Yes.

With housing prices lower than ever, now is a great time to buy! What are they waiting for?!

There's virtually no rental housing

In the entire country? Yeah it sucks if you really want to stay there, but suck it up and move. Very little sympathy for those who stubbornly stick with a bad situation and complain about it.

pnjunction: ...but suck it up and move.

Because moving is free, AMIRITE?

4 years is more than enough time to find a job somewhere else and move out of government housing.

You could blame it on the lazy-ass people who don't want to pull their own weight. Some of them have ridden this gravy train as long as possible.

I'm still irritated at the number of people who used their $2000 debit cards to buy a new TV, or go to the strip club, or put new rims on their car, and then fell back on FEMA again for food and clothing assistance when they ran out of money.

I live on the Gulf Coast. I know people who are living in FEMA trailers.


Move out already and get a real farking place to stay.


The biggest complaint I keep reading about down here for people not wanting to move, is people who are elderly or disabled and unable to pay the rent somewhere else. What did you do BEFORE the free government housing? Well, do that.

Dancin_In_Anson: 4 years to get your shiat together should be enough, no?

If your bills are 90-110% of your income? If you've had a single minor catastrophe in the last 48 months? If you have limited access to transportation? If you're unemployed or unemployable? If the vast majority of your time is consumed by subsistence? If your ability to survive is dependent upon your support network, all of which live in that specific geographic area?

Sure, I guarantee that there are thousands who are lazy asses content to live on the dole. But claiming "just move" is a panacea is disingenuous.

Occam's Chainsaw: Dancin_In_Anson: 4 years to get your shiat together should be enough, no?

If your bills are 90-110% of your income? If you've had a single minor catastrophe in the last 48 months? If you have limited access to transportation? If you're unemployed or unemployable? If the vast majority of your time is consumed by subsistence? If your ability to survive is dependent upon your support network, all of which live in that specific geographic area?

Sure, I guarantee that there are thousands who are lazy asses content to live on the dole. But claiming "just move" is a panacea is disingenuous.

Yes, so the thousands of lazy asses should leave, and those who are sick or elderly should apply for other housing assistance.

Occam's Chainsaw: Dancin_In_Anson: 4 years to get your shiat together should be enough, no?

If your bills are 90-110% of your income? If you've had a single minor catastrophe in the last 48 months? If you have limited access to transportation? If you're unemployed or unemployable? If the vast majority of your time is consumed by subsistence? If your ability to survive is dependent upon your support network, all of which live in that specific geographic area?

Sure, I guarantee that there are thousands who are lazy asses content to live on the dole. But claiming "just move" is a panacea is disingenuous.

You're right. The delicate balance of these people's lives has been disrupted so taxpayers must foot the bill forever.

snarkysedai:
The biggest complaint I keep reading about down here for people not wanting to move, is people who are elderly or disabled and unable to pay the rent somewhere else. What did you do BEFORE the free government housing? Well, do that.

To be fair, if a person is elderly they likely had their house completely paid off. They can't exactly "do that" when their house is now floating in the bottom of the ocean or something.

Occam's Chainsaw: If your bills are 90-110% of your income?

What bills? You're living in government housing for free?

Vanetia: To be fair, if a person is elderly they likely had their house completely paid off. They can't exactly "do that" when their house is now floating in the bottom of the ocean or something.

Where did they spend all of the insurance money from their destroyed house?

snarkysedai: What did you do BEFORE the free government housing? Well, do that.

they either lived in free government housing for the old/disabled/lazy people that fake one of the above. or they lived in a house that had been owned by the family for generations and cant afford to start paying a mortgage/rent now. that being said 4 years is way too long they should have kicked them out on the street after 6months for healthy people and 1 year for old/disabled

To be clear, trollmitter, you magnificent bastard, weather is something to be blamed on atmospheric conditions and geothermal dynamics. Incompetence, however?



That's entirely human.

SchlingFocker: Where did they spend all of the insurance money from their destroyed house?

what makes you think that poor people have insurance.

Just yesterday I found a way to blame a petty inconvenience of packaging on Bush via the plastic industry's ties to petroleum.

Obama will fix it.

/get the hell out from under my trailer

FTFA:
Pam Williams is trying to rebuild a home in Plaquemines Parish, about an hour south of New Orleans. More than three and a half years after Katrina, she still lives in a FEMA trailer with her 5-year-old daughter, O'leya. Williams lost tens of thousands of dollars to contractors who ran off with her money.

She lives in the Gulf of Mexico?

cardex: what makes you think that poor people have insurance.

My phrase was addressing elderly people living in paid-for houses.

They can afford insurance.

If they chose not to buy insurance, that's their problem.

Really though, they should just accept those trailers as gone. I'd hate to be the one of the people who has to clean those up.

For the most part, people who have lived in a trailer for four years because it was free are going to have it thoroughly trashed.

Here's an idea! Offer to sell them the trailers. Does FEMA have another use for them?

Somehow I knew before I even clicked and saw the picture that they'd be black. Does this make me racist, or just realistic? And a mother with a child with no man in sight?! Well, color me surprised!

SilentStrider: Because the one I heard told the story of a woman who'd been screwed by unscrupulous contractors, and now, despite working her ass off at a job, still was unable to put together the money she needed to finish rebuilding her house.

If only there were a Business Bureau one could contact to find a good contractor.

If only there had been media reports for decades about unscrupulous contractors bilking people immediately following natural disasters.

A person must do their due diligence before handing over tens of thousands of dollars to some random guy who offers to fix their home.

Lots of people constantly seem to put themselves in situations where they find themselves victimized. This woman sounds like one of them. My guess is that, if you looked back through her life, you'd find she was constantly being taken advantage of in one way or another.

let them have cake

OMG 4% of those people still there

SilentStrider: Wonder if submitter heard the same NPR story I did. Because the one I heard told the story of a woman who'd been screwed by unscrupulous contractors, and now, despite working her ass off at a job, still was unable to put together the money she needed to finish rebuilding her house.

But hey, go ahead and blame the victims, if that makes you feel better.

Bolded the most important part of your story. One not everyone. There is a HUGE difference.
5 letters really do change an entire word.

Occam's Chainsaw: pnjunction: ...but suck it up and move.

Because moving is free, AMIRITE?



Actualy, And this is very important to note:

YES IT IS

Namely, they got a free ticket to wherever the hell in united states they wanted to go. On the other hand, the people living off of fema after the 1st 6 months were the worst fecal matter our nation was capable of producing.

/Worked with evacuees
//No pity for 90% of them

Vanetia:
To be fair, if a person is elderly they likely had their house completely paid off. They can't exactly "do that" when their house is now floating in the bottom of the ocean or something.

This is true, they may have had their house paid off. From my experiences, though, a large number of the people who are wanting to stay in their FEMA housing haven't even made an attempt to get into other housing. Many of these people have been buying new cars (not cars to replace old flooded cars, just new cars), boats, plasma TVs, etc to fill their little FEMA cottage, instead of putting the money away wisely.

There are always exceptions, however.

RadicalMiddle: Here's an idea! Offer to sell them the trailers. Does FEMA have another use for them?

Yeah the junk heap
/Just give it to them free and tell them they have to foot the bill to move it, keep it up, and utilities.

CreepyBasementGuy: FTFA:
Pam Williams is trying to rebuild a home in Plaquemines Parish, about an hour south of New Orleans. More than three and a half years after Katrina, she still lives in a FEMA trailer with her 5-year-old daughter, O'leya. Williams lost tens of thousands of dollars to contractors who ran off with her money.

She lives in the Gulf of Mexico?

There's a lot of land south of NOLA, actually:
http://geology.com/state-map/louisiana.shtml

Oh and as for the chick in the article (the same one as above) QUIT SMOKING! You want your 10k back....I just gave it to you. You're welcome.

I remember about 2 years ago they had a "town hall" meeting for many of those relocated to Dallas who were being told they couldn't continue to live, free of charge, in hotels.

The general response, and these are direct quotes, were "You haven't found me a job yet." and "You haven't found me a new place to live yet."

For those saying their lives have been disrupted, you are correct. But ask yourself this: If their apartment or home had simply burned down and not been destroyed as a part of a hurricane would we even be having this discussion four years after the fact?

SchlingFocker:
Vanetia: To be fair, if a person is elderly they likely had their house completely paid off. They can't exactly "do that" when their house is now floating in the bottom of the ocean or something.

Where did they spend all of the insurance money from their destroyed house?

A fairly big part of the problem down there was many people either didn't have insurance, or got screwed over by their insurance company.

I got tired of living in a shiatty mobile home park,
so I put two ironing boards out the side windows of my trailer and flew it to a better neighborhood.

I am wary of blaming "unscrupulous contractors." Many times folks assume that paying a guy to repair a leaky pipe means he's on the hook to replace their entire plumbing system... and call him "unscrupulous" if he points out that he was only paid to fix the leaky pipe.

Point is, irresponsible people often blame the contractor when in fact it is their own fault. I mean, did she pay them all the money up front or something??? Seriously. I am a contractor, so I'm sure I'm biased.

True story:

Guy calls me to finish an addition on his house. He paid someone else to do the job IN FULL and the guy ran off after digging the footers. So anyway, I quote him a price and he starts complaining that I am taking advantage of him and my price is too high. (Truth is, I was in the dirt. I actually felt bad for this dude.) Anyway, I ask him what makes him think my price is too high, and he says this: "You are way higher than the guy who was originally contracted to do this!"

I said that my price included ACTUALLY DOING THE JOB.

Summoner101: SchlingFocker:
Vanetia: To be fair, if a person is elderly they likely had their house completely paid off. They can't exactly "do that" when their house is now floating in the bottom of the ocean or something.

Where did they spend all of the insurance money from their destroyed house?

A fairly big part of the problem down there was many people either didn't have insurance, or got screwed over by their insurance company.

1) too bad for you, not my responsibility to pick you up, we gave you four year handout if you screwed that time....sorry.

2) There are free legal counsels for such an event, if you didn't use one you probably weren't really "screwed" as much as you didn't have the insurance you thought you did.

creepybasementguy,

You should get out of the basement more, or brush up on your geography. New Orleans is actually quite a bit north of the Gulf. It's bordered by Lake Pontchartrain, not the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi river goes about another 60+ miles before it empties into the Gulf, after it passes through N.O. Now go due east from N.O. and you will be in the Gulf within about 15 miles in a place known as Lake Borgne.

drjekel_mrhyde: OMG 4% of those people still there

Seriously. From 143,000 families in trailers to 6,000 in four years isn't bad. Sounds like the overwhelming majority are trying hard to get their lives back on track.

drjekel_mrhyde: OMG 4% of those people still there

Which is still too many. Sorry, but 4 years is enough time to do something for yourself, even if it's just applying for permanent subsidized housing.

Oh, and I know a businessman who was one of those contracted to provide the housing. Every time there is a disaster FEMA has to buy new trailers because the old ones are almost all trashed when they get them back.

Well the best thing to happen out of all of this is that once again South Texas/Gulf Coast Texas will be the beneficiaries of a mass influx of undesirables.

Seems like the people they interviewed are living in the trailers on their own land while they rebuild. So, what, is FEMA planning on selling the trailers and recouping the money they spent? Not gonna happen. Trailers depreciate. They're not built to last. They'll end up having to pay for someone to haul them away, and pay for landfill space to dump them on. That money is gone. Let the poor folks get whatever use is left out of the trailers while they try to rebuild.

Me, I would have preferred to see a rebirth of the WPA rather than finds given to individuals to hire private contractors.

And I can't forget the stories of people coming back to their still-standing apartment buildings and houses, which appeared to be either habitable or reparable, and being turned away by armed Blackwater guards.

I_Can't_Believe_it's_not_Boutros: mister aj: Somehow I knew before I even clicked and saw the picture that they'd be black. Does this make me racist, or just realistic?

Racist--and too stupid to see that the article was about two different cases. That old dude didn't look too black to me.

Congrats on seeing what you wanted to, as opposed to what was there.

Not really the white dude moved out of his trailer ;)

Theo Smith is 82 years old with a shock of white hair. Until recently, he lived in a FEMA trailer on his land in Saucier, Miss., with his spunky Chihuahua, Cocoa. As the May 1 deadline approached, Smith moved back into his half-finished home, way out in the country.

Nice try though :)

If you get a chance, there is a book called "Feets on the Street" about NO culture and values...the disaster was inevitable and no one did much about it...in fact they wore their defiance as a badge of honor. It's a good read, got just enough sex in it to keep interesting.