Tough Transition From FEMA Trailer To Home

Fears That Closing Trailer Parks Will Force Katrina Victims Into Pricey Housing

(CBS/AP)  State and federal officials are talking with advocates for hurricane victims about how best to ease the transition from federally issued trailers to more permanent housing.

The discussions come as a June 1 closing date approaches for the federal trailer parks that house many Louisiana victims.

Housing advocates worry that the closures will force residents into apartments or houses they won't be able to afford long-term. Rents, particularly in the New Orleans area, soared after Hurricane Katrina, and have remained high.

"As we move closer to the day when FEMA closes its trailer sites, the remaining residents are increasingly at risk of being left in substandard housing or, even worse, homeless," said Calvin Mackie, a member of the LRA board, in a statement.

The federal subsidy for residents moving from trailers to apartments and for other hurricane victims who've been getting rental assistance, is set to start declining next month - moving toward a total phaseout by March 2009 by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Raymond Jetson, chief executive of the nonprofit Louisiana Family Recovery Corps, said he's glad the talks are under way but he worries that too many issues must be resolved to avert a housing crisis or steep increases in homelessness if the June 1 deadline stands.

For example, his nonprofit, picked by the state to coordinate human services for hurricane victims in Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer parks, is still trying to identify what resources are available, and what gaps exist. It's also trying to identify residents' needs, the cost of meeting those needs and who should be responsible for paying the bill. He hopes to have a dollar estimate next week.

Jetson said people will need help establishing households, paying off outstanding utility bills and coming up with deposits not covered by subsidies, before even worrying about their portion of rent.

"While there are some good things that have happened, there is still a risk for a lot of people who remain in trailers," he said.

It's been nearly 2½ years since Katrina hit, leaving 80 percent of New Orleans underwater and damaging or destroying much of the city's housing stock. Since the storm, and Hurricane Rita, which hit southwestern Louisiana about a month later, FEMA has provided trailers and rental assistance to hundreds of thousands of victims, but the agency says the trailers were only meant as a temporary solution and the goal now is to get people into more permanent quarters as soon as possible. (HUD has taken over the rental assistance program for hurricane victims, a spokeswoman said Friday.)

Ronnie Simpson, a FEMA spokesman, said his agency understands the concerns activists have raised about available housing and wants to keep working with government and nonprofit groups to help affected families.

But he noted families have a role to play, too, in picking a place that's big enough, and affordable enough, for them. FEMA offers lists of rental possibilities, he said, but "they pick the property they want to live in."

The idea behind the phase-out "has been and always will be to move families from small, cramped trailers to more permanent housing," Simpson said.

Jetson likened FEMA setting deadlines for closures, however, to having someone put a gun to your head to do something. "It's the circumstances under which you make the decision that have to be considered," he said, adding families may be forced to pick an option that they can't afford down the road.

As of Thursday, 1,702 trailers remained in group sites in Louisiana, including 446 in New Orleans. Both numbers are down sharply from late November when FEMA's phaseout plan for group sites and commercial leases was announced. Commercial leases for FEMA trailers and mobile homes within existing trailer parks, are to end by the end of 2008; there were 3,084 such homes left in Louisiana, according to FEMA.

By mid-month, one of the biggest FEMA trailer parks in New Orleans, at the campus of Southern University at New Orleans, is set to close, affecting roughly 140 households, agency figures show. A school spokesman did not expect any problems with the slated closure.

Adam Knapp is deputy director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, which is working with federal and nonprofit agencies on improving the transition from trailers for those in need. He said he wanted information on what's happened with people who have already left group sites, as well as details on how those with "hardships" - senior citizens or those with disabilities who may have difficulty leaving their trailers - can be better helped.

"I think the idea is to create a better system for case management. Our biggest concern is (that) they're being given access to service in a sustainable way," he said.

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller from North Carolina has accused FEMA of hiding and manipulating science on the harmful effects of a chemical used in trailers after Katrina.

Formaldehyde is used in the particleboard of travel trailers, such as the tens of thousands used by FEMA to house homeless families in the wakes of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which slammed the Gulf Coast in 2005. More than 40,000 families still live in the trailers, according to North Carolina's News & Observer.

[thetruth4u2]

Use of formaldehyde treated wood in mobile homes and trailers and the health risks is nothing new and the EPA already knew about it years before these FEMA trailers were purchased. www.epa.gov/iaq/formalde.html It''s called chemical outgassing and outdoor heat increases release of the chemical(s) into the air. There aren''t many mobile homes and trailers that don''t get exposed to a lot of sun baking heat in the summer. Apparently someone forgot to ask and test before buying all these FEMA trailers or just didn''t care. Outgassing from wood, plastics and glues is common in cars and RVs too. Many people buy RVs and get sick in them. The only good long term solution is for the federal government to ban use of formaldehyde in manufacturing. John Edwards is (was) the only candidate I could see doing it. If politicians would stop talking and start doing what common sense tells us we''d be better off.

[libsluvsuvs]

how about transition from dependency to INDEPENDENCY??

[bleem3]

I don''t understand why FEMA wants the trailers back. The trailers are worth almost nothing now. Why can''t the people continue to live in them?

[libsluvsuvs]

from the New York Times

"%u201CWe have no idea what we are going to do,%u201D said Major Harbin, who said he had heard that as many as 7,000 Mexicans might be seeking refugee status in the coming weeks.

Eddie Francis, the mayor of Windsor, faxed a letter Wednesday to Canadian federal authorities seeking financial help.

%u201CI empathize with the challenges but we don%u2019t have the ability to manage this,%u201D Mr. Francis said. %u201CWe have never seen anything like this.%u201D

Many of the families who drove here said they had learned about the possibility of fleeing to Canada from a Naples, Fla., organization, the Jerusalem Haitian Community Center, which promoted %u201CInformation required for Canadian Refugee Status Application%u201D on its Web site. The group, some refugees said, collected $400 for adults and $100 for children and assured them that there would be jobs and shelter."

the idea is born...and just like religion..you cannot stop it erasmus..

[libsluvsuvs]

Well see, there is the difference between the U.S. and Canada. Canada doesn''''t let everybody into the country to live. And if they come illegally and are found, they are deported. They can''''t get a job here without proper papers, unlike the U.S.

Posted by erasmus6 at 02:34 PM : Feb 03, 2008
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and yes the ideal law we have here too..until the liberals grabbed hold of that law..do you guys have liberals in canada???

before you know it..you would be knee deep in graffitti, crime, drugs and drained welfare and social funds..

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/us/21refugees.html?ex=1348027200&en=7c55b7f752fba84b&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[erasmus6]

"well the state of mexico is sending you a gift..there is a new and rising tide of illegals moving further north..ENJOY" posted by libsluvsuvs

Well see, there is the difference between the U.S. and Canada. Canada doesn''t let everybody into the country to live. And if they come illegally and are found, they are deported. They can''t get a job here without proper papers, unlike the U.S.

[libsluvsuvs]

Aging Infra-Structures,Global Warming,Spendthrift Politicians,War debt,lackluster economy,reservoir drought,chemical run-off,farm waste run-off,and paid-off building inspectors.Well,under President Hillary, at least they''''ll have a government-controlled apartment complex to live in.Under Romney''''s plan they would have nothing to go to and build upon.

Posted by MagicMerlin8 at 12:39 PM : Feb 02, 2008
+ report abuse
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hahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahhahahah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you really think that??? do you think it would benefit the DNC party if thier consituents becomes afluent, educated and independent??? THEY WOULD LOOSE THIER VOTING BASE.....something to think about..

[libsluvsuvs]

We don''''t mind taking your draft dodgers but we draw the line at taking your welfare losers that don''''t want to get a job.:)

Posted by erasmus6 at 04:47 PM : Feb 02, 2008
+ report abuse

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well the state of mexico is sending you a gift..there is a new and rising tide of illegals moving further north..ENJOY

[libsluvsuvs]

these people are so dependent on an govt. that they declared is facist and racist..

go figure..

[erasmus6]

"And I noticed when they came back after the US stopped the draft they had a real bad anti-American attitude." posted by runningralph

Are you insinuating that all Canadians are anti-American?

Not so. Only the ones that have had direct contact with them.:)

[erasmus6]

We don''t mind taking your draft dodgers but we draw the line at taking your welfare losers that don''t want to get a job.:)

[erasmus6]

"And I noticed when they came back after the US stopped the draft they had a real bad anti-American attitude." posted by runningralph

Oh geez.....what can I say?:)


Now about the draft, there shouldn''t be a draft to begin with. A person should not be forced to fight a war they are against. If the war is on your turf and you need to protect your country then by all means everyone should have to participate but when you are choosing to go to another country to fight a war, then NO they shouldn''t have to.

[runningralph]

erasmus6,
C''mon now. You know Canadians welcome criminals on the lam from the US. And I noticed when they came back after the US stopped the draft they had a real bad anti-American attitude.

[erasmus6]

"The result is thousands of people needing to emigrate to Canada. The new governor in Louisiana is already getting the transportation scheduled." posted by runningralph

They need to drive SOUTH to Mexico, not north.:)

[medwolf-2009]

Most where wellfare junkies before the stroms hit do you all think that a little water will change the trash that exsits off the work of others

[runningralph]

erasmus6,
Many of these people were taxpayer dependent before the storm. The last 3 generations of Americans have been raised under a liberal system that defies the laws of nature. The result is thousands of people needing to emigrate to Canada. The new governor in Louisiana is already getting the transportation scheduled.

[fettkonserv]

I think they should move the Trailer parks to Crawford, Texas. There''s a Idiot that lives on a Ranch there that can collect trash on Mondays. Hang in there springs coming and the homeless problem will go through the roof in the area. Florida is a great place to relocate these unfortunate people.

[erasmus6]

I bet that everyone that is sitting in those trailers with no jobs are the same ones that had no jobs BEFORE Katrina and have no plans to even try to get one.

[bhappy2-2]

So they want to continue to live rent-free and collect free money for life because of a hurricane? I have been through several hurricanes (none were as powerful as Katrina) and when the storm is over you get started rebuilding your home and life or you move to somewhere else and start over. After two years these people have ceased being victims and are now victimizers. They need to get out of the trailers and back on their own. The trailers were meant to be temporary housing, not a permanent housing solution.

[rematenaj]

I also would ask the question, what have all these people been doing for the last two years? Just sitting there waiting for someone else to take action?? How about get off your duff and DO SOMETHING FOR YOURSELF!!