[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 8762]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      GULF COAST RENEWAL CAMPAIGN

  (Ms. WATSON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, in the months following Hurricanes Katrina 
and Rita, FEMA sent notices to survivors indicating that they would 
receive up to 1 year of assistance. FEMA has recently announced that 
55,000 families of Katrina survivors currently receiving housing 
emergency shelter assistance will have their housing assistance 
terminated or reduced significantly as of this May 31.
  Survivors are supposed to apply for assistance under section 408 and, 
if the application is accepted, they can reasonably expect further 
assistance up to 18 months from the date of the hurricane. Some reports 
indicate, however, that the rate of rejection has been as high as 80 
percent or four out of five household applicants. Also, section 408 
individualized rental assistance required reapplication every 3 months.
  Now, how many landlords offer 3-month leases? It has been a sham and 
a shame, Mr. Speaker. FEMA and this country has to do better to its 
evacuees.
  Mr. Speaker, in the months following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, 
FEMA sent notices to survivors indicating that they would receive up to 
one year of assistance. FEMA has recently announced that 55,000 
families of Katrina survivors currently receiving housing ``emergency 
shelter'' assistance under Section 403 (Stafford Act) will have their 
housing assistance terminated or reduced significantly as of May 31, 
2006.
  Survivors are supposed to apply for assistance under Section 408, and 
if the application is accepted they can reasonably expect further 
assistance up to 18 months from the date of the hurricane. Some reports 
indicate, however, that the rate of rejection has been as high as 80% 
or 4 out of 5 household applicants. Households who are rejected but are 
still in distress must rely on the good will of local and state 
governments, even though they may not be actual constituents in those 
jurisdictions. Section 408 individualized rental assistance required 
re-application every 3 months. How many landlords offer 3 month leases? 
According to FEMA numbers, the reapplication rate is only 30 per cent. 
These facts raise very serious concerns regarding low income, elderly, 
disabled and other vulnerable persons among the displaced will find 
themselves with inadequate assistance, and there are reports of 
widespread despair, anxiety and lack of faith in the government.
  Under FEMA regulations, only one head of household may apply for 
assistance. But this rule discriminates against low income African-
American families from New Orleans, among whom multiple families living 
in one dwelling unit is common. Additionally, FEMA is telling many 
survivors whose applications have been refused that the basis for 
refusal is because their home has been deemed habitable, even when 
their homes are located in neighborhoods where no public services are 
available and where widespread destruction and environmental 
contamination remain. These inaccurate assessments of eligibility 
should be investigated and re-evaluated.
  Section 408 Individualized assistance does not cover utilities. 
However, section 2501 of the Supplemental Bill now in Conference 
Committee grants FEMA the authority to provide funds to a state or 
local entity to pay for utility costs associated with the thousands of 
leases currently in place. It is essential that the Conference 
Committee leave this language in place, because without it many Katrina 
survivor households will be in further jeopardy of being unable to 
retain current housing leases.
  FEMA has failed to submit its plan for permanent and transitional 
housing to Congress, which was due in January of 2006. Thus FEMA 
continues to operate without an overall plan, instituting more rolling 
deadlines and bureaucratic bungling which has brought additional 
hardship to survivors and their families.
  FEMA has wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on mobile homes that 
have never been relocated to a place where survivors can use them, and 
on trailers that cost as much as $120,000 per unit after transport 
costs are paid, sometimes exceeding the cost of producing the unit. 
With FEMA set to receive $9 billion or more from the Supplemental Bill 
now in Conference Committee, FEMA could use the housing envelope to 
simply purchase apartment buildings at a unit cost that would be less 
than trailers. This would allow for permanent, not temporary housing 
and would avert the jeopardy of returning residents being caught in 
trailers during hurricane season, which is only weeks away.
  The President has the authority to institute alternative, 
comprehensive provisions for all Katrina survivors under the Stafford 
Act, and thus to ensure that no survivor is left homeless as a result 
of the disaster and subsequent evacuation.

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