FEMA rental assistance runs out
Updated: 9/1/2006 12:25:44 PM
By: Gina Swanson
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Stephanie Gleason packed up her apartment Thursday without being sure where she was going to go.
"You can't stay past the 31st that's all I know," she said. "I'm shaken beyond nervous. I've never been in this kind of situation before. Katrina is not the flavor or the month anymore. It's like we are done with these people, that's it."
The end of the FEMA program, called Section 403, means 330 evacuee families in the Austin area may have to find somewhere else to live.
"There was a sense that this day wasn't coming," Amy Elder with Texas Interfaith Disaster Response said. The city does not have enough affordable housing to accommodate the evacuees, she said.
"We absolutely do not have enough housing. Low-income, Section 8, vouchers, we need that kind of housing now in our community. Here we are. We're at deadline day. People are going to be taken out of their apartments. They're going to have to move. Our shelters are full and we don't have places for people to go," Elder said.
This time there is no extension. It was a day Larry Pichod knew would come.
"I've got a couple of pennies I saved for this day. I was not expecting this to be a forever thing," Pichod said.
Gleason says she feels trapped in a no-win situation.
"They don't care that you have children or that you're going to be sleeping outside," Gleason said. "You can't go back home. There is no home."
While she packed, Gleason added her faith in government to the things she lost after Katrina.
"We have to find a way to help folks with stories like these," Elder said.
Many evacuees in the area have already left the voucher program to what's called the individual assistance program or Section 408, which lasts until February. For information about that program call (800) 621-FEMA.