Katrina Evacuees Uncertain of Destinations

By KEVIN McGILL
Associated Press Writer

October 14, 2005, 12:17 AM EDT


BATON ROUGE, La. -- After five weeks of sharing a convention-hall-turned-bedroom with hundreds of other Hurricane Katrina evacuees, Perry Bernard is finally getting a new address. But it may look a lot like the old one.

Bernard was hoping to land a private trailer in a nearby park for evacuees when the Red Cross closes its once-bustling refuge at the River Center, but he's been told he may simply be shunted to another shelter north of town.

"I'm ready to get out," said Bernard, 42, of New Orleans. "When you come outside for a few minutes you have to stand in line to get back in. You have to be searched every day."

Bernard is among a multitude of people displaced by the hurricane who can't go home and are still waiting for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to put them in long-term housing.

It became clear this week that the federal government won't meet its goal of clearing all shelters by Saturday, although 92 percent of the more than 270,000 people in shelters because of Katrina have moved on.

And far more people are in other temporary housing. As of Thursday, 616,023 people were living in 198,717 hotel rooms at government expense and thousands more, nobody is sure how many, were stuck with friends or relatives.

The Red Cross estimates it will have spent between $350 million and $425 million on housing evacuees through Oct. 24, when its contract for the job is due to expire. That contract is expected to be renewed.

FEMA officials have made it clear they want to put evacuees in long-term temporary housing, including mobile homes, camping trailers and apartments.

Local officials and evacuees have complained about red tape and delays in the effort, but FEMA officials cite numerous complications: the massive scope of Katrina's destruction, a housing shortage even before the storm, the intricacies involved in acquiring land, and the need to obtain local permits.

FEMA also wants to interview individual evacuees about where they eventually want to be relocated, said Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, head of the FEMA relief effort.

"This is somewhat of a daunting challenge because these folks left and went to a lot of different locations," Allen said.

Some evacuees have found housing, but it hasn't been easy.

Vernon J. White, a New Orleans man who took refuge in Arkansas, said Wednesday he was on the verge of leaving his shelter in Little Rock, but only after a difficult search for a temporary home and a long wait for aid from FEMA. He was still waiting for the local housing authority to inspect his new residence before he could move in.

"I probably could've gotten housing sooner, but I was waiting for my FEMA money," he said. "When you look for a house they hit you with these fees, like a key deposit, and a background check fee, you understand?"

In Baton Rouge, hope for escaping shelter life rested on the conversion of state-owned pasture land near Baker into a community of 570-plus camper trailers arranged along gravel roads with street lights. That park was completed and opened last week and FEMA officials expect it to be filled to capacity by Friday night as the River Center shelter closes.

It can't hold everybody, however, and similar parks have been slow to come on line. The Red Cross said no more than 100 people will be moved from River Center to another shelter near the trailer park.

Neither Michael Matthews, a 36-year-old bartender, nor James Vines, a 50-year-old shipfitter, was optimistic he would end up with a place of his own, given that FEMA is concentrating on moving families and people with special health needs into the trailer park.

"Single guys go last," Matthews said.

"I'm thinking about getting married," Vines joked.

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