Posted on 06/06/2009 11:03:11 AM PDT by Lorianne
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday that it would allow hurricane victims on the Gulf Coast still living in government-supplied trailers to buy their temporary homes for as little as $1.
The government will also provide $50 million to help other trailer residents, whose homes were destroyed by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, move into rental or public housing.
The assistance comes just days after the official start of the 2009 hurricane season and one month after FEMA announced that it was ending the temporary housing program it started in the aftermath of Katrina.
The more than 3,400 people still living in FEMA trailers in Louisiana and Mississippi had faced eviction.
"We were going to have another homeless crisis on our hands," said Laura Tuggle of Southeast Louisiana Legal Services, a free legal aid program in New Orleans. "The fear among people was that one day they were going to come back to the trailer they had been living in and it would just be gone. There was so much anxiety. People worried they would have to buys tents."
The sale of the trailers will end the most expensive emergency housing program in FEMA's history. The agency provided more than 143,000 households with temporary housing units, mostly mobile homes and trailers, after the two major hurricanes.
FEMA typically provides emergency housing for no longer than 18 months, but officials repeatedly extended the deadline. May 1 was the final deadline to vacate, but many people did not leave.
Housing advocates agree that the assistance will help in the short term but are divided over its long-term merits.
While Tuggle called it "a huge step in the right direction," Reilly Morse, senior attorney with the Mississippi Center for Justice, said he would prefer to see more permanent housing solutions.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Probably all they’re worth by now...
and those still living in hotels?? will they be given ownership of the hotel?
I remember driving I-30 toward Texarkana when I passed several flatbed trucks carrying trailers. All of them had a little printout in the back window of the trailer with the FEMA seal. I remember telling my Mom that I hoped those trailers got to the folks who really need them.
It’s strange to watch your tax dollars roll on down the highway as you pass.
LOL
In Valdez Ak FedGov trailers from the ‘64 earthquake relief are still in use.
Rats are rats no matter where they nest.
In 2005, Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Cozumel were slammed by Hurricane Emily in a direct hit, then Wilma for 36 hours.
There was nothing left of one of the most treasured vacation locations in the world. Every single resort and almost every single building was gone — just gone. Cazumel was for all intents and purposes underwater — seawater claimed all the plant life on the entire island.
Did they issue $2K Debit cards and put people up in $400 a night hotels?
No. After the all clear had sounded, the Governor of Quintana Roo went to Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Cozumel with a shovel in his hand and said “if we don’t work, we don’t eat.”
The people of all these cities went to work — for NO PAY other than being fed.
In 9 months — 9 months!! — the resorts had been rebuilt to where the welcome mat was rolled out and tourists invited back (I was there about 6 months after that).
And now 4 years later we still hear kvetching from NOLA.
Mexico EMBARRASSED the heck out of the USA, and I am, for once, a little ashamed for us when the subject comes up.
Also, all the pansies in the US that can’t understand simple facts and have abandoned Mexico as a travel destination embarrass me. I was just there and it was great, but they are telling us that the silly American wet-the-pants approach to life has been worse than Wilma was.
Keep posting that. It needs to be heard far and wide.
I have been saying it for years.
BTW — NOW is the time to go to Mexico if you can. I just went there for $198 for 2 people — 4 days, 3 nights all-inclusive (including booze!)
They are still reeling from the swine flu thing and are desperate for tourists. Going back next week and the sals are still great.
I expect I’ll be going in a few weeks.
What’s the surprise? We knew as soon as the trailers were handed out that they’d be free gifts to the recipients. The few who didn’t trash them got a free home.
That was my thought as well. Four years later and they still have their hands out.
You said — I don’t have a problem with that. It would probably cost more to move them than to sell them to the people who lived in them.
—
That’s very true. The owner of a business that I worked for many years ago, offered to sell me this nice little two bedroom house, in good condition, for $1. The only catch was that I would have to move it off the land it was on. Now, there’s where all the cost came in... LOL...
I don't care how safe, wonderful, or cheap Mexico is right now. Mexico is an enemy of the United States, and I will not spend 1 Dollar or Peso contributing to their continued destruction of Southern California and the US in general. The Mexican government's policy of supporting the flow if illegals across the border directly affects my quality of life, and I will not travel to Mexico for any reason.
Since you have no idea what actually happened along the gulf, you really need to educate yourself. All you know is what the liberal press was telling you. You were fed thousands of lies by the media who milked the story for all it was worth. They never once reported on the fast recovery that occurred for most of the area.
>>Since you have no idea what actually happened along the gulf, you really need to educate yourself. All you know is what the liberal press was telling you. You were fed thousands of lies by the media who milked the story for all it was worth. They never once reported on the fast recovery that occurred for most of the area.<<
And yet, 4 years later they still have their hands out and we hear boo-hoo stories.
Compare and contrast to my very accurate stories from Mexico.
You work or die. Or you put your hand out and do an Oliver “please sir...”
Mexico is doing what it thinks it must. By going there, we can influence its direction more than not.
How so? You do realize that it is illegal for foreigners to protest in Mexico, right? Are you aware of how limited your rights are in Mexico?
>>How so? You do realize that it is illegal for foreigners to protest in Mexico, right? Are you aware of how limited your rights are in Mexico?<<
I don’t look for “rights” in Mexico. I look for “fun” and to visit my in-laws.
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