There are some pictures inside a lot in Hope Arkansas where unused FEMA trailers are stored here. Row upon row upon row. Now, of course, I have no way to verify the report, and it comes second-hand. However, a trucker who delivered some of them claims that they're deluxe units, complete with microwave ovens, new […]
Freelance writer Chuck Hustmyre tried to visit a FEMA trailer park in Baton Rouge and got the run-around. None of the FEMA employees would allow him to interview residents. While a certain part of that is no doubt due to a concern for their privacy, there might also be something else involved.
Named "Renaissance Village", it […]
According to this, NO has inspected 128,000 homes on the east bank, and they will soon raze 2,500 of those. Around another 3,000 were also marked as inhabitable, but their status will be verified before a final decision is made. But:
The vast majority of the homes in the city — about 68 percent — were […]
The NYT reports on canvas and plywood tent cities being constructed in Mississippi. Frankly, they don't sound that overly bad:
The tents, built by the Navy Seabees at a cost of $1 million, can be heated and cooled, and have plywood floors and walls that create an 18-by-32-foot wooden box inside the exterior fabric. They are […]
What with all the talk about more per capita deaths of whites than blacks, NBC seems to have struck back. On tonight's NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams announced - somewhat triumphantly - that racism had been discovered in the housing situation for evacuees. I only caught the last part of the report, and it doesn't […]
St. Bernard Parish president, Henry "Junior" Rodriguez, says they need 12,000 trailers, but only a small percentage of that amount have been set up:
…1,400 trailers are sitting unused in St. Bernard Parish. The parish ordered them from a private contractor days after the hurricane hit on August 29, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency has […]
People who sought refuge outside the 10 states that absorbed most of the evacuees from hurricanes Rita and Katrina may remain in hotels at the government's expense while their applications for rental assistance are processed, officials announced Saturday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency continues to pay for an estimated 42,000 hotel rooms in 47 states and […]
From this:
Evacuees hoping to preserve a government program providing hotel rooms to those displaced by Hurricane Katrina have their day in court on Friday, when a federal judge hears an array of complaints against the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In addition to hearing claims that Katrina victims face unfair and premature eviction from hotels, Judge Stanwood […]
Houston mayor Bill White claims he was "blindsided" by FEMA's decision to (more or less) stop providing evacuees with free hotel rooms starting Dec. 1:
…White also objected to a mandate that refugees move into apartments with three-month leases, noting that few landlords offer such short leases, thereby sharply reducing the number of FEMA-qualified apartments.
"Why would […]
FEMA has spent at least $250 million on hotel rooms for evacuees, and 53,000 families are still staying in rooms. They intend to stop paying for that on December 1.
