Cincinnati Change Response to Changing the Gulf

U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval said victims of the Hurricanes and their aftermath must be given more time in hotels because FEMA cannot guarantee that all applications for other aid, such as rent assistance or trailers, will be processed by the agency's Jan. 7 deadline. The temporary restraining order was part of a class-action lawsuit filed in November by advocates for hurricane victims.

The ruling was in response to a class action lawsuit filed in November by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights along with the New York law firm of Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP; John Pierre, Attorney and Professor at Southern University Law Center; the Public Interest Law Project; and the Equal Justice Society. The Lawyers' Committee is a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights legal organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to provide legal services to address racial discrimination.

FEMA is immediately complying with the court order. FEMA has extended the stay of all of those evacuees living in hotels and motels paid for by FEMA at least through January 7, 2006 . No hurricane evacuee will have to make the transition to longer-term housing without first receiving rental assistance from FEMA or being provided with referral options if ineligible for assistance. The federally-reimbursed hotel/motel program will end no earlier than February 7, 2006 for those still working with FEMA to receive assistance.

"We have extended the stay to all evacuees staying in hotels and motels to Jan. 7," said acting FEMA Director David Paulison during a teleconference Wednesday. "It has been our mission all along to make sure the evacuees making the transition into longer-term housing have the assistance they need. Our goals and those of this ruling are very much the same and that is to make sure no one is asked to make a transition to longer-term housing before receiving the tools to do so, such as FEMA’s rental assistance. "

Although the short-term lodging deadline is Jan. 7, during a conference Wednesday, Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen said eligible evacuees who contact FEMA prior to the deadline would be allowed to reside in hotel or motel rooms after the deadline in order to find an apartment. The federally reimbursed hotel/motel program will end no earlier than Feb. 7 for those still working with FEMA to receive assistance.

FEMA has provided rental assistance to 653,000 families affected by this catastrophe so far. The Federal Emergency Management Agency continues to pick up the tab for about 41,000 hotel rooms in 47 states and the District of Columbia at an estimated cost so far of about $350 million.Judge Duval’s order requires FEMA to notify all displaced persons who were incorrectly told by the agency that they must apply for a SBA loan in order to obtain temporary housing assistance.

Pursuant to the court order, FEMA “must notify applicants and potential applicants that no such requirement exists and that no applications will be held up for Temporary Housing Assistance processing due to an SBA Loan application not being filled out, or being filled out incorrectly, unnecessarily, and/or superfluously.

”The needs of the relative few who remain in hotels and motels remain a top priority. FEMA continues to reach out to those evacuees who may not yet know of federal aid they are eligible to receive, and encourages those who have not registered to do so.This ruling is critical for the close to 100,000 hurricane survivors who are now living in at least 37,000 hotel and motel rooms throughout the country," said John Brittain, Chief Counsel of the Lawyers' Committee.

"African Americans made up a disproportionate high share of the hurricanes' survivors. Many have little or no resources and those that remain in hotel rooms are in most need of assistance at this time," added Brittain.Cincinnati Change will work to ensure that all victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have housing and economic development opportunities.