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This week, President Bush openly acknowledged the federal government
has not adequately responded to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
He specifically referred to the 10,477 fully furnished, brand new, manufactured
homes staged in Hope at the municipal airport and directed Department of
Homeland Security Secretary, Michael Chertoff, to determine what can be
done with these manufactured homes. I, along with many of my colleagues
in Congress and community leaders throughout Hope, have been calling for
months for these homes to be delivered to the thousands of Katrina victims
who so desperately need them. I am deeply saddened it has taken nearly
seven months for this Administration to realize that staging thousands
of manufactured homes 450 miles from the eye of the hurricane that shocked
our nation’s Gulf Coast is not an ‘adequate response.’
In response to the President’s sudden interest for something to be done
with the manufactured homes, Senator Mark Pryor and I have asked the President
to issue an Executive Order to waive the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s
(FEMA) flood plain restriction which prevents manufactured homes from being
delivered to flood plain areas. Earlier this month, I introduced
legislation in the House of Representatives to temporarily waive the flood
plain restriction. It is my sincere hope that President Bush will issue
an Executive Order and negate the need for this legislation in order to
deliver the homes to the people who need them in a timely manner.
An Executive Order waiving the FEMA restriction could have the homes moving
to the Gulf Coast in a matter of days and resolve the situation without
legislative action.
The harsh reality is that our Gulf Coast just experienced a natural
disaster where most of the homes destroyed were built on a flood plain.
While placement of manufactured homes in Louisiana and Mississippi may
not be ideal, neither is having families living in tents, nearly seven
months after the storm, throughout the long winter season. The delivery
of the homes to the people who lost their homes and everything they own
is long overdue.
The 10,477 homes stalled at Hope’s Municipal Airport is yet another
symbol of the lack of leadership and accountability within this Administration.
FEMA has indicated that some 5,000 of the manufactured homes will be used
for Katrina victims, while the remaining homes will be used for future
disasters. FEMA needs to use a good dose of common sense and deliver
these homes to the people who continue to live in tents, hotel rooms, and
other temporary housing arrangements nearly seven months after the hurricane
uprooted lives of thousands of American citizens. Rest assured, I
will continue to ask the tough questions of FEMA until these homes are
delivered to the people who so desperately need them. |
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