Starr County Housing Authority Dedicates New Federally Funded Complex
RIO GRANDE CITY — Photographs of 4-foot-high waters flooding a neighborhood line the hallway of the new headquarters for the Housing Authority of Starr County in Rio Grande City. The pictures of a July 2007 downpour and the subsequent flash flood that ruined much of the Housing Authority's complex of apartments on Circle Drive are reminders of a trying time that ultimately led to a happy ending. “It dumped about 22 inches of rain within a four-hour period,” said Elmo Moreno, the executive director of the Housing Authority. “The people lost everything. We lost everything.”
The flash flood is what did the complex in. The flood waters were strong enough to move refrigerators and stoves from one side of an apartment to the other. The city condemned the 34-unit housing complex and the residents were left to find somewhere else to live. The silver lining came about a year later. After much prodding from the Housing Authority of Starr County, the federal government promised $5.2 million to build a new complex. Before the flood, the Housing Authority had been trying for years to get money to build better housing because the units flooded every year. “It was an uphill battle; we got the same thing every time: ‘no money, no money, no money,’” Moreno said.
Earlier this month, the Housing Authority had the official dedication ceremony for the 34-unit, gated, 10-acre complex, naming it after someone who had fought the “uphill battle” until funding was secured. Manuel Benavidez Jr., the former president of the board of the Housing Authority, “wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer,” Moreno said. Even when he was going through chemotherapy treatments, Benavidez would travel to San Antonio to meet with representatives from U.S. Housing and Urban Development. “He was never letting up, and in the end, it paid off,” Moreno said.
Benavidez lost his battle with cancer in 2009, but his legacy will live on in the Manuel Benavidez Jr. Housing Complex on Charco Blanco Road. “I think our family is always amazed at the kind of gratitude the community has shown for his efforts, but more importantly we're just really happy (that) things he saw as ways to help the community have become a reality,” said Benavidez’s daughter, Rose Benavidez, who is now on the Housing Authority board and runs the Starr County Industrial Foundation.
Residents in the complex have to meet financial requirements to live there and pay rent on a sliding scale based on income, Moreno said. The apartments include hook-ups for driers and washers and are more spacious than the ones at the previous complex. More than 200 people applied to live in the 34 units. Residents moved into the new apartments in April.
Annais Gonzalez, a technician at a dialysis clinic, said the apartment allowed her to move out of her mother’s house after a divorce. She lives in a two-bedroom apartment with her 5-year-old daughter. “It’s awesome,” she said of the complex. “It’s perfect, very private. Everyone is super friendly around.” The complex is gated and security also roams the property, Moreno said. “We feel very safe, which is great,” Gonzalez said. Moreno said residents express pride in the community, many by decorating the inside and outside of the building and also participating in neighborhood events. Jesus Mireles has covered the walls of his one-bedroom apartment with photos of his children and grandchildren. Mireles, who is on disability and cannot work, said his family enjoys visiting on the weekends. “It’s a very nice place,” he said.
Gail Burkhardt covers Mission, western Hidalgo County, Starr County and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at gburkhardt@themonitor.com and (956) 683-4462.
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