Arkansas housing thousands of empty FEMA trailers
LITTLE ROCK New stats from FEMA show that thousands of empty mobile homes the agency ordered to house refugees in the wake of Hurricane Katrina now sit empty at sites near Texarkana and Hope.
In total, FEMA ordered 20 thousand mobile homes after Katrina for displaced families. The cost was more than 500 (m) million dollars. But as of last week only 889 were occupied and more than 10,000 were empty with about half of those near Arkansas cities.
Specifically, trailers were housed since the order went through at the Red River Army Depot and Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant west of Texarkana and in early October FEMA started storing the trailers at the Hope Municipal Airport _ where the agency is paying 25 thousands dollars a month for the storage space.
James McIntyre, a FEMA spokesman, said five thousand 840 mobile homes and 80 travel trailers are at Hope and the Texarkana sites.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press.
Replies
I'd been wondering - a center of the mobile home/travel trailer industry is in northern Indiana - I've been watching trailers heading south for the last 6 weeks - a lot of the locals with trailer hauling capacity have signed on with FEMA to move the units - $1.41 per mile, plus fuel vouchers is what I have heard -
I went to Marion IN, about 25 miles south of me a month ago, coming back home I counted one trailer being hauled by vehicles with the magnetic FEMA sign per mile -
can't imagine the quality of these hastily manufactured units can be very good, and the logistics....
Notably missing from the article is any explanation regarding WHY the trailers are empty. Was there less than anticipated demand for them, or what?
Did you read my post in the thread from Laurel about the pastor's Daughter's trailer? When we left, I think it had been sitting in her yard ready for roughly a month. But FEMA hadn't inspected it, so she wasn't allowed to live in it yet.
>But FEMA hadn't inspected it, so she wasn't allowed to live in it yet.
That's the story I've heard on the news. FEMA has not yet inspected the massive number of trailers and won't let people stay in them until inspected. I guess its not a priority for FEMA!
3 weeks ago FEMA was about to throw thousands of people out of the hotel rooms they are living in and into the street. Only public outcry change that decision. I wonder if FEMA had inspected the street?
Heckuva job brownie
Eric
Notably missing from the article is any explanation regarding WHY the trailers are empty. Was there less than anticipated demand for them, or what?
I am sure the demand is there for the trailers. Probably most of the people that need the temporary housing don't have a clue how to get it. There is a huge comunication gap, if you can't go thru the government hoops, they won't come looking for you with a gift wrapped trailer.
My favorite story on this general topic was about the ice they hauled down there. It made me cry. Really, I wanna to feel like paying taxes is important. This year... NOT.
Don't get me started about the blue tarps.
Now I feel like returning some cans of water to the paint department at HD.