Cities try to shut FEMA trailer parks
Updated 1d 11h ago | Comment | Recommend E-mail | Save | Print |
More than two years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, 65,641 FEMA trailers are still occupied. Where they are:
Louisiana: 47,897
Mississippi: 16,475
Texas: 1,001
Alabama: 268
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-27-trailers_N.htm?csp=1Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency
By Brad Heath, USA TODAY
Communities along the Gulf Coast are moving to banish the government-issued trailers that house tens of thousands of people whose homes were destroyed by the devastating hurricanes in 2005.
Those cities and parishes are shutting down impromptu trailer parks set up after the disaster, telling homeowners they either must show progress rebuilding or get rid of the emblematic white travel trailers dotted across front yards from Alabama to Texas. About 65,000 Gulf Coast families live in the trailers, which were issued as temporary housing by the Federal Emergency Management Administration.
"It's an act of tough love," says Pascagoula, Miss., Mayor Matthew Avara. "We don't want to put any unneeded hardship on any of our people, but at the same time, we've got to move forward, and the way to move forward is to close down these parks."
VIDEO: Activist group gives tours of a FEMA trailer in Washington