Blacks in Congress Urge FEMA to Extend Deadline for Evacuees in Hotels

Starting December 1, the Federal Emergency Management Agency says it will stop paying room charges for hurricane survivors occupying 5,700 hotels in a number of states, including Texas, Louisiana, Georgia and Mississippi.

Thousands of black families will be notified that they now have only two weeks to find alternative housing or start paying for their hotel rooms themselves, according to FEMA officials.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) called FEMA’s decision “outrageous” and said she sent a letter Tuesday to Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security, asking for an extension beyond December 1 to allow more time to find permanent homes for Katrina survivors.

She said evacuees are in their present condition because of “continued failures” by the federal government resulting from widespread displacement and now FEMA is compounding the problems.

“We can’t put them out of hotels when things are in limbo,” Jackson Lee told BlackAmericaWeb.com Wednesday.

She said its incumbent on FEMA to recognize the complexities of moving thousands of families from hotels to apartments, especially when most families do not have resources, jobs or furniture.

Jackson Lee said she spoke to Chertoff Tuesday evening.

“He said I had a legitimate concern,” Jackson Lee said, adding that federal officials are now considering extending the deadline for evacuees. She has been instrumental in brokering a partnership between black churches in Houston and the Red Cross where parishioners are training with Red Cross workers to assist families impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

Mel Watt, (D-NC) chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said FEMA was "irresponsible" and called on President George W. Bush to support caucus-sponsored legislation to further assist Katrina survivors.

"The recent announcement by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that it would end housing assistance to more than 150,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees, making it necessary for them to find other housing by December 1, is irresponsible and callous," Watt said in a statement.

The Congressional Black Caucus recently introduced a Katrina Relief Bill designed to provide for the recovery of the Gulf Coast region and for the reunion of families devastated by the storm. The bill proposes funding for 300,000 additional tenant-based rental assistance vouchers and proposes $10 million for housing counseling for families in temporary shelters.

"Neither FEMA nor the federal government have put forth a long-term housing plan, and FEMA's announcement will push thousands of evacuees into shelters for the homeless because of lack of planning," Watt said. "Many of the evacuees are elderly and have small children, and it is heartless for FEMA to set this deadline one week after Thanksgiving and just before Christmas."

Officials said some families will be eligible for as much as $2,358 for three months' rental assistance from FEMA, payments that may be extended for as long as 18 months.

"Hurricanes Katrina and Rita created unprecedented housing needs, including record emergency use of congregate shelters, hotels and motels for sheltering,” Acting FEMA Director David Paulison said on FEMA’s website.

“There are still too many people living in hotel rooms, and we want to help them get into longer-term homes before the holidays," Paulison said. "Across the country, there are readily available, longer-term housing solutions for these victims that can give greater privacy and stability than hotel and motel rooms."

Housing experts said FEMA is opening itself to legal challenges. On Thursday, according to media reports, 14 people filed a class-action lawsuit in Louisiana, claiming that FEMA has failed to move quickly to provide relief for Katrina victims.

Nationwide, according to The Washington Post, the number of Katrina evacuees living in shelters has fallen to 2,491, down from a high of 321,000 shortly after the storm, FEMA said. The agency said 1.4 million families have registered as storm victims and 500,000 families have received housing assistance.

Toni Oliver, chair of the family preservation committee for the National Association of Black Social Workers, said FEMA’s decision to evict families from hotels will put additional burdens on people who are already financially and emotionally strained.

She said black people “must find the capacity to do for ourselves” and help other black Americans in need instead of waiting for assistance from the federal government.

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