Music and Cats

I haven’t written anything about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in over a month. It’s really not that I’ve forgotten (even though, sadly, I’m “not reminded about it all the time in the newspapers and in stories”). I’ve been busy trying to make some important life decisions, and I haven’t delved deeply into what has been available in the press or the blogosphere about the ongoing mess along the Gulf Coast.

Today, however, I looked around enough to notice that some Katrina victims are being evicted from their hotel rooms.

The occupants of more than 4,500 government-paid hotel rooms were ordered to turn in their keys Tuesday, as the Federal Emergency Management Agency began cutting off money to pay for their stays.[…]

Wheeling out her boxes of belongings, 20-year-old Katie Kinkella and sister, Jennifer, were heading back to their ruined house in heavily flooded St. Bernard Parish. The sisters had stayed first at the Marriott, and later at the Crowne Plaza as they waited for FEMA to deliver a trailer. Then they waited for FEMA to hook up the electricity at the trailer. “They just connected it yesterday,” Kinkella said as she loaded bags, boxes and suitcases into the back of a pickup on the curb outside the hotel. […]

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco complained that FEMA was pulling the plug on the hotel program before securing other housing. Outside the Crowne Plaza, protesters held up signs that said: “No trailers. No eviction.”

Brittany Brown, 21, wept as she explained that although she had been given an extension, eviction was now looming next week. She applied for a trailer in October and, although she keeps calling, her trailer has yet to show up.

And where is that trailer for which Brittany Brown has been hoping? Perhaps it’s in Hope, Arkansas. According to an article in today’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, there are over 10,000 FEMA-owned mobile homes stockpiled at Hope’s airport (shown here). Arkansas Congressman Mike Ross wants to know why they haven’t been moved to the Gulf Coast and put into service. What does FEMA have to say?

As of Feb. 4, [FEMA spokesman David] Passey wrote, 2,211 mobile homes have been occupied by storm victims across the Gulf Coast — up from 889 homes in mid-December. However, he could not say how many more people were requesting mobile homes to live in until they can find permanent housing. […]

In all, FEMA estimated, it needed a total of 98,000 travel trailers and mobile homes, including the ones already distributed, to meet the needs of people in Louisiana displaced by the storm. Passey did not have a number for Mississippi’s needs. A total of 71,695 travel trailers and mobile homes have already been distributed in Louisiana and Mississippi. Nearly all have been travel trailers. […]

In the weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit on Aug. 29, FEMA ordered 20,000 mobile homes at an estimated cost of $500 million.

Let’s summarize: mobile homes make up less than 1% of the manufactured housing units now occupied by Katrina victims. And only 11% of the mobile homes purchased by FEMA are in use.

So what’s the problem here? Why aren’t all those shiny new mobile homes in Louisiana or Mississipi, ready for displaced folks to move into them? FEMA won’t provide a trailer or mobile home for a Katrina victim until all of the utility infrastructure required for an ordinary house is in place on the site. (And a tent without power is better shelter than a trailer without power?) A mobile home often won’t fit on the same lot with the storm-damaged house that its owners are repairing/rebuilding; that’s why most of the units distributed so far have been travel trailers. And - this is the part I really like - many local zoning and building codes in storm-ravaged areas don’t permit mobile homes… probably because they’re so susceptible to hurricane damage.

Congratulations, fellow American citizens! You and I are now the proud owners of thousands of mobile homes that have nowhere to go. And FEMA is paying the city of Hope $600,000 of our tax dollars over the next couple of years to store these mobile homes while they can figure out what the hell they’re going to do with them.

Thanks to Ted at hawgblawg for the FEMA homes link. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette requires a subscription to read their article… or you can read it here.

Stockpile a shame, Ross says
FEMA homes sit unused at Hope
By Amy Upshaw
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

U.S. Rep. Mike Ross is calling for thousands of empty government-bought mobile homes stored at Hope Municipal Airport to be moved to areas where families displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita can rebuild their lives.

Ross, D-Ark., has written three letters to the interim director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency since December. A FEMA spokesman said 10,777 mobile homes are stored at the airport, double the number stored at sites in four other states. The letters went unanswered. This week, an employee with FEMA called Ross’ office to say that the agency finally would be sending the three-term congressman a response.

“I could care less if FEMA answers my letters,” Ross said. “The whole issue for me is you have got families who’ve lost everything they owned, who are trying to put their lives back together.”

Officials with the agency acknowledge that more than five months after Katrina and Rita slammed the Gulf Coast, the process of providing transitional housing for storm victims is sluggish. “While we continue to make progress every day, the temporary housing mission is not moving as fast as anyone would like,” David Passey, a spokesman for the federal agency, wrote in an e-mail to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in response to questions.

As of Feb. 4, Passey wrote, 2,211 mobile homes have been occupied by storm victims across the Gulf Coast — up from 889 homes in mid-December. However, he could not say how many more people were requesting mobile homes to live in until they can find permanent housing. “That number is dynamic, meaning it changes,” Passey said in a follow-up interview.

Hope Mayor Dennis Ramsey also said he thinks the mobile homes have been sitting in Hope too long without people occupying them. “I think any citizen would have concerns,” he said after having lunch with Ross on Monday. “They’re not doing anyone any good at the moment.”

Ross and the mayor say they have been told and read about storm victims who still are living in tents, motels and other temporary solutions. And unless the storm refugees have been granted extensions, they no longer could stay in hotels at FEMA’s expense as of Tuesday. FEMA granted extensions to more than 20,000 storm victims across the country, but more than 4,500 refugees checked out of rooms Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.

In all, FEMA estimated, it needed a total of 98,000 travel trailers and mobile homes, including the ones already distributed, to meet the needs of people in Louisiana displaced by the storm. Passey did not have a number for Mississippi’s needs. A total of 71,695 travel trailers and mobile homes have already been distributed in Louisiana and Mississippi. Nearly all have been travel trailers.

Pete Smith, a spokesman for Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, said the state needs more housing but appreciates what’s been received already. “Although it still continues to be our biggest need, we’re still mindful of the fact that people have moved [back] — a record number of housing has been made available,” Smith said. “Things are being done quickly but just not quick enough because of the scope of the disaster.”

FEMA has not set a date by which all families affected by the storms will be in travel trailers or mobile homes. “We’re not setting a deadline,” Passey said. “The process is ongoing. We will continue to work with the people until we can satisfy all the disaster housing needs we can.”

Several hurdles must be overcome before a travel trailer or mobile home can be placed and ready for moving in, Passey said. Each unit placed must comply with local zoning and building codes and must be professionally connected to sewer, water, electric and gas utilities to provide a safe, functional home. Mobile homes also may not fit on property where a travel trailer might, and generally, mobile homes are not placed in flood-prone areas. In many cases, travel trailers are placed near a destroyed home so that the owners have a place to live while renovating their stormdamaged houses. Officials have acknowledged problems in the past few months in finding sites for trailers and mobile homes with adequate infrastructure and appropriate zoning.

In the weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit on Aug. 29, FEMA ordered 20,000 mobile homes at an estimated cost of $500 million. FEMA is using the Hope airport as its main staging area for the mobile homes that have not yet been distributed. The city leased about 263 acres at the airport to the federal government for $25,000 a month for two years, Ramsey said. The property includes an abandoned Army airfield and two runways. The main runway at the airport remains open and is unencumbered by the mobile homes.

In addition to the Hope airport, 1,905 mobile homes are being stored in Jasper, Texas; 354 in Baton Rouge, Lake Charles and New Orleans, La.; 1,001 in Purvis and Carnes, Miss.; and 1,779 in Selma and Summerdale, Ala., according to FEMA.

“This is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard in all my life, and it makes me angry — angry as a taxpayer and angry for the victims of Hurricane Katrina,” Ross said of the unoccupied mobile homes. “There’s no reason why FEMA — after five months — should not have been able to build some manufactured-housing parks.”

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