Four months ago, Hurricane Katrina physically destroyed the lives of thousands of people in the Gulf Coast, sending many to Michigan to seek shelter and financial aid. But that support will end soon.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, extended its original Dec. 1 deadline to Dec. 15, giving 40 states, including Michigan, an additional two weeks until it stops paying rental bills for the misplaced evacuees.
"We're not kicking them out of any shelter," FEMA spokesman Butch Kinerney said. "Once people are moved out of hotels, they still have 18 months of housing left, and we'll still pay their bill. It's a matter of transitioning them from hotels to permanent housing."
The 18 month-housing payments are available to those who apply through FEMA.
Michigan's largest population of Katrina evacuees are located in Southfield with 137 hotel rooms being paid for by FEMA. A total of 24 hotels with 159 rooms rented to victims are located within the state.
Kinerney said 5,400 hotels nationwide are housing evacuees.
Cheval Breggins, director of marketing and media relations for St. Vincent Catholic Charities, said approximately 115 refugees in greater Lansing won't have to worry about the financial deadlines because of advanced planning.
"We were able to settle refugees and move them into housing units," he said. "That decision was made to bypass placing the Hurricane Katrina victims into hotel rooms.
"We've already put up people for four months," Kinerney said. "That's been basically four months of free housing for them and bureaucratically, that comes as a challenge. There's no template or guideline on what to provide, but we're making sure that we get all of the necessary information."
FEMA's lack of organization is making the process more difficult, said Amrit Dhillon, media and special projects coordinator for the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a federal housing policy advocacy group in Washington, D.C.
"FEMA keeps maintaining they won't throw anybody out in the street," she said. "A lot of these people aren't qualified for FEMA aid or haven't received FEMA aid checks.
FEMA hasn't outlined how they plan to do this, how to move people into permanent housing, what type of assistance they have and if they qualify for assistance."
Breggins also said relocating the victims to yet another place would be "unthinkable."
"The evacuees have experienced trauma beyond our comprehension, and for them to ride to an unknown place today that could definitely bring about a lot more stress in their lives," he said.
"Hopefully the cities that agree to settle the evacuees will be able to come up with the necessary housing units so the evacuees could at least stay with something familiar."
Applicants receive $786 a month in housing assistance to use in hotels, rental housing or apartments, Kinerney said. The checks come in three-month increments for $2,358. There's also "other needs" money totaling $2,000, which is available for "expedited assistance" such as a need for clothing.
Zenobia Moore, 34, from New Orleans, said she depends on the money from FEMA because Katrina ravaged her house. She moved into an apartment with her husband Robert and her three sons, Colby, Tyler and Mason.
"If FEMA no longer makes provisions for us, in terms of rental assistance, it will devastate us financially," she said. "The coverage you have for homeowners far surpasses what you have covered in flood. No one was prepared for a catastrophe this magnitude. If we got flooding it would only be about a foot or so, we had a good 6 feet of water in the house."
Moore said she feels fortunate to have at least a little bit of flood insurance to fall back on but hopes FEMA considers those without the insurance.
"If they cut this plan out, what's going to happen to people that didn't have insurance?" she said. "Everything is ridiculously priced because of the storm. Some people were non-homeowners who lost everything. What are they going to do?"
The 10 other states that have high numbers of evacuees will receive a Jan. 7 deadline if they have a plan to provide evacuees with a more permanent shelter. The plan needs to include the number of residents that need housing, the number of housing units available and finding additional housing.
Kristi Jourdan can be reached at jourdank@msu.edu.
