wfn.org | [ENS] Post-hurricane housing crisis called worst since Dust Bowl

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Post-hurricane housing crisis called worst since Dust Bowl

By Mary Frances Schjonberg

ENS 112305-1

[ENS] Hurricane evacuees living in hotels and motels all over the country
face looming and ever-changing deadlines to find new housing and the
alternatives do not look promising.

Officials in the Diocese of Louisiana have criticized the federal
government's approach to what is being called the largest national
housing crisis since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

The Rev. Canon Chad Jones, canon for program for the Diocese of Louisiana,
said recently that FEMA's approach is wrong. Any solution that will
potentially leave people homeless is unacceptable, he said.

The diocese will "very loudly proclaim that we do not believe that these
are ethical solutions," he said. "These are unacceptable solutions."

"Until we find a solution that puts everyone in housing that is not
sub-standard, we have not done enough," Jones added.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced November 17
that it would cut off payments for temporary hotel and motel rooms on
December 1.  After a storm of criticism, on November 21, FEMA extended the
deadline to December 15 for people living in Louisiana and Mississippi.

The next day FEMA announced that people living in the 10 states with the
highest concentration of evacuees in hotel rooms will have until January
7 to find longer-term housing. Each state must provide FEMA with a plan
to meet the January 7 deadline in order to have the deadline extended
to January 7.

Evacuees living in hotels in other states will now have until December
15 to find new housing, for which they will receive as much as $2,358
for three months of rental assistance and the possibility of as much as
a 15-month extension.

The ten states are Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Tennessee and Texas. More than 92 percent
of the approximately 50,000 families still living in hotel rooms are
located in these 10 states, according to a November 22 FEMA news release.

Texas tops the list, according to FEMA, having billed an average of
18,157 hotel rooms between November 3 and 16.

"With 29 states lodging less than 100 families each, the task of locating
housing before the holidays is an attainable goal," FEMA's November
22 statement said. "For example, the state of New York is hosting 273
households, which means they need to place roughly 12 families a day in
order to have everyone in homes by December 15."

Jack Griswold, associate director of Episcopal Migration Ministries
(EMM), predicted November 23 that FEMA's decisions will mean a "greater
demand for the type of services we're offering."

Through its offices at the Episcopal Church Center in New York City
and through affiliates on the Gulf Coast, EMM has been helping parishes
and displaced families forge relationships and facilitated sponsorships
of displaced families. A major part of EMM's work involves developing
contacts with parishes wishing to be sponsors by doing intake interviews
and matching parishes and families. EMM also trains parishes in the
ministry of sponsorships.

The Rev. Denis McManis, director of the Diocese of Louisiana's Office of
Disaster Response, said recently FEMA is ending the hotel-motel program
for financial reasons. "FEMA is basically saying they can't afford it,"
he said.

FEMA says the motel program has cost $300 million out of the more than
$4.4 billion it has given to 1.4 million families affected by the Gulf
Coast hurricanes, to date.

"Let me be clear: We are not kicking people out into the streets. We
are not stopping the flow of money," acting FEMA Director David Paulison
said in a telephone conference call with reporters November 22, according
to the Washington Post. "We just don't want to be paying for hotels and
motels anymore."

McManis, an archdeacon from the Diocese of Southwest Florida who is now
working with the diocese of Louisiana, said his office is working to
set up four or five resource centers to help people deal with housing
and other issues. Current and potential sites include Christ Church
Cathedral in New Orleans, Holy Comforter church on the University of
New Orleans campus and Christ Church in Slidell.

The centers will give out provision such as cleaning supplies, clothing,
personal-hygiene items, diapers and bottles. Case managers will
help people work their way through the post-hurricane bureaucracy and
mental-health counselors and pastoral counselors will provide a place for
people to come and deal with the emotional and spiritual issues they face.

Jones and McManis said that the diocese is also trying to create long-term
solutions. Those include the possibility of building affordable housing
near Christ Church Cathedral and elsewhere in New Orleans with the
help of Trinity Episcopal Church in New Orleans and Episcopal Relief
and Development.

Hope Credit Union, a program connected with Trinity, is working to
find money to make low-interest loans available to those people who
have trouble securing loans because they have been on welfare or have
declared bankruptcy in the past.

Louisiana Bishop Charles Jenkins told the Times-Picayune on November
17 that he has asked every bishop in the country to buy a $100,000
certificate of deposit from the credit union which also assists very
small businesses with start-up capital.

Top FEMA officials defended the move at a recent news conference,
according to the Times-Picayune, saying that evacuees were never
expected to stay in hotels for the long haul. Vice Adm. Thad Allen,
the lead federal official for hurricane relief, said that most evacuees
would probably prefer to live in the more comfortable surroundings of
an apartment.

"Unfortunately, families impacted by Hurricane Katrina must realize that
housing in New Orleans will not return to its pre-storm state for quite
some time and it is time for displaced families to locate suitable housing
solutions in other locations, including those out of state," FEMA federal
coordinating officer Scott Wells said November 21 in a FEMA news release.

"Over the past three months, many of those displaced by Katrina
have made tremendous steps in returning normalcy to their lives --
renting apartments, enrolling children in schools, finding jobs,
and reestablishing their self reliance," he said in a November 22
statement. "Now, almost three months after Hurricane Katrina and two
months after Hurricane Rita, we must help those remaining in hotels get
squarely on the road to recovery."

The Washington Post reported that FEMA has awarded $66 million to two
organizations to use 3,000 case managers to help move families into
apartments if they sign leases by December 1.

FEMA representatives began visiting Baton Rouge-area hotels over
the weekend of November 19-20, launching a state-wide effort to meet
face-to-face and share resources and tools with the estimated 9,000
individuals and families still living in short-term housing, according
to a November 22 FEMA news release.

FEMA's move follows criticism of the cost and management of efforts to
place people in cruise ships, mobile homes and trailers.

Jones said that FEMA's housing plans have been flawed in many ways and
insensitive to cultural and religious concerns.

For instance, he said, FEMA loan policies do not take into account
the fact that orthodox Jews and most Muslims cannot pay interest on
borrowed money.

McManis said that FEMA has not dealt with the problems caused by their
process of making cash payments to evacuees. Many people have "never had
that much cash in their hands before and they're going out and spending it
is if it dropped out of the sky" and they are not spending it on housing,
he said.

FEMA's plans to house evacuees in trailers are fraught with problems,
McManis said. First, not enough trailers are available. As of November 20,
10,548 travel trailers and mobile homes have been placed in Louisiana,
according to FEMA. The agency admitted on November 22 that some people
who wish to live in a trailer may have to stay with family and friends
"while the long-term housing is established." FEMA said it will pay for
people's relocation costs for both moves.

Jones said that the proposed locations for so-called FEMA villages,
collections of trailers, are a logistical nightmare. The locations are
far outside of New Orleans where workers are desperately needed. Few
evacuees have vehicles and most locations have no public transit.

Many of the communities where the villages may be located are not equipped
to provide even basic services to the evacuees. The communities "don't
particularly want them there," McManis said.

"It's just a nightmare," said Jones.

-- The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is national correspondent for the
Episcopal News Service.

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