http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060428/ap_on_re_us/katrina_housingHOUSTON - Thousands of hurricane evacuees must soon pay their own rent or move out after receiving word that they are being dropped from a FEMA housing program they thought would last a year.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has declared about 12,000 families nationwide ineligible for housing assistance, in some cases because their hurricane-damaged homes were found to be habitable. Others were ineligible because their damaged homes were not their primary residence or because they were not head of the household.
About 38,000 other families still qualify for assistance through FEMA, but must complete new paperwork to remain eligible.
Some Hurricane Katrina and Rita evacuees received FEMA notices saying their aid was guaranteed only through April 30. But the agency said the actual deadline was May 31, and it recently granted Houston officials' request to extend it to June 30.