More than 1,000 Katrina evacuees living in the District have transitioned from emergency housing assistance to longer-term federal relief, but even the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s extended program only provides three to six months of help.
As of mid-June, FEMA listed Washington as the temporary home for 1,229 evacuees from areas hit hard by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. All are now receiving aid through the Individual and Households program, FEMA’s program to assist people with housing needs and necessary expenses.
Meanwhile, FEMA recently denied transitions from emergency to long-term help to 17 evacuees residing in the District. Those people will have to search out aid from sources other than the federal government.
“Unfortunately we’ve looked at every legal way we can assist them and they just didn’t meet the requirements for federal disaster assistance,” said James McIntyre, FEMA spokesman.
The households program only lasts three months, with an opportunity to apply for a three-month extension. Once the money runs out, Katrina survivors need to be on the road to permanent recovery or they may find themselves in dire straits.
That’s where Katrina Aid Today comes in. The organization, an arm of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, was issued a $66 million FEMA contract to help survivors regain a sense of normalcy and self-sufficiency, said Warren Harrity, the group’s executive director.
“The aim is to help them on the path of recovery and it accords to them some responsibility as well. As they walk one step we’ll walk a step with them,” Harrity said.
Katrina Aid Today, working with a consortium ofnational and area nonprofits, has targeted 750 families in the Washington region for casework management through October 2007, when the contract expires. Nationwide, the consortium hopes to help 100,000 families with such issues as housing, employment, transportation, health care and education.
“What a case manager will do is identify what the needs are and then tries to help them prioritize those needs and then tries to help them develop an action plan,” Harrity said.
“The FEMA assistance was a relief measure. We’re in the process of finally coaxing people into recovery.”
Asking for help
Hurricane evacuees applying for FEMA assistance:
» In D.C.: 1,229
» In Virginia: 5,814
» In Maryland: 3,524
