fall, she evacuated to Sugarland, Texas with her son and his family. Since the storm, Gloria Francisco has moved to the Holland House Senior Center. Ms. Francisco would like to return to her original (scattered site) home.