[fintstone]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Those people have had over two months to find housing and haven’t done it. I don’t think Federal EMERGENCY Management was ever intended to provide long term housing. At what point does “emergency assistance” become “well fare?” If those people can’t take care of themselves after two months they need to apply to the alphabet soup of agencies that do provide long term assistance.

There is really no housing to be had that poor folks can afford...as it has long been the Mecca for the folks/retirees fleeing the northeast and they have driven prices beyond what local wages can sustain. Gentrification. Of course, much of the work the poor folks did was service related...and the brew pubs and restaurants they worked at washed away along with their apartments/homes. They get no insurance money for their losses because flooding is not covered by homeowners'...but they still have mortgages, homeowner' insurance and taxes to pay.

They are royally screwed despite the limited help by FEMA (for the few that figured out how to qualify for a room). They should be encouraged to leave (especially those that flocked there for the service work and have no real community ties) ...but many locals have never ventured outside the county (or maybe even the hollow they grew up in). Many lost their cars as well (making work and/or leaving difficult). Most simply have nowhere to go and no money to do it with. After a month in a hotel, any money they might have had was spent to eat. Few had more than a month of reserves and that was gone two months ago.

FEMA and other agencies should have spent the last month or two helping these folks towards longer term solutions, (like they do with illegal migrants), not just kicking them out into the cold in the dead of winter.