Timeline of the Federal Government’s Temporary Housing Response to Hurricane Katrina
January 25, 2007
September 1, 2005 - HUD places on its website its proposed response to the storm: a housing subsidy of $10,000 per household displaced, regardless of household income, to supplement temporary housing costs for one year. Private landlords, family members, faith-based organizations, shelters or friends would be eligible to receive the money for housing a displaced family. This proposal was removed from HUD's website that day, and never referred to again.
September 1 - September 22, 2005 - FEMA encourages local governments to create housing programs for evacuees. FEMA promises reimbursement as authorized by Section 403 of the Stafford Act. Such temporary rental housing programs become known as "Section 403 housing."
September 8, 2005 - Senator Sarbanes requests $3.5 billion for 350,000 emergency Section 8 vouchers to house families displaced by the Hurricane. Advocates agree that HUD should be responsible for displaced households' housing needs.
September 15, 2005 -350,000 emergency Section 8 vouchers for households' displaced by the storms are approved by Unanimous Consent in the Senate, and attached to an FY06 Appropriations bill.
September 16, 2005 - HUD issues guidance encouraging local Public Housing Authorities to use their existing resources to house evacuees, despite long waiting lists in most communities.
September 23, 2005 - FEMA and HUD announce transitional housing assistance programs. HUD's program, named the Katrina Disaster Housing Assistance Program (KDHAP) will serve all previously assisted HUD households, or previously homeless individuals. HUD estimates that 65,000 households will be eligible for KDHAP. KDHAP is paid for through a mission assignment with FEMA.
FEMA's housing assistance program will serve all other eligible households displaced by Hurricane Katrina. This program is authorized by Section 408 of the Stafford Act and becomes known as "Section 408 housing." Households receive checks of $2358, meant to cover three months of rental payments. They can continue to receive such payments, if they can prove continuing need, up until the statutory cap of $26,200.
September 30, 2005 - In a letter to President Bush, Senator Sarbanes urges that HUD have a more central role in responding to evacuees' housing needs. Thousands of families will need long-term housing assistance, wrote Senator Sarbanes, and such assistance should not come from an emergency response agency such as FEMA.
October 12, 2005 - Six weeks after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, 22,847 people remain in emergency shelters, while 576,136 people are living in motels, and 6,306 individuals are living on cruise ships. At this time, only 7,819 travel trailers and mobile homes are occupied.
October 18, 2005 - Representative Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), a member of the Housing and Community Opportunity Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee, writes to President Bush expressing concerns about the Administration's wasteful spending and uncoordinated efforts to house victims of Katrina. She advocates the use of emergency Section 8 vouchers to meet the housing needs of displaced households.
October 28, 2005 - HUD announces a new disaster housing sub-program for those evacuated households that were homeless prior to the disaster, persons with HIV/AIDS, or persons who were permanently housed in HUD Special Needs housing units: Katrina Disaster Housing Assistance Program - Special Needs (KDHAP-SN). The program would have the same benefits as the original KDHAP but be administered through a community's Continuum of Care (CoC) structure. This program never gets off the ground.
November 2, 2005 - FEMA announces it will give the full $26,200 to 60,000 households that lived in the most damaged areas of New Orleans. Few people receive this check and FEMA subsequently denies having made such an announcement.
November 3, 2005 - Widespread reports from the Gulf indicate that many households in need of rental assistance from FEMA are not receiving their checks. Many are being denied assistance for no obvious reason.
November 4, 2005 - The provision of 350,000 emergency Section 8 vouchers is dropped in conference committee from the final FY06 appropriations bill.
November 10, 2005 - A class action lawsuit is filed against FEMA, (McWaters vs. FEMA), asserting that large numbers of households in need remain unhoused because of FEMA's poor handling of the housing program.
November 15, 2005 - FEMA announces that on December 1, immediately after the Thanksgiving holiday, it will stop paying the room costs for more than 150,000 displaced people living in more than 53,000 hotel and motel rooms across the country. FEMA said such a move is necessary to make evacuees more "self-reliant" and to help them "reclaim some normalcy." At this time, only 27,842 travel trailers and mobile homes are occupied, out of an estimated need of over 100,000 trailers. Over 2,000 people remain in shelters and almost 7,000 people continue to be housed on cruise ships.
FEMA also announces that as of March 1 they will no longer reimburse cities and states for households in the housing assistance programs that FEMA encouraged the cities and states to create.
November 15 - 18, 2005 - Governor Rick Perry of Texas, Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi, the congressional delegation of South Carolina, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome, three city agencies in New York and numerous advocacy organizations appeal to FEMA to reconsider the deadline for motel room payments.
November 22, 2005 - Amidst criticism from national and state leaders as well as countless advocates, FEMA announces it will continue to pay for the hotel rooms of hurricane evacuees until December 15. FEMA says that displaced residents in ten states with the largest number of evacuees still in hotel or motel rooms have an opportunity to extend that deadline until January 7.
December 2, 2005 - National housing advocates hold a press conference, calling on the Administration and Congress to improve the federal government's re-housing performance. They recommend that a unified and comprehensive program of housing assistance be established for all displaced households, relying primarily on the existing federal housing programs.
December 9, 2005 - The House Financial Services Committee holds hearing to investigate FEMA and HUD's housing response to the disaster. HUD declines to attend, causing Ranking Member Barney Frank to threaten to issue a subpoena for Secretary Jackson to testify.
At the hearing, Representative Maxine Waters says, "We cannot express how dissatisfied we are, how upset we are, how embarrassed we are, [at the response to evacuees' housing needs.] ...FEMA is not working," said Ms. Waters. "The federal government's response to the housing needs of displaced people seems to be a case of the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing," said Representative Nydia Velazquez. "Individuals don't know how to navigate the system to get assistance, so at end of the day, they aren't getting any."
Representative Barney Frank said, "The announcement of the hotel deadline on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday was one of the most heartless actions I have ever seen government do." Representative Artur Davis (D-AL) called it "one of the dumbest decisions that has ever been made in government."
Also on December 9, 2005 - In testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, FEMA further explains their March 1 deadline for reimbursing cities and states for their housing programs. By March 1, FEMA expects to have a clear idea of where each household being housed under a state-administered program is, and what its needs are. If eligible, the household will be transferred to the FEMA Transitional Housing Program (Section 408).
Also on December 9, 2005 - In written testimony to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Scott Wells, Federal Coordinating Office for FEMA Joint Field Office in Baton Rouge, LA, testifies that FEMA's Individual Assistance process must be reformed. "It is too complicated, which often results in confusion and delays in timely delivery of cash and assistance to individuals." He specifically notes as problematic sending checks separately from letters explaining eligible expenditures.
Also on December 9, 2005 - Senator Sarbanes sends a letter the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, proposing that the Committee require that FEMA guarantee at least 12 months of rental assistance for families displaced by Katrina. The letter says that rental assistance would be much more effectively administered by HUD. The letter also asks the Committee to require that FEMA reimburse state and local governments for rental payments for Katrina victims made pursuant to existing leases for up to one year. Finally, the letter urges that the Committee require that FEMA reimburse local housing authorities for the cost of the vouchers used to house Katrina evacuees.
December 10, 2005- Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs tells the Washington Post, "I have long believed that it would have been far more effective at this stage for FEMA to have given vouchers for housing and to assist people in finding private-sector housing. I think it still is a possibility."
December 12, 2005 - U.S. Judge Stanwood Duval, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana issues a ruling that temporarily stops FEMA from ending its hotel/motel subsidy program on December 15. After calling the disaster agency "numbingly insensitive" and "unduly callous," Judge Duval orders FEMA to continue its short-term lodging program until at least January 7, 2006 for all evacuees nationwide still in hotels and motels. Judge Duval further rules that those individuals who have yet to receive any assistance may remain in their federally subsidized hotel/motel rooms until February 7, 2006.
December 14, 2005 - HUD testifies before the House Financial Services Committee. Representative David Scott questions whether the "call that individuals and housing advocates are increasingly raising, for FEMA's housing responsibilities to be transferred to HUD" should be answered. Brian Montgomery, HUD Assistant Secretary for Housing and FHA Commissioner, responds, "I am aware of that idea, but it is a decision for others to make."
December 15, 2005 - The House Financial Services Committee approves H.R. 4100, the Hurricane Katrina Response Act by a vote of 50-9. The bill authorizes $2.5 billion of funding for emergency Section 8 vouchers, among other things.
December 16, 2005 - By mid-December, 653,531 households displaced by Hurricane Katrina are receiving FEMA rental assistance.
December 18, 2005 - In an FY06 Appropriations bill, Congress authorizes $390 million for a Disaster Voucher Program, to be administered by HUD. By early February, HUD transitions the KDHAP program into the DVP program, allowing households previously assisted by HUD or previously homeless to receive Section 8-like vouchers.
In the same bill, Congress directs FEMA to provide written guidelines for transitioning evacuees into longer-term assistance by January 13, 2006. FEMA does not comply.
December 25, 2005 - Corporate Lodging Consultants (CLC), the firm contracted by FEMA to manage the hotel program, sends notices to hotels across the country asking them to participate in an Evacuee Census. Hotel managers are asked to provide FEMA with the number of evacuees lodging in their hotels. They also distribute flyers to hotel managers stating that, "The (hotel lodging) program will continue for all evacuees in all states until further notice pending the resolution of certain issues now in litigation."
December 30, 2005 - Hundreds of thousands of people remain on waiting lists for trailers and mobile homes. Only 53,429 trailers have been occupied to date.
January 2, 2006 - FEMA extends the deadline to end the hotel program until further notice. FEMA acknowledges that they still do not know the identities of all displaced households currently living in hotels, nor do they know the location of the hotels housing evacuees.
January 12, 2006 - Judge Duval directs FEMA to extend hotel stays for hurricane evacuees if they are registered with FEMA for temporary housing assistance and they have obtained a hotel authorization code by January 30. For these evacuees, the hotel deadline is extended until two weeks after they have received (or been rejected for) temporary housing assistance. The Judge rules that the earliest evacuees can be terminated from the hotel program is February 13; those living in hotels (and who have registered with FEMA and have a hotel authorization code) in New Orleans or Jefferson parish cannot be terminated from the program until after March 1.
January 13 and 14, 2006 - The Housing and Community Opportunity Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee hold field hearings in New Orleans, Louisiana and Gulfport, Mississippi. Mr. Scott Wells, the Louisiana Federal Coordinating Officer for FEMA testified that that FEMA is beginning to investigate new methods of meeting the demand for temporary housing in Louisiana. The agency announces it is looking into renting an entire apartment complex in New Orleans, in order to place eligible applicants into apartments. But, said Mr. Wells, "The cold, hard fact is that people may not be able to move back to their communities for months or years, because the housing stock does not exist."
Mr. Wells said that, soon after the storm, FEMA was putting 30 trailers online each day; they have ramped up to the current average of 500 trailers per day. Mr. Wells acknowledged that this rate is still not fast enough to meet the overwhelming demand, and said that his agency is working to further increase the number of trailers installed.
Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA), Subcommittee Ranking Member, said, "We are hearing about a lot of bureaucratic nonsense in the siting of these trailers." Indeed, Ms. Elise Boyer, an evacuee currently living in a hotel for lack of a trailer, later testified that FEMA has refused to place a trailer in the driveway of her 9th Ward home because the trailer would go four inches over her property line, even though she has obtained permission from her neighbor to do so.
January 20, 2006 -HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson responds to concerns of local officials from Houston, Texas over how rent will be paid for the city's 150,000 evacuees when FEMA stops reimbursing the city's emergency rental vouchers on March 1. Mr. Jackson says, "If they have not been able to find any other housing, FEMA will switch them over to our program, and we will take up that process for the rest of the time that they'll be on the program," he said. "We're not going to cut anybody off," he said.
February 1, 2006 - During a press conference, U.S. Comptroller General David Walker says, "Housing beyond short-term shelters also...remains a major problem, especially for victims who either cannot return to their community or require housing options in their community if they do return."
February 3, 2006 - Several House Democrats send a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, expressing "exasperation with the failure of FEMA to comply with a Congressional directive to issue timely guidance with respect to eligibility for housing assistance under the Section 408 program....FEMA's continued failure to issue guidance clarifying criteria for ongoing eligibility for FEMA rental housing under the Section 408 program is unconscionable."
February 8, 2006 - House Minority Leadership holds hearing on the post-Katrina housing crisis. Referring to the need for emergency Section 8 vouchers, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said, "We did that successfully after Northridge earthquake in California in 1994. If it was good enough for the California earthquake, it's good enough for Katrina."
February 15, 2006 - The House Select Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina released its final report, "A Failure of Initiative." One of the Committees findings states that FEMA "failed to take advantage of HUD's expertise in large scale housing challenges."
The report notes that, although FEMA has provided rental assistance to over 500,000 households, a key problem with the provision of such assistance was households receiving their rental assistance checks days, and sometimes weeks, before receiving guidance as to how and on what the money should be used. "Use of a voucher system similar to the one administered by HUD could have prevented this mistake...FEMA failed to take full advantage of HUD's expertise and perspective on large-scale housing challenges, such as the agency's experience with voucher programs. HUD and public housing authorities have the expertise and infrastructure to help non- HUD clients during disasters."
Also on February 15, 2006 - HUD testifies before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee that it's initial estimate of 65,000 households eligible for KDHAP was too high; HUD now estimates that 24,000 to 32,000 households are eligible for its Disaster Voucher Program (DVP).
February 17, 2006 - A group of disability rights advocates file suit against FEMA, challenging FEMA's failure to provide accessible temporary housing.
February 23, 2006 - The White House releases "The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned." The report finds that HUD, "with extensive expertise and perspective on large-scale housing challenges and its nation-wide relationships with State public housing authorities," was mistakenly not engaged in the housing response by FEMA until "late in the effort." Noting that "HUD's expertise lies in the provision of mid and long-term housing...for those in need," the report recommends that HUD be designated the lead Federal agency for the provision of temporary housing.
Also on February 23, 2006 - FEMA announces it will once again extend the hotel/motel subsidy program that has been providing shelter for hurricane evacuees. FEMA says it will continue to pay for the hotel/motel rooms of evacuees in Louisiana and Mississippi for two additional weeks, until March 15, citing a "severely depleted" housing stock in those states. Only 69,775 trailers and mobile homes are occupied at this time.
March 3, 2006 - To date, 35,631 households in need of continuing rental assistance have been denied by FEMA.
March 8, 2006 - To date, 17,260 households have received Disaster Vouchers from HUD, though only about half have successfully leased apartments with the vouchers. HUD estimates that an additional 9,351 DVP-eligible households are instead receiving some form of FEMA temporary housing assistance. Of the tens of thousands of people believed to have been homeless prior to the disaster, only 20 are receiving disaster vouchers, despite their eligibility for the program.
March 14, 2006 - Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) and Ranking Member Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) send a joint letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff expressing concern about FEMA's shortfalls in providing temporary housing assistance to survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
"Almost six months after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, housing remains among the most pressing challenges facing thousands of residents in the region," wrote the Senators as they cited problems with FEMA's implementation of the hotel/motel program, delivery of mobile homes and provision of Transitional Housing Assistance.
March 15, 2006 - Families continue to wait for needed trailers and mobile homes. 90,547 have been occupied to date.
March 26, 2006 - 5 days before the originally announced deadline, FEMA extends state and local housing programs until May 31.
May 3, 2006 - To date, 51,486 families that applied to FEMA for continuing rental assistance have been denied any further assistance.
May 19, 2006 - A new class action lawsuit is filed, Watson vs. FEMA, to stop FEMA from ending rent assistance to some 17,000 families on May 31, 2006.
May 25, 2006 - 62 Democratic Members of the U.S. House of Representatives file an amicus curiae brief in support of Waston vs. FEMA. Representatives Regarding FEMA, the amicus brief states that, "the agency continues to engage in a process that is marked by inefficiency, a lack of discernable standards, and seeming disregard for the plight of the vulnerable survivors who are depending on the aid that FEMA is statutorily obligated to provide."
May 29, 2006 - FEMA extends the deadline for 10 local rental assistance programs in Texas, through June 30.
May 30, 2006 - U.S. District Court Judge David Hittner refuses to order federal officials to continue emergency housing programs for Hurricane Katrina evacuees through June 30.
June 16, 2006 - Judge Duval issues his decision in McWaters vs. FEMA. The Judge states, "The Court hesitates to seemingly ‘reward' FEMA for what could be considered cagey behavior with regards to FEMA's ever-changing requirements. As the Court has previously found, FEMA's indecision and internal bureaucratic bumbling has strained even the most patient of citizens."
July 13, 2006 - Judge Hittner grants a preliminary injunction in Watson v. FEMA ordering FEMA to pay amounts for utilities for all recipients of Temporary Housing Assistance under the Section 408 program, among other things.
July 25, 2006 - The Sierra Club releases results from its findings of FEMA trailers: 83% of the trailers tested show a high level of formaldehyde, a toxic gas that could pose both immediate and long-term health risks
July 26, 2006 - FEMA's new Director of Recovery, John D'Araujo, Jr., issues a memorandum changing FEMA's recertification policies for households transitioning from the 403 Emergency Sheltering Apartment Program to the 408 Temporary Housing Program.
According to Mr. D'Araujo, the "difficult transition has created some communication and program challenges that require immediate 408 assistance processing modifications...as a result of the multiple and varying 403/408 communications made to State/local governments, landlords and individual evacuees, FEMA has determined that an extension of the 408 recertification period is warranted," but only for households transitioning from 403 to 408.
FEMA has been requiring all 408 recipients to show proof of their continued need for temporary housing assistance every three months. However, under the new guidelines issued in the memorandum, those households that recently made the transition from the 403 program after being determined eligible for 408 temporary housing will only have to recertify once in order to have their assistance extended through October 31, 2006. Evacuees eligible for this extension who do not meet FEMA's recertification requirements prior to October 31 will not be eligible for additional assistance beyond that date. Those households that do meet the requirements may be eligible for an additional recertification period ending February 28, 2007.
August 1, 2006 - Travel trailers and mobile homes reach their peak occupancy rate: 119,625 occupied.
October 12, 2006 - FEMA extends rental housing assistance for some evacuees of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The extension applies to households that originally received rental assistance through a city- or state-administered program, funded through FEMA's Section 403 program, and have successfully transitioned to receiving rental assistance under FEMA's Section 408 rental assistance program. Households displaced from Hurricane Katrina will have their rental assistance extended, without need for recertification, through February 24, 2007. Before the extension, these households were required to recertify for continuing assistance by October 31.
October 17, 2006 - 92 national and Gulf Coast housing and poverty advocacy groups write a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chertoff, HUD Secretary Jackson and FEMA Director Paulison, urging the agencies to address the impending expiration of FEMA's transitional housing programs and subsequent displacement of almost 300,000 households. The letter requests an extension of housing assistance through February 2008.
The letter states, "The scope of the assistance programs still does not match the scale of this catastrophic disaster. Without adjustments to these programs, many families who survived Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are likely to find themselves homeless within the next four to five months. This mass displacement will severely tax the already-stretched resources of Gulf Coast communities trying to rebuild and cities like Houston that generously received and are still hosting over 100,000 displaced families. For the families themselves, another displacement could dismantle any progress gained after last year's hurricanes. Waiting until the last minute to extend deadlines and ensure continued funding, as FEMA infamously did for households living in motels, will impede proactive recovery activities and put more families at risk in the coming months."
November 29, 2007 - U.S. District Judge Richard Leon rules that FEMA must resume rental assistance payments and pay three months of retroactive payments to certain households denied continuing rental assistance from February through August 2006. The agency must continue rental assistance to these households until FEMA can provide clear reasons for a denial of continuing assistance and an opportunity for households to appeal the denial.
Judge Leon ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, agreeing with their claim that letters sent to those denied continuing assistance were "ambiguous and unintelligible," and often gave contradictory information. "It is unfortunate, if not incredible, that FEMA and its counsel could not devise a sufficient notice system to spare these beleaguered evacuees the added burden of federal litigation to vindicate their constitutional rights," Judge Leon wrote. "FEMA's notice provisions are unconstitutionally vague and uninformative, and a more detailed statement of FEMA's reasons for denying long-term housing benefits...must be provided in order to...free these evacuees from the ‘Kafkaesque' application process they have had to endure."
December 3, 2006 - FEMA assures Congressional staff that an extension of the 18-month deadline for FEMA housing assistance will be announced sometime during the month of December.
December 5, 2006 - Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour sends a letter to FEMA Director Paulison, urging FEMA to extend housing assistance to households displaced by Katrina through February 2008. He receives no answer.
December 22, 2006 - The US Court of Appeals grants FEMA's request to stay part of US District Judge Richard Leon's order against the agency in the case of ACORN vs. FEMA. This means that, contrary to Judge Leon's order, FEMA does not have to reinstate housing benefits for 4,200 Katrina evacuees until after the appeal of the ruling is heard. The Court of Appeals is not likely to take up the case until March.
January 3, 2007 - FEMA tells reporters and Congressional staff that they plan on maintaining the February 28 deadline for assistance for the 33,000 households remaining in FEMA's rental assistance program. FEMA states it will consider extensions of assistance for the 95,000 households living in FEMA trailers and mobile homes, on a case-by-case basis. No official announcement is made.
January 9, 2007 - The Louisiana Congressional delegation sends a letter to FEMA Director Paulison, urging FEMA to extend housing assistance to households displaced by Katrina through February 2008.
January 12, 2007 - Congressional members meet with FEMA Director Paulison, urging an extension of the deadline for temporary housing assistance. During the meeting, Mr. Paulison states that he will meet with the President later that day, to request an extension for all FEMA housing assistance programs. According to reports from the meeting, Mr. Paulison is optimistic that the President will approve the extension. Mr. Paulison acknowledges the urgency of the matter and says he hopes to announce an extension sometime the week of January 22.
January 12, 2007 - Representative Al Green (D-TX) sends a letter to FEMA Director Paulison, urging FEMA to extend temporary housing assistance to households displaced by Katrina.
January 17, 2007 - Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco sends a letter to FEMA Director Paulison, urging FEMA to extend housing assistance to households displaced by Katrina through February 2008.
January 19, 2007 - FEMA staff inform Congressional offices that the President has granted a six month extension, through August 31, 2007, for all temporary housing programs. No formal announcement is made. FEMA staff indicate an awareness that temporary housing needs will likely remain in August, and plans to talk with HUD staff about longer-term solutions.
