Katrina victims must leave FEMA cottages

[Vinca]

Source: UPI

WAVELAND, Miss., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Housing advocates say Hurricane Katrina victims about to be forced out of U.S. government-supplied cottages in Mississippi will have no place to go.

Some 2,300 of the one-, two- and three-bedroom structures supplied by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency to temporarily house Katrina victims are still being used, but the cottages will need to be emptied by the end of January and removed by March, USA Today reported Wednesday.

"If these (cottages) are gone, there's just not going to be enough affordable housing," Tim Kellar, administrator of Hancock County, Miss., told the newspaper. "We don't have an alternate plan if that happens."

Many of the cottages sit on residents' lots while they rebuild wrecked homes, said Mike Womack, director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. They were meant to be temporary, and may not withstand another powerful storm. They also violate local zoning rules, he told USA Today.



Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/12/31/Katrina_victims_must_leave_FEMA_cottages/UPI-28651230731692/

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If you follow the links to the sites that sell plans for the cottages, it's clear they are intended as permanent structures. There must be a way to reinforce the cottages to withstand storms and sell them to the occupants dirt cheap or even let them have the cottages for free. After all, these are the same people FEMA subjected to poisonous fumes for months on end in those miserable trailers.

[pitohui]

1. fema is willing to sell them, waveland doesn't want them there -- it's the zoning nazi crap

if hancock cty's administrator wants to keep people in the cottages, why doesn't he reign in some of the nimbyism crap going in waveland? fema is perfectly willing to sell the cottages to the folks, it's waveland that doesn't want them to stay

i know of someone personally, and not a poor person, who already gave up on waveland, they are just putting up too many damn obstacles in the path of rebuilding

no, you are not correct that these cottages could be made to withstand the kind of storm surge we saw with katrina, but guess what, NOTHING CAN, that's why people came back and couldn't even find their SLABS at waveland, that's what evacuation is for

FEMA officials say they are willing to sell the cottages to residents, but that depends on local approvals and some cities, such as Waveland and Bay St. Louis, Miss., will only allow the cottages in trailer parks, advocates contend.

[robinlynne]

6. Sell? Didn't we already pay for them?

[MadMaddie]

8. Yea we did

Oh and lets not forget the thousands of rotting trailers sitting in mud, FEMA intentionally left them there.

[tclambert]

2. The post-Katrina reconstruction effort, or lack thereof, is a national disgrace.

Here's a suggestion for a government jobs program: Rebuild New Orleans! Rebuild Waveland. Rebuild Bay St. Louis. And while we're at it: Rebuild Galveston.

Goddammit! This should have been a national priority since August 30th, 2005 (the day after Katrina hit).

[DS1]

3. The Bush Administration violates zoning rules

You're not supposed to have farm animals in Government buildings.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

4. I wonder where FEMA's gonna put all those trailers?

I mean, Hope, AR airport is full...
BTW: this Google snap shot is from 2003(4)

[Vinca]

12. The cottages are stick built. They can't be hauled away and used another time.

If they kick the people out on the street, they'll demolish the cottage and have to pay to have the remains removed. It makes no sense. Pour a slab, bolt the little suckers down to it and install the same things they do for mobile homes for storm protection and leave the people alone. If they eventually get their homes rebuilt they'll have a guest cottage or home office. Plan B, they sue the government for nearly killing them in those formaldehyde trailers.

[Maine-ah]

14. you can move stick built houses

I've seen it. One of my friends had a whole house moved, bought it dirt cheap. Stick built about 60 years ago. Had a foundation poured and set the house on it, a few miles down the road from where the house orginally sat. It's not easy, and it's not cheap, but it can be done.

[Vinca]

15. I know, but does it sound like something FEMA would do?

Pretty unlikely. Save our tax dollars and let the people keep the cottages.

[Fire1]

5. WAVELAND WANTS THAT LAND!!!!!!!!

Bottom line. That the residents will not be able to afford

[Rhiannon12866]

7. K&R. Come on! Haven't they done enough to these people?!

I saw a poll on one of the news channels yesterday that said that the nation gave up on George Bush* after he fucked up Katrina so badly...:-(

[Zaidinit]

9. "Cottages"?

<_<

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[opihimoimoi]

11. Holy Crap...Bushie boy hardly got any supporters.....everybody now...BUSH SUCKS

[tanyev]

13. Hey, George Bush! Here's some more people that have never recovered

from Katrina, like yourself. Why don't you and Laura invite them to stay with you? You could serve them mint juleps and talk about all the front porches they don't have.

[merh]

16. The problem is, the size of the cottages

image 700 square feet in the air, on pilings as tall as 25 feet (the bay/waveland area).

And please keep in mind that the governor is diverting 600 million to build a super port, 600 million meant for housing.