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Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management Crisis and Emergency Management Newsletter Website |
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February
2006
Volume
10 - Number 1 |
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18 month eviction deadline looms Sarah M. Goldman While recent focus has been on the devastating effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Florida residents are still trying to put their lives back together after the long 2004 hurricane season. Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne blew through the panhandle state in the late summer of 2004 leaving nearly 70,000 Florida residents in need of temporary housing. The Federal Emergency Management Agency responded by providing housing assistance and the now ubiquitous white FEMA travel trailers and mobile homes. As of January of 2006 approximately 5,670 households are still in FEMA trailers and mobile homes. This number is down from a pre-Katrina record of 17,000. According to the Herald Tribune around 370 families live in the Charlotte County FEMA trailer park located in Punta Gorda. Charlotte County has an additional 377 trailers on private property. Around the state other large shelter areas include Arcadia with 142 families in temporary trailers, Wauchula with 102 and Pensacola with 93. Tensions are mounting in these areas as a February 13 eviction deadline looms. FEMA supplies rent-free trailers to residents for 18 months following an event and this week marks that anniversary for Hurricane Charley. While FEMA has made no official comment on whether residents will actually be forced to turn over the keys to their homes, Jim Homstad a FEMA spokesperson based in Orlando says he “expects residents to get 30-60 day extensions.” Denise Everhart also of FEMA says that those who get eviction orders are only those residents who failed to comply with a clause in their leases that requires them to draft permanent housing plans. Finding affordable more permanent housing is just one of the many hurdles residents left homeless by the storm are facing. Life inside the temporary trailer parks like that in Punta Gorda has its challenges. In a September 17th, 2005 Washington Post article, Charlotte County Director of Recovery Bob Herbert said that FEMA City, the nickname for the site in his County, is a “socioeconomic timebomb waiting to blow up.” According to the Herald Tribune an August survey found that 96 of the FEMA parks then 511 heads of household were elderly, 55 were unemployed, 73 lived on Social Security and 20 lived on disability or veterans’ assistance. Furthermore one of the Federal Governments biggest ongoing costs in FEMA City is security in the park. Bob Carpenter, spokesman for the Charlotte County Sheriffs Office says that they recently billed FEMA for $564,532 to cover overtime costs for off-duty deputies to provide security. In order to help residents find more permanent housing FEMA recently partnered with local and national nonprofits and faith-based organizations. Representatives are working one on one with residents to help relocate them in and outside the state. Additionally, in Punta Gorda, FEMA is working with local officials to let the County takeover the park after the February deadline. It is expected that Charlotte County would then begin charging rent for those remaining households. www.hearldtribune.com www.news-press.com www6.lexisnexis.com www.sun-hearld.com/newsarchive4/020306/ www.femacity.net |