State officials say FEMA too slow on housing

Col. Jeff Smith, deputy director of the state Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said with tens of thousands of Louisiana residents in evacuation centers in the state and more dispersed around the country, FEMA has not moved swiftly enough to bring in trailers and mobile homes or find vacant apartments or homes for the displaced victims.

“We have a main concern with temporary housing,’’ Smith said. “We don’t feel that process is moving fast enough. There needs to be trailers rolling and things happening that just aren’t happening...This is truly a national issue.’’

Two weeks after disasters struck in other states, FEMA had temporary housing in place for the displaced, Smith said.

“Other states have had trailers set up by this time,’’ Smith said.

FEMA wants the state to estimate of the number of homeless people and how much housing will be needed, but Smith said because of the enormity of the situation, that is not yet possible.

“This is massive; get us housing on the ground,’’ Smith said. “Get some things moving in here . . .When you have the number of residents we have displaced, somebody’s going to be unhappy with how you do it.’’

FEMA needs to “start thinking outside the box,’’ he said. Officials in Texas have already found some temporary housing units for Katrina victims from south Louisiana dispersed there.

Mark Smith, public information office with the state Office of Emergency Preparedness, said that a “tent city,’’ like the one set up in south Florida after of Hurricane Andrew, would be the least preferable scenario.

“With the heat and humidity, I hope we look to other options before setting a tent city,’’ he said. “We looking for something that gives people more of a sense of home.’’