WASHINGTON (AP) — FEMA’s internal watchdog says the government could end up repeating mistakes seen after Hurricane Katrina if it doesn’t improve its plans for housing people after major disasters.
Richard Skinner, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s inspector general, told the House Homeland Security Committee Wednesday that the agency still relies too heavily on temporary mobile homes. Such housing is fine for routine disasters but inadequate to handle widespread housing losses from catastrophic events.
Nearly four years after hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit in 2005, about 3,000 households remain in federally supplied trailers and mobile homes in Louisiana and Mississippi. That’s down from a high of 143,000 along the Gulf Coast after the storms.
