I'd like a free government trailer.
Posted on 10/02/2006 12:49:12 PM PDT by KeyLargo
Nearly 10,000 Empty FEMA Trailers in Ark. Freed up for Other Uses
October 2, 2006
Nearly 10,000 emergency housing trailers in Hope, Ark., that were intended to be sent to the Gulf Coast to help Hurricane Katrina victims have been freed up for other uses.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency parked the trailers at Hope Municipal Airport in the months following the hurricane. The agency came under criticism when the trailers sat empty.
FEMA officials said that regulations against placing the homes in flood plains prevented their use on the Gulf Coast.
On Sept. 29, Congress approved a homeland security spending bill that included a provision allowing FEMA to sell or donate the trailers to municipalities, nonprofit groups or American Indian tribes.
Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., said he would prefer that the homes had gone to hurricane victims as originally intended, but selling or donating them to cities or community groups was better than letting them sit unused.
"Allowing the homes to sit and deteriorate at the airport is an abuse of taxpayer funding and should not be an option,'' Pryor said in a statement.
Pryor and Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., sponsored the measures in their respective chambers before the provision went to a conference committee. Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., added the option to convey the trailers to Indian tribes to house the homeless.
"I am proud that the 9,778 fully furnished manufactured homes sitting in Hope, Arkansas, may finally be put to good use,'' Ross said. "These are the kind of commonsense solutions the American taxpayers expect and deserve.''
FEMA was directed to work with the Department of Interior to transfer the trailers to tribes, depending on need.
Indian housing has been a problem for decades. According to a 2003 survey, an estimated 200,000 housing units are needed immediately in Indian country and approximately 90,000 Indian families are homeless or "under-housed.''
The Homeland Security Department's inspector general has said that U.S. taxpayers could be stuck with a maintenance bill of nearly $47 million a year for thousands of trailers that sit parked at sites around the country.
Looks like some folks on the indian reservation will have to rearrange their washer/dryer lawn ornaments to accomodate the new trailers.
There are still thousands of displaced New Orleanians here in the Houston area.
We will pay for their relocation!
I'd like a free government trailer.
Same here.
Wait!!! Wait!!!! Wasn't there another hurricane that did great damage on the gulf coast. Rita?? The Forgotten storm. This storm did the third or 4th most damage ever. The only difference is the BODY COUNT. The media glommed onto the body count of Katrina and that was it. There are still many displaced in Southeast Texas and Southwest LA.
What in the world is wrong with selling to the highest bider?
Where is the duty to protect the taxpayers assets?
I'd like one for deer camp. Long tow, though.
Yeah, but the Rita victims are not the right target voter group, silly!
eBaY
You already have................[snort}.....
I heard they all had the same key and they have already started to "deteriorate"........
Seems a whole year is not long enough for some.
Been licking my chops waiting for this news for a year!!
Look for them when they come up HERE:
http://www.govliquidation.com/
Government is a disease masquerading as its own cure.
Do peoples camper trailers "deteriorate" sitting in their driveway over the winter?
This, and the key thing, were mere DNC Bush-bashing talking points
I'd like a free government trailer.
And some people expect this government to protect our lives and that of our children from terrorists?
LOL - yeah I was thinking the same thing... only the gas to tow it would be more than what I could buy/build something local.
Dude, you know TimmyBob, too? (see my profile)
LOL
my friend an OIFII vet such as myself had his house struck by lightening in this spring, it burnt to the ground. He contacted fema about those trailers, they said no way.
Thank you for your service!
Are you a Savageite?
heck yeah
"approximately 90,000 Indian families are homeless or "under-housed.''"
Underhoused. I'm guessing bunk beds and only one bathroom is "underhousing".
FEMA officials said that regulations against placing the homes in flood plains prevented their use on the Gulf Coast.
Another of many examples of conflicting federal regulations.
Yet, Bush was blamed.
FEMA cannot move into a state until the governor declares an emergency and request federal help, a fact studiously avoided by the media and not clarified by the administration. Blanco and pals debated for days before requesting help debating whether they or the feds would be in charge. How this got lost in the propaganda aftermath I don't know.
Bottomline, Bush was blasted for the confusion that resulted.
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