Housing Victims of Katrina

Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast on August 29th, 2005. It was a tragedy in our country that was unprecedented. Thousands of people lost their homes, possessions, and livelihoods. In the wake of this devastation it has become more and more clear with each passing day that a country that routinely is able to reach across the globe to take care of others in need is grossly unprepared to take care of its own.





Over nine months after Katrina sent waves of destruction to the area, thousands of people in the region still remain without adequate shelter or temporary housing of any kind.





The Stafford Act provides families displaced by disasters who meet eligibility requirements the ability to receive rental assistance for up to 18 months so long as they have been unable to secure adequate housing on their own. Yet people from Atlanta to Houston, New Orleans to Baton Rouge and many other places where Katrina survivors have sought shelter are being evicted either by unwilling landlords or the government themselves. This is unacceptable.





Thousands of manufactured homes still sit unused in Hope, Arkansas as a tribute to a government that clearly had no plan. They are a constant reminder of the continuous waste of taxpayer resources and should be held as a personal point of embarrassment to every member of the federal government. These houses should not go to waste. As has been noted some of them were used to alleviate housing issues after a tornado hit Marmaduke, Arkansas.





We request that these homes should be re-designated for other use such as the above immediately and other forums found to house the Katrina survivors. And/or that the survivors are allowed to choose where they would like the manufactured homes moved to as long as the structures are not on a flood plain. This includes places where survivors have migrated to such as Houston and Atlanta. We would like to see this action taken as soon as possible.