Forever Dependent
Remember all those people displaced by Katrina who were headed for “temporary” housing? Well, as with most government programs, dependency is never a temporary condition. As Homeland Stupidity reports:
About 110,000 households displaced due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 will continue to receive housing assistance through March 1, 2009, under a plan the Bush administration announced last week.
Under the plan, some 33,000 families still receiving federal housing assistance, and 87,000 still living in travel trailers and mobile homes, will begin to pay a portion of the cost of the rental beginning in March 2008 and continuing through March 1, 2009, when benefits will end. Those living in travel trailers and mobile homes will also have the option of purchasing their units, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said, through companies similar to Solitaire Homes. You can Click here to learn more about mobile homes and other manufactured homes.
Housing aid had been scheduled to end August 31.
Those receiving rental assistance will be moved to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Disaster Housing Assistance Program. “HUD will use their extensive experience in case management to help residents transition to longer-term housing,” said Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding Donald E. Powell. “We believe this is a coordinated, integrated approach to help those families who need more time and further assistance to move from temporary housing and transition to self-sufficiency.”
More time and further assistance? How do you need more than two years?
