It has been nearly four years since Hurricane Katrina
scoured the beaches of Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi, and
flooded the low-lying neighborhoods of New Orleans. But
recovery is still far from complete — and for some
storm victims still living in "temporary" housing, the end is
not in sight.
The Washington Post covered the Katrina aftermath story on
June 13th
("
Permanence Eludes Some Katrina Victims," by Spencer S.
Hsu). Bureaucracy is partly to blame for a backlog of
applicants for rebuilding assistance, even as federal subsidies
lie unspent, says the Post. Emblematic of the problem is the
sight of dozens of Katrina Cottages, small homes developed as a
temporary housing solution, still lined up in rows on a storage
lot in Mississippi, and never deployed or occupied —
even as displaced elderly residents struggle with life in small
trailers. The Washington Post supplements the
“Permanence” article with a
photo gallery.
As summer approached, so did a May 31 deadline for aid
recipients to vacate their FEMA trailers. But as the date
approached, Obama administration officials announced a
reprieve, and an offer to sell the trailers to their occupants
for $5 apiece, reported the New York Times
("
Katrina Victims Will Not Have to Vacate Trailers," by
Shaila Dawan).
But with this fall's hurricane season already underway,
nearly 48 months after Katrina and Rita made landfall, the
decision still leaves thousands of displaced people with no
permanent homes — and, seemingly, no strategy for
solving the problem. And on July 8, Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) Inspector General told a Congressional hearing
that when the next storm comes, FEMA still has no workable plan
to re-house displaced storm victims
("
Watchdog: FEMA still lacks housing plan," by Ben
Evans).
But for the latest crop of displaced people — the
victims of Ike — temporary living has turned out not
to be so bad, according to the Wall Street Journal
("
RVs Become Home for Many in Texas Region Hit by Ike," by
Tom Benning). One elderly resident, whose rented RV is parked
on the Bolivar Peninsula lot where her home once stood, told
the Journal, ""I'd rather be here in a trailer than in a
mansion in the city."