[StBernard] Landrieu Grills FEMA, HUD Officials on Incomplete, Delayed Disaster Housing Strategy

[Westley Annis]

Landrieu Grills FEMA, HUD Officials on Incomplete, Delayed Disaster Housing
Strategy 
One year late, FEMA plan is full of holes.

 

WASHINGTON - United States Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., today questioned
top officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on FEMA's Disaster Housing Strategy.
Presented last week after several missed deadlines, the report defers most
of the responsibility for post-disaster housing and plans to a
not-yet-created entity. 

"FEMA was instructed by a law Congress passed and was signed by the
President to make and implement a plan for housing disaster victims," Sen.
Landrieu said today at a hearing of the Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs Disaster Recovery Subcommittee, which has been conducting an
investigation into FEMA's failed housing strategy in response to Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita. "But instead, FEMA has just passed the responsibilities
under its jurisdiction off to an unformed body. I'm trying to figure out why
these pages are blank.

The majority staff of the subcommittee's analysis of FEMA's Disaster Housing
Strategy, delivered July 21, revealed significant shortcomings in the plan.
In particular, the analysis found that rather than submitting plans for six
of nine required improvements to the agency's disaster housing strategy,
FEMA instead proposes creating a new entity to which it defers the bulk of
these responsibilities. 

The analysis also found that FEMA has yet to specifically identify a
reliable alternative to trailers for housing a substantial number of
evacuees from large-scale catastrophes such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
and the federal levee failures that followed. 

"Under questioning from Sen. Landrieu about the seven blank pages in the
Disaster Housing Strategy that were called "Under Development," Deputy
Administrator Harvey E. Johnson responded, "The strategy is in fact a
strategy. It's a precursor to a plan."

Sen. Landrieu also grilled Administrator Johnson on FEMA's policy regarding
travel trailers. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has found that the
trailers FEMA provided hurricane victims following Katrina and Rita
contained five times the normal level of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.
FEMA Administrator David Paulison testified on April 3 that FEMA would no
longer use trailers in disaster response, but the agency's housing strategy
includes them. 

"This committee remains very confused about FEMA's position on travel
trailers," Sen. Landrieu said.

Administrator Johnson responded that they would only be used in certain
circumstances and emphasized other housing methods such as the Alternative
Housing Pilot Program (AHPP). Sen. Landrieu reminded Administrator Johnson
that the AHPP was a plan she pushed through Congress in 2006 in response to
FEMA's lack of ingenuity on housing. But FEMA awarded a Mississippi project
the bulk of the money for a slightly modified trailers program.

Sen. Landrieu also questioned Jan C. Opper, Associate Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Disaster Policy and Management. She asked him about HUD's
involvement in the Disaster Housing Strategy and what the agency plans to do
in the future to rebuild low income housing.

"Does HUD consider replacing HUD's own low-income housing to be part of its
responsibility," Sen. Landrieu asked. "Do you think its part of your job to
focus on this housing, which your agency built?"

"It is part of my job to coordinate and make sure that someone is thinking
about that," Opper replied. 

Sen. Landrieu also reminded Administrator Johnson that the strategy was
delivered to Congress a year late and asked him when the final "plan" would
be complete. Administrator Johnson responded that it would be finished by
the fall but refused to be more specific. 

The Post Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA), which was signed
into law in 2006, required FEMA to provide to Congress a complete National
Disaster Housing Strategy by July, 1, 2007.

"My Subcommittee will continue to press FEMA on its inadequate housing
strategy to ensure the next time a catastrophic disaster strikes, the agency
provides safe housing quickly and effectively," Sen. Landrieu said. "The
investigation into FEMA's failed housing strategy will continue so that
FEMA's mistakes are revealed to the public, and the agency is reformed to
prevent a repeat performance."  

Photos from today's hearing are available here:
http://landrieu.senate.gov/media/08.07.30_FEMA_Housing_Hearing.JPG 

Transcript/Video:
http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Detail&HearingI
D=539dc4a0-3e8e-4b15-ad4f-dabe228a14c1