Will this nightmare ever end? At least our new President didn't turn his back on them this time.NEW ORLEANS – Thousands of Gulf Coast hurricane victims who have missed deadline after deadline to leave their federal housing are being offered additional help and the chance to buy trailers for as little as $1 as the government seeks to avoid mass evictions.Read the rest here.
For weeks, officials have been warning people displaced by Katrina and Rita in 2005 that their federally supplied trailers and mobile homes might be repossessed if they stay.
Instead, President Barack Obama's administration said Wednesday the federal government will offer $50 million in new housing vouchers and give residents the option of buying their units if they meet safety standards and local zoning rules.
Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman Clark Stevens described it as an effort to "responsibly close out the agency's temporary housing mission."
About 3,300 households remain in federally supplied trailers and mobile homes in Louisiana and Mississippi, down from a high of 143,000 along the Gulf Coast after the storms.
Residents previously had the option to buy their trailers and mobile homes — smaller, travel trailers were excluded — but now the government is offering the units at rock-bottom prices to alleviate any cost concerns and help those who haven't decided what to do make up their minds.
Jacqueline Frederick, who was emotionally drained and fighting back tears last week as the deadline to leave her mobile home in southeast Louisiana approached, gasped when she heard about the reprieve. Her husband, Anthony, was more skeptical, given the couple's difficulty in securing subsidized housing to date.
"They've made so many promises," the 60-year-old said Wednesday. "I won't believe anything until something happens. Maybe a month after it happens."
State officials and residents' advocates sought a firmer understanding of the plan, its implications and how quickly the promised aid might reach the local level. Davida Finger, who works with low-income residents on housing issues as a staff attorney with the Loyola University law clinic, said her voice mail was full.
I read these stories and continue to shake my head in disgust. It is FOUR years on and residents of the Gulf remain in limbo.
And so it goes.
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