FEMA trailers trashed by users - 1,200 of the temporary units have been so badly damaged....

Houston Chronicle ^ | 11/01/2006 | TERRI LANGFORD

[Responsibility2nd]

Note to Hurricane Rita survivors: Please don't beat up the FEMA trailers, use them as meth labs or cart them off to your deer lease during hunting season.

More than 1,200 of the one-bedroom travel trailers issued to people displaced by Rita have been torn up so badly that serious repairs have been necessary, according to a statement Tuesday from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"They're certainly not for long-term living, and we at FEMA better understand that better than anybody," said Don Jacks, an agency spokesman in Austin.

4,600 trailers issued

In Texas, more than 4,600 of the one-bedroom trailers were issued free of charge to those made homeless by the Category 3 hurricane when it hit Sabine Pass on Sept. 24, 2005.

Today, about 3,000 of the trailers — which cost federal taxpayers $20,000 each — remain in use in Texas. So far, about 1,200 have suffered so much vandalism they had to be sent to FEMA repair centers in Texas and Arkansas, Jacks said.

One trailer had more than 300 cigarette burns. Another was burned to the ground. Hundreds of others have torn cushions, broken doors, torn-up refrigerators and myriad problems.

Used as drug labs

Then there's the illegal use issue.

Some of the trailers issued to Hurricane Rita and Katrina evacuees have been used as drug labs. One Texas man trucked his to Louisiana and sold it. A few other tenants have hooked them up to vehicles and even taken their trailers to deer leases to have a place to stay while hunting.

"They are rare instances," Jacks said of the hunters. "You shake your head and wonder, 'What are they thinking?'"

Jacks said residents need to understand that vandalizing or removing the trailers could violate their written agreements with FEMA.

That said, only five Rita victims have been removed from trailers for violating those agreements, according to FEMA.

[goalinestan]

That said, only five Rita victims have been removed from trailers for violating those agreements, according to FEMA.

Kind of like our illegal immigration policies...

[FreedomOfExpression]

Why is it a problem for taxpayers (which these individuals sound like, as opposed to perpetually drunk/high/unemployed elfare addicts) to tow a trailer to a deer lease and LIVE in it (you know, the intended use), or sell it for cash which was likely used towards paying for alternative living quarters or home repairs

You make a lot of allowances for people who trash, misuse, or even sell property paid for by the taxpayers (us)? Surely, if someone illegally sold government property, it must be so they can fix up their house. And since the government mishandled some of these trailers, these people getting the free trailers to live in shouldn't be bound by things such as a contract.

I didn't see your excuse for them trashing the trailers and using them as drug labs, but I'm sure it's someone else's fault. You give these people a lot of credit, even giving them the benefit of the doubt that they are taxpayers. I know what state you live in, the state of denial!

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

"If you work hard and study hard, you'll do well. If you don't, well, you'll get stuck in a FEMA trailer............"

Great stuff! This could be the first in a long, long list of parodies starting with: "If you work hard and study hard, you'll do well. If you don't, well, you'll be stuck ...."

Here's my shot at it (no where as good as yours, but gotta start somewhere)

"If you work hard and study hard, you'll do well. If you don't, well, you'll be stuck in a ditch with Cindy."

To "polymuser" -- I wrote the above before seeing your contribution. LOL. We're now up to three parodies.

[Red Badger]

If you don't, well, you'll be stuck in a ditch with a B__CH!.....

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

It's always better if it rhymes. LOL.

[Red Badger]

I just couldn't help it............

[norton]

"Animals don't trash trash their homes..."

Never had raccoons in your attic I see.

[Fiddlstix]

"If you work hard and study hard, you'll do well. If you don't, well, you'll be stuck in a ditch with Cindy."

OMG! Stuck in a ditch with SheScam......NO......
A fate worse than death!
LOL

[GovernmentShrinker]

The people using them as drug labs should be shot. But the people enterprising enough to make some sort of reasonable use of the trailers (including selling for cash) are 1) not likely to be the sort of deadbeats who've been sitting around collecting welfare all their adult lives, 2) already determined by FEMA to have lost their homes and to be entitled to government assistance as a result, and 3) way, way down the list of people I'm annoyed at for how my tax dollars have been used in connection with FEMA trailers.

The problem with government help has always been that government decides what sort of help is needed and spends taxpayer dollars on that, without any regard to whether the sort of help it has decided to hand out bears any relationship to what's needed. My assessment of the people who have towed the trailers to deer leases or sold them for cash is that they have probably made a more accurate determination than FEMA of what sort of help they need, and taken matters into their own hands -- quite likely after seeing media coverage of how FEMA has destroyed tens of thousands of its own brand-new, never-lived-in trailers.

Similarly, Jabbar Gibson did a good thing by stealing the school bus and driving a load of people out of New Orleans, while FEMA/Nagin/Blanco had their collective overpaid heads up their a$$e$ trying to figure out how to get stranded people out of New Orleans. Often the government's plans suck and are more expensive and less effective than illegal measures resorted to by the same people the government has told us it's using our tax dollars to help.

[FreedomCalls]

If you don't, well, you'll get stuck in a FEMA trailer............

My name is Matt Foley, and I am a Motivational Speaker! Now, let's get started by me giving you a little bit of a scenario of what my life is all about! First off, I am 35 years old.. I am divorced.. and I live in a van FEMA trailer down by the river!

[4yearlurker]

Why does the U.S. government coddle the parasites of society?

[Centurion2000]

If you work hard and study hard, you'll do well on FR. If you don't, well, you'll get stuck in DU

If you work hard and study hard, you'll do well on FR. If you don't, well, you'll get stuck in DU's DU.

[Enterprise]

It really shouldn't surprise anyone. This is the same thing that has been happening for decades to Government housing for the poor. They move in, tear up the housing and then the Government has to close the units and remodel them. Then, the people move back in, and the process starts again. Endlessly, without fail and it consumes uncountable billions of taxpayer dollars.

[sinclair]

"Why does the U.S. government coddle the parasites of society? "

Votes

[FreedomOfExpression]

The people using them as drug labs should be shot. But the people enterprising enough to make some sort of reasonable use of the trailers (including selling for cash) are 1) not likely to be the sort of deadbeats who've been sitting around collecting welfare all their adult lives (snip)

It seems more likely to me that those who sell the trailers want to use the money mainly to buy drugs, maybe cigarettes or liquor... but that may be the cynic in me.

I am with you on misuse, bad decisions, bureaucracy, and waste by the government, but I still don't think it justifies breaking the law in this case.

Stealing a bus to help people escape a disaster is on a whole different level in my book. The bus wasn't taken with the purpose of keeping it or selling it for personal gain, but it was used to help others in a highly unusual set of circumstances.

[Right Wing Assault]

Never had raccoons in your attic I see.

Actually they remodel your home into their version. Once they get it the way they want it, they are happy but your aren't.

Or, maybe these people in Texas are racoons!!

[evets]

I took mine 4 wheelin!

[4yearlurker]

There is some truth to that. However,a lot of their voter base is so stupid they don't even know how to register. I've seen idiots trying to register to vote at the Post office and the local library!

[AD from SpringBay]

I sure would like a free guv'mint trailer. I'd even drive down there and haul it away, free of charge.

[Tijeras_Slim]

That's nicer than most of the places I lived before I was 30.