An estimated 500 to 600 hurricane evacuees in South Carolina will
soon be locked out of their government-subsidized hotel rooms.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Tuesday that,
as of Dec. 1, it will stop paying for the motel rooms where
hurricane evacuees are staying. Currently, 274 Gulf Coast evacuees
are living in hotels in Columbia.
In a press release announcing the decision, FEMA said moving
evacuees into permanent housing was a step toward their resuming
normal lives. Some evacuees said the decision is a new burden.
“(FEMA) is supposed to be helping us, but they’re sticking us in
a bind,” said evacuee Kayla Binning who, along with her husband and
three children, have lived in a Greystone Boulevard hotel for six
weeks after leaving their home in Orange, Texas, near the Louisiana
border.
“This is very short notice,” said Binning who has a new a job in
Columbia, as does her husband. “Our country spends so much time
helping people overseas, but we can’t help our own people.”
Nationwide, the policy affects an estimated 150,000 hurricane
evacuees living in government-subsidized hotel rooms, according to
FEMA.
Some Midlands leaders call the plan preposterous.
“This new policy effectively abandons the guests in Columbia and
the other cities and states,” said Columbia Mayor Bob Coble. “The
policy is outrageous and a breach of faith with the original promise
by FEMA to care for our fellow citizens.”
The state Emergency Management Division, FEMA’s representative in
South Carolina, is accelerating its plans to move evacuees into
apartments and homes.
“But it’s all based on the availability of temporary housing and
the ability to get furniture and basic essentials in there,” said
Ron Osborne, director of the state Emergency Management Division.
“It’s going to be very difficult to get it done. It’s possible, but
probably not probable.”
The state agency had hoped to have all South Carolina evacuees
out of hotels and in some sort of housing by January, Osborne
said.
He has asked state legislators to help push for an extension,
giving the agency more time to relocate families.
Most Midlands evacuees are finding housing on their own or are
still undecided on whether to stay in the area, said Nancy
Stoudenmire, director of human resources and planning for the
Columbia Housing Authority. The agency is charged with helping area
evacuees find housing.
So far, the authority has placed only four families. Stoudenmire
estimates 450 people have found permanent housing themselves.
And Lutheran Family Services, which is under contract to run the
state’s evacuee centers, has only three case workers helping
families find housing.
Housing officials and staff members from the IRS, the Red Cross
and a variety of state agencies are stationed at four evacuee
centers around the state, including one on Two Notch Road. A fifth
center is mobile and travels all over South Carolina.
But how much help the housing authority can offer Midlands
evacuees could be limited because many of the remaining evacuees are
single people, couples or single parents.
“I’m worried about the availability of one-bedroom units,”
Stoudenmire said, noting that rental units in Columbia have a 95
percent occupancy rate.
“There’s going to be a real squeeze,” she said. “And when you
realize that many of these people have to locate near bus lines
because they don’t have transportation, that’s going to be
tough.”
Once evacuees are in an apartment or other type of housing, FEMA
will pay for 90 days of their stay.
Evacuees who lived in low-income housing or were homeless in
their home state are eligible for a HUD program that will pay their
rent for 18 months, Stoudenmire said.
Binning and other evacuees are also experiencing another problem.
HUD rules regulate how many bedrooms an evacuated family qualifies
for and how much money FEMA will pay for the apartment.
Because the rules will not allow boys and girls to share a
bedroom, Binning must have two bedrooms for her children.
“You’re not going to find a three-bedroom house for $600,” she
said. “We’ve been looking since we got here, and they don’t
exist.”
Reach Smith at (803) 771-8462 or gnsmith@thestate.com.
