bobbyw24
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HURRICANE IKE: AFTERMATH
FEMA accused of acting like Grinch after evictions
By HARVEY RICE
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
SAN LEON — The 72-hour notice to vacate the federally owned trailer in front of his hurricane-damaged house in San Leon left Caleb Dickson dumbfounded.
A Federal Emergency Management Agency official notified Dickson that he had to be out of the trailer by Dec. 16 because he had made a minor electrical repair.
“They were going to let me stay in the trailer until March,” said Dickson, 53. “But in the damn freezing middle of winter … you are going to throw me out of my house at Christmastime.”
Similar complaints led FEMA's new regional administrator Wednesday to halt all evictions from FEMA trailers and begin an internal investigation about how its employees were treating residents.
Dickson is one of several residents who complained of intense pressure by FEMA employees to move out more than three months before the program was originally scheduled to end.
The complaints are coming to light just as FEMA on Wednesday announced it was extending the deadline for ending the temporary housing program for Ike victims from March 12 to July 9.
The complaints were taken seriously by staffers in the office of U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who earlier this month asked FEMA for an explanation.
“We contacted FEMA as soon as we were notified of the situation and urged them to correct it as quickly as possible,” Cornyn spokesman Kevin McLaughlin said in an e-mail. “It is our understanding that they have taken the appropriate steps to do so.”
FEMA told Cornyn's office that the agency was trying to find people who were improperly forced out of their trailers.
Allegations under review
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6785338.html
FEMA accused of acting like Grinch after evictions
By HARVEY RICE
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
SAN LEON — The 72-hour notice to vacate the federally owned trailer in front of his hurricane-damaged house in San Leon left Caleb Dickson dumbfounded.
A Federal Emergency Management Agency official notified Dickson that he had to be out of the trailer by Dec. 16 because he had made a minor electrical repair.
“They were going to let me stay in the trailer until March,” said Dickson, 53. “But in the damn freezing middle of winter … you are going to throw me out of my house at Christmastime.”
Similar complaints led FEMA's new regional administrator Wednesday to halt all evictions from FEMA trailers and begin an internal investigation about how its employees were treating residents.
Dickson is one of several residents who complained of intense pressure by FEMA employees to move out more than three months before the program was originally scheduled to end.
The complaints are coming to light just as FEMA on Wednesday announced it was extending the deadline for ending the temporary housing program for Ike victims from March 12 to July 9.
The complaints were taken seriously by staffers in the office of U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who earlier this month asked FEMA for an explanation.
“We contacted FEMA as soon as we were notified of the situation and urged them to correct it as quickly as possible,” Cornyn spokesman Kevin McLaughlin said in an e-mail. “It is our understanding that they have taken the appropriate steps to do so.”
FEMA told Cornyn's office that the agency was trying to find people who were improperly forced out of their trailers.
Allegations under review
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6785338.html
