[Born in a Rage]

It's never enough, is it? If they don't want to live in the trailers, I'm sure lots of other people would be happy to take them.

[BooBoo1000]

Those things are Hurricane Magnets.

[kms61]

I'm not crazy about the trailers, either, but there's not enough vacant housing in the area for ~one million displaced people, and it takes time to build. While admittedly not a preferable option, it may be the only practical one.

[DTogo]

"Three hundred thousand manufactured homes? People are screaming about that," fumed Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). "I tell you, FEMA is a disaster."

Some people are fuming about your ball-less position on illegal immigration, Jeff. You can be a disaster, too

[little jeremiah]

It used to be that Clothes Make the Man.

Now it's the House Makes the Man.

But remember this old saying?

Handsome is as Handsome does.

Living in a mobile home does not turn people into hopeless drug addicts or amoral gangsters.

That said, mobile homes are not good in places where there are tornados or hurricanes. But the idea that if a bunch of people live in trailers they'll become or remain lowlifes, but if they live in McMansions they'll miraculously turn into model citizens, emblems of moral rectitude is magical thinking.

[ApplegateRanch]

Beats the hell out of tents.

Maybe they could have used all the downed trees & busted power poles to build temporary log cabins?

Or they could have used the lumber scattered by the storm to build cribbed-wall cabins, sort of like a lot of people in Utah & Nevada did with RR used ties.

Gotta walk 'afore ya kin run.

[kublia khan]

." Rental vouchers in a market with plenty of available housing would be cheaper and faster and provide better accommodations, they say"
What rental property, you've got to have something for them to live in while you rebuild. I'm not for rebuilding No but it's obvious the government will not be deterred by common sense.

[LucyJo]

This is really kinda funny considering the story a while back about folks in California paying a cool million bucks to live in mobile homes near the beaches and become "sandy footed chic".
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1455855/posts

Maybe what these folks need is a good PR firm to create a "chic" image of trailer dwelling for them too. How about "Bayou Bungalows"???
That's kinda catchy, doncha think?

[Lancey Howard]

All these "evacuees" should be relocated to San Fransicko.

[A CA Guy]

It will only turn into a ghetto if the people there have no respect for themselves or other's property.

I hope they can be better than that.

[sure_fine]

its the people, not the house that makes a ghetto

[mother22wife21]

x

[bethtopaz]

The manufacturer is a close relative of Dick Cheney. (sarcasm)

[snarks_when_bored]

A ghetto is not a place.

[kcvl]

What makes her such an "expert"?!!!


Prior to joining the Urban Institute, Dr. Popkin was an Associate at Abt Associates, Inc. Before coming to Abt, Dr. Popkin was an Assistant Professor of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health, and a Senior Research Specialist at the Prevention Research Center, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).


EDUCATION

1988 Ph.D., Northwestern University, Program in Human Development and Social Policy.

1986 M.A., Northwestern University, Program in Human Development and Social Policy.

1982 B.S., Northwestern University, Program in Human Development and Social Policy.



CAREER BRIEF

Dr. Susan Popkin has more than 10 years of experience in conducting research and analysis on housing and welfare issues.


Abt Associates applies rigorous research and consulting techniques to a wide range of issues in social and economic policy, international development, business research and consulting, and clinical trials and registries.

One of the largest for-profit government and business research and consulting firms in the world.


In the United States, our work for the Environmental Protection Agency contributes to improved policies and regulations to reduce harmful pollutants. We also conduct highly sophisticated surveys, such as the annual National Immunization Survey for the Centers for Disease Control (the largest federally sponsored telephone survey), and we have managed clinical trials for AIDS/HIV vaccines.





******


No, it is NEVER ENOUGH...

Launched in 1992, the $5 billion HOPE VI program



What is HOPE VI?

The HOPE VI Program was developed as a result of recommendations by National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing, which was charged with proposing a National Action Plan to eradicate severely distressed public housing.

The Commission recommended revitalization in three general areas: physical improvements, management improvements, and social and community services to address resident needs.


History and Background

National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing
The HOPE VI Program, originally known as the Urban Revitalization Demonstration (URD), was developed as a result of recommendations by the National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing, which was charged with proposing a National Action Plan to eradicate severely distressed public housing. The Commission recommended revitalization in three general areas:

* physical improvements,
* management improvements, and
* social and community services to address resident needs.

As a result, HOPE VI was created by the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1993 (Pub.L. 102-389), approved on October 6, 1992.


Program Authority

HOPE VI operated solely by congressional appropriation from FY 1993 - 1999. The FY 1999 appropriation included the congressional authorization of HOPE VI as Section 24 of the U.S. Housing Act of 1937. Section 24 was implemented in the FY 2000 NOFA, and was reauthorized in conjunction with the American Dream Downpayment Act of 2003. Grants are governed by each Fiscal Year's Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA), as published in the Federal Register, and the Grant Agreement executed between each recipient and HUD.
Grants Awarded



Planning Grants 1993-1995
$14,752,081

Revitalization Grants 1993-2003
$5,474,059,390


Demolition Grants 1996-2003
$395,323,275


Total
$5,884,134,746

[dannyboy72]

Notice how it's not the good people of New Orleans who are being asked. Just like the "experts" in the MSM said that the people of New Orleans hated GWB because of the Hurricane. Of course, when they actually asked the people who are not thugs, but good citizens, they rightly explained that the feds were not responsible for primary intervention. The "Feds" can't come in until asked.

So why don't they talk to the people who have been living in the 'Dome if they prefer to stay where they are or have a brand new, furnished trailer close to their home and with easy and free transportation in and out of the city? I think they know the answer they will get. But of course "those" people don't know what's best for them.

[OKIEDOC]

Susan J. Popkin, a housing expert at the Urban Institute. "And we know how to do this better."
REPLY:

Sure you do Susan, you know so much but have little common sense when it comes to poor people.

You need to listen to some of the horror stories coming from people just days after taking some of those New Orleans people into their private homes.

Liberals have a hard time understanding that some people are poor because of different circumstances beyond their control.

Others are poor because in truth they like living that way.

Many people just do not want the responsibilities that come with having a job, paying bills, making house payments, upkeep, car insurance, obeying the law and other things.

[Archidamus]

The worst of two worlds.

[alnick]

"If they simply put poor people in mobile homes, they would be re-creating the same troubled neighborhoods that were destroyed," said Susan J. Popkin, a housing expert at the Urban Institute. "And we know how to do this better."

It's the people, not the housing, that makes for a "troubled neighborhood."

[T Minus Four]

Just keep the wheels on them...