FEMA is justified

   Thousands of people in Mississippi and all over the area affected by Hurricane Katrina are still living in Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers and continuing to use the government’s money.

   FEMA’s field coordinator in Mississippi, Mike Miller, said 1,961 Mississippians are living in trailers, mobile homes or cottages on the government’s tab. In counties along the Gulf Coast – Harrison, Hancock and Jackson – 1,104 people remain in FEMA housing. Another 851 are scattered throughout the rest of the state.

   After three years and nine months, I think people have had enough time to rebuild their homes or find new places to live. My own family lost their home in Biloxi, and they lived in a FEMA trailer until this past December. They knew the deadline was approaching, so the rebuild was completed.

   Have the people still living in FEMA trailers not saved money for housing or made any kind of arrangements for a new place to live? It is not fair for the government to pay for people to sit in trailers for the rest of their lives.

   With that in mind, do people not know about the faults of FEMA? In Texas, more than 35,000 trailers were recalled because of high levels of formaldehyde contamination. Formaldehyde can cause respiratory problems and has taken the blame for much disease amongst FEMA trailer inhabitants.

   Miller said FEMA will stop paying bills on May 1. Since Katrina, FEMA has spent more than $7.8 billion on temporary housing. The misconception about FEMA is that they are kicking people from their trailers and leaving them on the side of the road. But in fact, the agents have given options for permanent housing and several warnings leading up to today.
What are people expecting to do with their lives? It is not logical to think that every Hurricane Katrina victim who received a trailer would be able to stay in that “temporary” housing forever. 

   The official Web site – www.femaanswers.org – explains the policies of FEMA and the regulations the organization must follow. Under section 403 of the rental assistance code, FEMA has a 6-month and 12-month contract through the government to disaster survivors.
This means FEMA has allowed an abundant amount of time for people to find a permanent home and move on with their lives – nearly four years.

   I personally believe there would be a lot less drama and controversy surrounding FEMA if the people using only government funding understood the rules of usage and did not rely on free or assisted accommodations.