Vaccine Distribution Update, $159M in Rental Relief approved

COVID-19 Vaccine Information

If you received your first shot of the Moderna vaccine from the Houston Health Department, you will be contacted by text message and email with information to schedule your second dose. The messages contain a survey link for people to self-register for a second dose appointment.

People with internet or technology challenges and those who don’t receive a message should contact the COVID-19 call center at 832-393-4220 approximately 48 hours before Moderna’s recommended 28-day due date.

Other Sources

Harris County Public Health (HCPH) has opened its own waitlist. This waitlist is not first-come, first-served, and anyone is able to register at this time. As HCPH receives new doses, registrants will be randomly selected from the eligible groups, prioritizing 1A individuals and those who are elderly. Supply is limited due to demand. Wait times could be weeks - if not months - based on availability and distribution phases. If you have an opportunity to receive the vaccine elsewhere, please do so.

A mass COVID-19 vaccination center, run by FEMA staff and supported by the Texas Division of Emergency Management, is planned to open on February 22 at NRG Park. The city will be working collaboratively with Harris County along with our state and federal partners to ensure efficient and equitable vaccine distribution regionally. Details on how to register for this location will be shared as soon as the information is received.

Additional vaccine providers may be found through the Texas COVID-19 Vaccine Provider Location Map, but be sure to call ahead to learn if vaccines are available. HCPH has also collected a list of local providers.

City/County Rental Assistance

Today, city council passed the city's share of the joint City of Houston/Harris County $159M pot of rental relief dollars. This collaborative program will be administered by BakerRipley and Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston at HoustonHarrisHelp.org.

Renters may apply for help in paying rent that’s past due as far back as April 2020, as well as rent they know they can’t pay in the future. The rent will be paid to landlords who enroll their properties in the program. Additional assistance is available for past-due utility bills (electricity, gas and water). If a renter’s landlord doesn’t choose to participate, help may still be available through a direct payment to the renter.

The program will prioritize applicants in the lowest-income bracket and those who have been unemployed for at least 90 days. It will not operate on a first-come, first-served basis. Landlords may enroll beginning February 18, with the application portal opening for renters on February 25.

Other Assistance

The State of Texas will also be launching a new relief program to help Texans who have been struggling to pay rent and utility bills, offering more than $1 billion to eligible residents. The application portal is expected to open on February 15 through T exasRentRelief.com.

This program is not first-come, first-served. Applications submitted by February 28 will be reviewed by the state, with priority given to applicants in lower-income brackets or those who have one or more people unemployed in their household at the time of application and for 90 days prior to the application date.

Regulatory & Neighborhood Affairs

Bandit Signs

On Tuesday, February 9, the Department of Neighborhoods presented at the Regulatory & Neighborhood Affairs (RNA) Committee meeting on bandit signs. Bandit signs are advertising signs illegally placed in the right-of-way or on public property. I've heard from plenty of residents about the visual spam these signs create in neighborhoods. The Department of Neighborhoods director reported code enforcement officers removed nearly 44,000 illegally-placed signs in 2020, with 205 citations issued. Several council members offered suggestions to strengthen enforcement and increase the number of citations issued. I look forward to working with the Department of Neighborhoods and the city's Legal Department to address this issue more comprehensively.

If you see a bandit sign please call it into 311 and follow up with my team via atlarge5@houstontx.gov. To watch the meeting click here and as always, the full presentations are available on the RNA website.

New HazMat Unit

Last April, in response to the Watson Grinding explosion, I chaired a joint meeting with Council Member Abbie Kamin where Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña announced the department's ongoing plans to acquire a new HazMat unit. Hazmat Unit 3 was ceremoniously pushed into Fire Station 66 last Saturday, marking the first expansion of the city's Hazardous Materials Response Teams since 1979. The enhancement includes additional staffing of 16 newly trained Hazardous Material Response Team members consisting of four captains, four engineer operators, and eight firefighters.

COVID-19 Wall of Memories

A Houston couple, Mohammed and Ruth Nasrullah, have created a website in remembrance of those who have passed away after contracting COVID-19. Found at covid19wallofmemories.org, the highlight of the website is a virtual wall which holds photos and names of victims of COVID-19, many of which are submitted by friends and family members. The site also has a news page, the COVID-19 Observer, which contains primarily original content written by journalists, journalism students, subject matter experts, and community leaders.

Those who have lost a loved one to COVID-19 are encouraged to submit information to the website. Visitors to the site may also leave condolence messages for individual people or a general condolence message.