May 29, 2009
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has decided to enforce a June 1 date — originally established by the Bush administration — for the eviction of several thousand victims of Hurricane Katrina who are still living in temporary trailers after nearly four years.
In a Friday press release, the US Human Rights Network stated that this decision “not only lacks basic compassion but is also a derogation of the government’s responsibilities to uphold fundamental human rights.”
“Instead of carrying out the former administration’s callous plan for eviction,” the press release continues, “the Obama administration and Congress should apply the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, a human rights policy that, for several years, has guided our government in providing temporary and permanent homes for people in foreign countries who become displaced by earthquakes, typhoons, and flooding.”
Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Times reported that more than 90% of those still living in temporary trailers have received rebuilding money from the government, but in two out of three cases it is not enough to cover the needed repairs.
The Times spoke to one resident whose house was blown down by Katrina. She received just $28,000 from the state and is now preparing to live in a tent while she shops for used trailers. Another resident has had rebuilding money held up because of questions over the title to her house.
“Housing advocates say that many of those who remain in the trailers are among the Gulf Coast’s most vulnerable residents — the poor, the ill and the elderly,” writes the Times. “And they are worried the residents have few other options on a crippled post-storm landscape.” Rents have more than doubled in some places since the storm, and state programs have done little to replace the affordable housing destroyed by Katrina.
The Louisiana Advocacy Coalition for the Homeless appealed to FEMA several weeks ago to extend the deadline so that residents would not be thrown out on the streets. FEMA officials say they will try to help the residents find social service agencies to help them but are reluctant to authorize another extension of the deadline, which has already gone two years beyond when it was originally set to end.
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/05/29/katrina-victims-to-be-evicted-again/