Lawsuit is Filed to Force FEMA to Continue Katrina Housing Vouchers
/NY Times May 20, 2006
By SHAILA DEWAN
Lawyers for New Orleans evacuees filed suit in Houston yesterday, asking a federal court to stop the Federal Emergency Management Agency from ending housing benefits for tens of thousands of people who fled the flooding of Hurricane Katrina. The evacuees had been issued 12-month housing vouchers by local governments but are now being told by FEMA that they must pay rent or leave.
The class-action suit, filed in United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, says the agency has made "arbitrary, inconsistent and inequitable housing decisions without using any ascertainable standards" and describes the situation of several plaintiffs who, it contends, received vague or contradictory letters from FEMA or were denied further housing assistance for false reasons.
The suit was filed by Caddell & Chapman, a Houston firm, joined by a consortium of public interest legal groups.
The vouchers provided, in most cases, one year of housing and utilities to about 55,000 families, and were issued by Houston and other cities with the understanding that FEMA would reimburse them. Last month, agency officials said that nearly a third of the families — some 8,000 in Houston alone — were ineligible for such assistance.
But the mayor of Houston, Bill White, said many of the ineligibility rulings from FEMA were wrong. Some evacuees were told that their homes in New Orleans had not been damaged badly enough to qualify for assistance: that someone else in their household had already qualified for assistance elsewhere; that they failed to appear in person for an inspection of their home; or that their housing assistance had been withdrawn because a signature was missing from their paperwork.
Some were even told that they were not eligible for housing assistance because they had received a voucher, though the vouchers were being discontinued.
A FEMA official declined to discuss the lawsuit. "We're aware of the situation," said the official, Aaron Walker, a spokesman for the agency in Washington. "According to FEMA policy, we cannot comment on any pending litigation."
Agency officials have defended the decision to end the program, saying the vouchers were issued under the emergency housing program, which is available to virtually anyone from a disaster area but is not intended to be used for extended periods. That program ended in March. Hurricane Katrina families are being converted to the agency's long-term individual assistance program, which has stricter eligibility requirements.
FEMA officials have also said that the voucher program was unfair because not all evacuees received them — some entered the individual assistance program right away and received money to pay their own rent, which counts against the agency's per-family limit of $26,200.
The lawsuit says that in at least one previous disaster the agency has provided emergency housing for longer than a year. Federal law does not specify a time limit for emergency housing.
The lawsuit also addresses what it says are onerous requirements even for the eligible, who must now sign a new lease with their landlords, pay for their own utilities and requalify every three months. FEMA has failed to adjust its estimation of fair-market rents or provide clear criteria for requalification, the suit says. [MORE]
By SHAILA DEWAN
Lawyers for New Orleans evacuees filed suit in Houston yesterday, asking a federal court to stop the Federal Emergency Management Agency from ending housing benefits for tens of thousands of people who fled the flooding of Hurricane Katrina. The evacuees had been issued 12-month housing vouchers by local governments but are now being told by FEMA that they must pay rent or leave.
The class-action suit, filed in United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, says the agency has made "arbitrary, inconsistent and inequitable housing decisions without using any ascertainable standards" and describes the situation of several plaintiffs who, it contends, received vague or contradictory letters from FEMA or were denied further housing assistance for false reasons.
The suit was filed by Caddell & Chapman, a Houston firm, joined by a consortium of public interest legal groups.
The vouchers provided, in most cases, one year of housing and utilities to about 55,000 families, and were issued by Houston and other cities with the understanding that FEMA would reimburse them. Last month, agency officials said that nearly a third of the families — some 8,000 in Houston alone — were ineligible for such assistance.
But the mayor of Houston, Bill White, said many of the ineligibility rulings from FEMA were wrong. Some evacuees were told that their homes in New Orleans had not been damaged badly enough to qualify for assistance: that someone else in their household had already qualified for assistance elsewhere; that they failed to appear in person for an inspection of their home; or that their housing assistance had been withdrawn because a signature was missing from their paperwork.
Some were even told that they were not eligible for housing assistance because they had received a voucher, though the vouchers were being discontinued.
A FEMA official declined to discuss the lawsuit. "We're aware of the situation," said the official, Aaron Walker, a spokesman for the agency in Washington. "According to FEMA policy, we cannot comment on any pending litigation."
Agency officials have defended the decision to end the program, saying the vouchers were issued under the emergency housing program, which is available to virtually anyone from a disaster area but is not intended to be used for extended periods. That program ended in March. Hurricane Katrina families are being converted to the agency's long-term individual assistance program, which has stricter eligibility requirements.
FEMA officials have also said that the voucher program was unfair because not all evacuees received them — some entered the individual assistance program right away and received money to pay their own rent, which counts against the agency's per-family limit of $26,200.
The lawsuit says that in at least one previous disaster the agency has provided emergency housing for longer than a year. Federal law does not specify a time limit for emergency housing.
The lawsuit also addresses what it says are onerous requirements even for the eligible, who must now sign a new lease with their landlords, pay for their own utilities and requalify every three months. FEMA has failed to adjust its estimation of fair-market rents or provide clear criteria for requalification, the suit says. [MORE]
