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Hurricane Evacuees Council/Bay Area Stop Press… Stop Press…Stop Press… Stop Press… Stop Press… Stop Press…
FEMA puts Evacuees out on the Street: Stop all Evictions Now!
March 1, 2006 The Hurricane Evacuee Council/Bay Area (HECBA) is issuing an emergency notice to protest FEMA’s latest and ruthless move to today “terminate” paying for hotels and motels for hurricane evacuees making thousands of people homeless. Desperate pleas for help have fallen on deaf ears. This is the latest injustice in the brutal treatment that evacuees have received at FEMA’s hands. FEMA received $62 billion in 2005 to provide disaster relief including short term housing and rental assistance. At least $11 billion remains unspent. Where is that money going? Are they saving it for their own fat cat salaries or for profiteering by companies run by the friends of Bush? If there is insufficient funding to help all those who need it, why is FEMA not demanding more from the government -- a government that can find $450 billion a year to squander on war but is ready to watch people die in the flood waters and throw the survivors out on the street. We know they could provide the help if they wanted -- under the Stafford Act the government has the power to provide 18 months of housing, grants for housing repair and other assistance to disaster victims. We demand they stand by their obligations. After their Valentine’s Day press conference outside FEMA to protest the brutal evictions of hurricane evacuees from hotels, HECBA requested emergency action from Oakland City Councilwoman, Desley Brooks and Congresswoman Barbara Lee. As a result Councilwoman Brooks got a temporary stay in hotels for some evacuees which is due to end March 9. Congresswoman Lee’s office agreed to follow-up with a few evacuees’ cases. But more action is needed and other elected officials must speak up for evacuees against FEMA’s murderous actions. “We will see many evacuees on the streets, including women and children and elders” said Gloria Brown, a HECBA member who survived the hurricane through her own heroic efforts. “We already lost everything once and now we are facing that again due to government negligence”. “All that evacuees evicted from hotels are getting is a referral to Catholic Charities and a few more days hotel payment – and only if people know to claim it. Given the billions of dollars FEMA got to help evacuees, it’s outrageous that FEMA is palming off evacuees onto charities.” says Nell Myhand, of Women of Color in the Global Women’s Strike. “FEMA must step up to the plate and implement the Stafford Act. It’s time to stop the endless cycle of racism and corruption that evacuees have faced for the last six months”. While HECBA has been very successful in winning some resources for evacuees there are many other problems that people still face. We enclose a list below and would welcome any help. Ms B, an 84-year-old woman, who is still traumatized from being taken from her New Orleans home at gunpoint, got her initial $4300 payment from FEMA, due in part to HECBA pressing Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi´s office to take up her case. In a tactic commonly used by FEMA to deny people their rights, Ms B has been told that while she is eligible for FEMA compensation for damage to her house, she must fly to New Orleans to get the necessary insurance papers -- but Ms B has no money to buy a plane ticket! Ms B, a 74-year-old HECBA member who despite her age swam with her dog in toxic flood water for over seven blocks and then fought to keep her dog alive. Sadly she remains separated from her valued companion and has been told that she had to be homeless in New Orleans to qualify for housing assistance in San Francisco. The run around she received from FEMA, the Red Cross and other agencies has left her with cell phone bills of over $900 dollars. After speaking out at a SF State forum Ms B got one paid trip to New Orleans to view her house and begin the insurance adjuster process and some initial payments from FEMA to gut her house. However she is still living with the daily worry of losing her home in New Orleans as it is marked for demolition and she can’t afford a second airfare home. Ms T, a single mother of four children got an extension on her housing for two weeks but is due to be evicted within days, unless she can get a temporary authorization from FEMA. She urgently needs help with long term housing near to the school from which her daughter is due to graduate. Mr T, a student from Jackson MS won the right to attend college in the Bay Area after he had been told he had to live in California for one year before he could apply for college. He was forced to spend hundreds of hours and hundreds of dollars on phone calls, including to fight for this right. He was told by FEMA to track down his landlord in New Orleans, which he has done but then he was denied help due to “insufficient damage”. With HECBA’s help he got an extension until March 15. He has received no payment for personal items lost in the flood, nor has he received any money to reestablish his life in Oakland Ms M, a grandmother, was evicted from the Woodfin Suites hotel and needs permanent housing and living wage work. Woodfin Suites in Emeryville had kept her belongings and food including her ID and it was only after HECBA took action that she got back her confiscated possessions. Ms C’s family lost a house and two cars in New Orleans, they had thousands of dollars of water damage in their home and lost all of their home office equipment, and as a result, their ability to earn an income. Like many people, the flood insurance money they are entitled to was taken by the mortgage company to cover mortgage payments. Ms C’s family needs debt relief and FEMA to compensate them for their losses. Mr J had his housing extended due to HECBA’s efforts. He has been denied any assistance by FEMA due to his status as a renter and his inability to produce evidence of rental payment due to flood devastation. He is in urgent need of permanent housing and living wage work. Mr W likewise had his housing extended twice and is getting another extension with HECBA’s help. He had been attending school in Jackson MS but has been unable to continue his studies. He is in urgent need of permanent housing and living wage work. Other HECBA members have won housing as a result of our collective actions. An 84 year old man got senior housing in Vallejo and two other men received Section 8 housing in Santa Clara county. HECBA also successfully defeated housing eviction deadlines on Dec 1, Dec 15, Jan 7, Feb 7, March 1. The Hurricane Evacuee Council/Bay Area (HECBA), a multi-racial broad-based network of women and men hurricane evacuees, from Louisiana and Mississippi led by evacuees, and facilitated by the Global Women’s Strike/SF. For HECBA demands go to http://www.globalwomenstrike.net/English2005/BayAreaActionAlert.htm |