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Last
week, FEMA set a Dec. 1 deadline to stop hotel payments
everywhere but Louisiana and Mississippi, where housing
remains scarce. But that plan drew sharp criticism from
Congress, city and state officials and housing advocates
who feared 15 days would not be enough time for evacuees
to find stable housing and sign leases - a process that
can take months in rental markets already nearing capacity.
"We
want these families to be back in some semblance of
normalcy," FEMA acting director R. David Paulison
told reporters. "We want them in decent housing.
We want them out of these hotels and motels and into
apartments."
Still,
Paulison said, "Let me make this really clear:
We are not kicking people out into the street. We are
simply moving them from hotels and motels and into apartments
that we will continue to pay for."
In
Las Vegas, The Rev. Jesse Jackson said the FEMA extension
did nothing to solve what he called certain eviction
of evacuees. Nearly 730 families remain in hotels in
Nevada.
"These
are artificial deadlines that do not correspond to a
house in which to move," Jackson said.
Under
the new guidelines, officials in the 10 states will
have to file plans with FEMA by Dec. 15 outlining how
they will help evacuees move out of hotels and into
travel trailers, mobile homes or apartments until they
find permanent homes. Those states are: Alabama, Arkansas,
California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Nevada, Tennessee and Texas.
Those
states "should be able to get these people out
by Dec. 15, we believe," Paulison said. "But
we know it's going to be difficult. ... So that's why
we are giving them through Jan. 7, if they feel like
they need that time."
Louisiana
and Mississippi previously faced a Jan. 7 deadline for
evacuees living in a combined 13,600 hotel rooms in
the two states. But Texas took in the greatest number
of evacuees, including 16,100 families who were still
living in hotel rooms across the state.
Texas
officials welcomed the six-week extension they had pushed
for since FEMA announced the Dec. 1 deadline. Republican
Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn said they
were encouraged by the new plan and pledged to help
local and state officials make sure evacuees' needs
are met.
Rep.
Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat who represents the city
of Houston, also applauded FEMA but said the agency
needs to have "ongoing flexibility" in upcoming
months.
"We're
seeing that trailer homes will not be placed as fast
as we would like them placed, people will not be transitioning
from hotels as fast we'd like them to be placed, furniture
may not be placed in apartments that make it ready for
families that are either physically challenged, or families
with children," she said.
Housing
advocates said they were cautiously optimistic about
the extension.
"It's
reasonable," said Barbara A. Vassallo of the National
Apartment Association. "We think that's workable."
She
questioned, however, whether the extension would affect
deadlines for other housing programs, and if FEMA was
planning to give pending applications for assistance
a fast review.
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