June 2, 2006 – A federal judge has denied a request by lawyers working on behalf of people displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to stop the Federal Emergency Management Agency from cutting off housing aid to thousands still in need.
As The NewStandard reported last week, FEMA is shifting hurricane survivors from locally run programs that use federal funds, onto the agency?s standard Individual and Households Program. In doing so, it is cutting off aid to tens of thousands that it says do not qualify for the more-restrictive program.
The Agency is facing a class-action lawsuit brought by hurricane survivors who accuse it of a litany of housing-provision problems, including arbitrarily denying people access to the new program.
But on May 30, Judge David Hittner declined the survivors? request to force FEMA to extend the current housing-voucher program until the case is litigated.
