Well, effective today,
FEMA will stop paying hotel bills for Katrina evacuees, leaving people in
all areas of the country to fend for themselves.
Unless they were lucky enough to get an extension of aid, but that process has been difficult as well. However, according to the Detroit Free Press:
Lawyers representing evacuees argued that FEMA failed to provide aid to many who qualified and that information on aid has been slow to reach those who needed it the most.
More below:
For some, the hotels they are staying in may provide support and financial assistance to some families, but even the hotel operators are confused and relatively in the dark about the deadline.
There are at least 3,300 or so evacuees in the Bay area alone that could have their funding cut off today (information on a rally today at FEMA's Oakland office is here).
According to the manager of one hotel in the Bay area, Frank Maggi, communications have been confusing to him and that FEMA deadlines have been moving targets.
Frank Maggi, Jack London Inn: "What deadline? What deadline? I don't know. It's an ongoing deadline. Someday there will be a deadline. Once they said it was December 3. And so on, and so on."
Maggi says they'll figure something out. They don't intend to abandon the Katrina clients.
Of course, FEMA doesn't seem to feel the same way about not abandoning those who have lost everything due to the hurricane (and no doubt FEMA and this mis-administration's horrific response)
FEMA spokeswoman Barbara Ellis said Monday that the agency is trying to help evacuees find alternative housing, and evacuees may be eligible for additional rental assistance or help from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
If evacuees are not approved by FEMA for an extension, or the hotels do not pick up the bills for them, those who remain will have to pay for their rooms, Ellis said.
Gee, Barbara - talk about your "compassionate conservative". Gotta love the ownership society when the Federal Government takes no ownership in the problems they create and foster.
Meanwhile, evacuees are planning protests in DC today to bring more attention to a disaster that has surprisingly fallen off the radar of too many people.
Of course, it is easy to ignore the big issue if put in an abstract form (and since it is not a missing white woman story). But, consider the story of Johnny Herring, Katrina evacuee
Johnny Herring is a Katrina evacuee. His hotel room at the Jack London Inn has been paid for by FEMA. FEMA says that's about to stop because Herring, and more than 10,000 other evacuees, missed a filing deadline last week.
Johnny Herring, Katrina evacuee: "I don't know nothing about that [deadline]. Probably so. They got everybody else deadlining, right?"
Everything Mr. Herring owns could fit in a duffel bag - not counting the blizzard of paperwork that litters his bed. He's received a one-time FEMA payment of $5,600.
"I ain't never going back to New Orleans. They done messed over me in New Orleans."
The fact that this deadline approached and not a word about Katrina or New Orleans was uttered by Chimpy at last week's State of the Union Address makes it even more reprehensible.
While most evacuees have met the FEMA deadline (and whether that means applying for further assistance, fending for themselves or just giving up on the program altogether), there are at least 6,000 evacuees who will be left without further aid.
This is obviously not a small matter. In addition to the 6,000 or so who have "missed the FEMA deadline", there is a larger deadline quickly approaching that effects more people. According to this Newsweek article,
Another 20,000 hotel rooms occupied by evacuees in more than 40 states face a departure date of Feb. 13 or March 1, depending on their circumstances.
And you can expect a significant increase in homelessness (just in time for winter too).
Marilyn Fountain, a spokeswoman for the Star of Hope, a Houston homeless shelter, said the shelter anticipates an influx of people needing a place to stay.
Turner said FEMA is teaming up with health, social services and volunteer agencies to help victims find new homes or rebuild and get their lives back on track.
"Folks are trying to move on with their lives after a catastrophic disaster, and some are having more difficulty than others in doing that," Turner said.
HERE is a fact sheet with information for anyone that still requires assistance or long term housing.