Inclusion Daily Express -- Hundreds Wait For Accessible FEMA Trailers That Sit In Storage

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Hundreds Wait For Accessible FEMA Trailers That Sit In Storage
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
February 7, 2007

LAFAYETTE, LOUISIANA--In case you're counting, it's been more than 17 months since Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, killing hundreds and leaving countless survivors without homes.

Last summer, the Federal Emergency Management Agency purchased 2,000 accessible FEMA trailers to help people with disabilities that had been displaced by the storm and the flooding that followed.

As of last week, more than half of those trailers -- 1,200 of them -- were still gathering dust in storage yards in Louisiana and Mississippi, while an estimated 788 people are waiting for the temporary homes.

The Advocacy Center, Louisiana's federally mandated protection and advocacy system, sued FEMA one year ago so the court would order the federal agency to provide the accessible trailers. In September of 2006, FEMA finally agreed to do so in order to settle the lawsuit out of court.

But the trailers still sit, far from those who need them.

According to Wednesday's edition of The Advocate newspaper, Advocacy Center attorney Nell Hahn filed a motion in district court Tuesday, alleging that FEMA had failed to comply with the settlement agreement.

"We need for FEMA to tell us why this is happening," Hahn said.

Related:
"Advocacy group: FEMA sluggish on trailers for disabled" (The Advocate)
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/5605936.html
The Advocacy Center
http://www.advocacyla.org
"People With Disabilities Among Hardest Hit By Hurricanes Katrina & Rita" (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/05/katrina.htm

Copyright © 2007 Inonit Publishing
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