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2009-05-23 Home Front: Politix

Katrina Victims Face Eviction From Federal Housing

From the 'About freaking time!' department.....
A FEMA official told a House panel Friday that the government will send Katrina survivors still living in temporary housing eviction notices starting June 1 and try to connect them to agencies that can help them.

Nearly four years after hurricanes Katrina and Rita left a million Americans homeless, the government is threatening to throw thousands of storm survivors out of temporary federal housing.
About 3 years too late....
A FEMA official told a House panel Friday that the government will send Katrina survivors still living in temporary housing eviction notices starting June 1 and try to connect them to agencies that can help them. But he also said it would be "some period of time," meaning months, before the evictions actually would begin.

The $5.6 billion housing assistance program that provided temporary trailers and hotel rooms to victims was supposed to end in 2007. But the deadline was extended by two years to May 1 of this year to help the more than 5,000 individuals and families still struggling to rebuild their lives. (At its peak, 143,000 households along the Gulf Coast were located in temporary housing units.)
After 4 years.... I don't know if I'd call it struggling.... perhaps 'sitting on their fat ass' might be more approprate... I know this doesn't apply to everyone - but my guess is that it might apply to the vast majority.
But the Obama administration says they have to go by the end of the month or face eviction.

Republicans and Democrats say they don't want to throw people out on the street, especially if their real homes are just months from completion. But they're also irked that some people just won't take the steps to move on.

"We're currently facing an ugly decision -- either extending the extended program indefinitely, I guess, or discontinuing the program for 5,000 people," Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., said.

The main barrier is affordability. Following Katrina, rent more than doubled along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Much of the affordable housing stock was destroyed, and insurance rates increased.

Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., who heads the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, which is conducting the hearing Friday, said she's trying to figure out if there's a way to extend the deadline for families who would be able to move into their repaired homes within several months.

"The subcommittee does not want to be understood, however, to mean to say that FEMA should provide housing assistance indefinitely," she said. "The statue does not allow HUD to do that."

"It is also unacceptable, however, to turn people out of their disaster housing with nowhere to go,"
Why the f-k not? Tough love. Why yes I am an asshole.
she added. "Ultimately, it is also required ... that residents accept available housing, even if it is not in locations they desire."

Posted by CrazyFool 2009-05-23 01:14|| || Front Page|| [15 views ] Top

#1 How many of these people who "couldn't find" jobs or housing on their own since Katrina never had any trouble "finding" beer, food, drugs, or entertainment over the last 4 years? Just sayin'...

Posted by M. Murcek">M. Murcek 2009-05-23 08:19|| 2009-05-23 08:19|| Front Page Top

#2 M. Murcek,
In their defense, most of these people couldn't find jobs or housing on their own before Katrina either (and truly, a lot of public housing was destroyed and not yet replaced.) And ya gotta have beer, food, drugs, & entertainment (or at least lotsa beer); can't deny folks the essentials of life.

Posted by Glenmore">Glenmore 2009-05-23 08:50|| 2009-05-23 08:50|| Front Page Top

#3 well i'm gonna say it again. I called this before the storm even hit and since i'M PSYCHIC THE WORLD IS not GONNA END IN 2012 LIKE THE mAYANS , nOSTARDAMUS AND eGYPTIANS ALL SAID.

Posted by funky skunk 2009-05-23 10:40|| 2009-05-23 10:40|| Front Page Top

#4 sorry about the caps, and about them not being able too find jobs they could find them they just didn't want them unless it consisted of selling crack or standing on the corner rapping while drinking a 40

Posted by funky skunk 2009-05-23 10:41|| 2009-05-23 10:41|| Front Page Top

#5 It sounds dreadful, funky skunk. What's a 40?

Posted by trailing wife 2009-05-23 11:45|| 2009-05-23 11:45|| Front Page Top

#6 40 = A 40 ounce bottle of hooch maybe?

Posted by Canuckistan sniper 2009-05-23 11:51|| 2009-05-23 11:51|| Front Page Top

#7 I think a '40' is a 40-oz [Malt Liqour]. Big and Cheap with a Kick.

Posted by CrazyFool 2009-05-23 11:52|| 2009-05-23 11:52|| Front Page Top

#8 correction: [Malt Liquor]... (and I don't think one of the side effects is miss-spelings...)

Posted by CrazyFool 2009-05-23 11:53|| 2009-05-23 11:53|| Front Page Top

#9 HAH! "Big and Cheap with a Kick" could describe most of my friends. Especially the "Cheap" part.

Posted by Canuckistan sniper 2009-05-23 11:54|| 2009-05-23 11:54|| Front Page Top

#10 You've all forgotten menthol cigarettes.

Posted by Beavis 2009-05-23 12:29|| 2009-05-23 12:29|| Front Page Top

#11 "You've all forgotten menthol cigarettes."

Easy now. They're smoking those for the benefit of the "children". Think schip program. Gov money paying taxes on a Gov program. It's a win-win-win situation.

Posted by kilowattkid 2009-05-23 13:50|| 2009-05-23 13:50|| Front Page Top

#12 We should get the UNRWA to resettle the Katrina victims. It's only taken the 61 years not to resettle the Palestinians.

Posted by Eric Jablow">Eric Jablow 2009-05-23 13:56|| 2009-05-23 13:56|| Front Page Top

#13 we have enough of the UN just being headquartered in New York i doon't think wwe could handle much more

Posted by funky skunk 2009-05-23 14:14|| 2009-05-23 14:14|| Front Page Top

#14 One would think that there was affordable housing somewhere within four years walking distance of New Orleans.

Posted by SteveS 2009-05-23 14:23|| 2009-05-23 14:23|| Front Page Top

#15 Rimshot!

Posted by M. Murcek">M. Murcek 2009-05-23 15:05|| 2009-05-23 15:05|| Front Page Top

#16 It's all George Bush's fault. (But it might be fun to watch Obama deal with it now.)

Posted by Abu Uluque 2009-05-23 15:13|| 2009-05-23 15:13|| Front Page Top

#17 Think of it as one big experiment in socialism.

Posted by gorb 2009-05-23 23:35|| 2009-05-23 23:35|| Front Page Top

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