FEMA is willing to spend $3300 a month for 18 months for a trailer

[SoCalDem]

or occasionally, half that in "cash assistance" to 'qualified people' for 18 months...CNN just had a piece about 8 people sharing 800 sq ft , when a gorgeous 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath place rents for $2600 a month (still high, but those 8 people would sure fit more comfortably in that space).

I know that people need to be close to their property while they fix it up,but $3300 a month for a travel trailer???

Someone's making a BIG OLE PILE of OUR tax dollars in this deal..

[FormerRepublican]

1. I could BUY a travel trailer for $3300.

Must be another Halliburton no-bid contract.

[acmejack]

3. You know there is a * crony somewhere lining his/her pockets

[Jayhawk Lib]

10. In all fairness

if FEMA had taken the time to open it up for bids we would have all been upset because it was taking too long.

IMHO government is a pretty inefficient animal whether it is run by Republicans or Democrats.

[SoCalDem]

11. No so.. A few DAYS after the storm I saw a guy on TV who had

a travel trailer business in Louisiana, OFFERING his stock of trailers for bargain prices..He was nearby, had the equipment and manpower to move them, and was rebuffed.

On would think by NOW that FEMA would have a "call list" of every manufacturer/dealer in the "storm zones" and be ready to start writing checks to them while the wind is still blowing.. paperwork can wait..homeless people shouldn't have to

[Telly Savalas]

17. It's a lot more efficient than the private sector for these things

If the private sector works so damn efficiently, then why does anybody need the government to provide housing?

[Jayhawk Lib]

19. Thats a very good question!!!!

[xray s]

2. a whole lot of travel trailers are made in Indiana

I bet you'd find some interesting things crawling under the rocks in Indiana.

Anybody up for cross referencing campaign donations to Republican scumbags like Ney and DeLay from the corporate executives of the travel trailer industry?

I smell the bacon a fryin'

[Plausible]

4. if I recall correctly

I did see a news item saying that a Chimp crony has a big contract to provide post-Katrina trailers.

[SPKrazy]

5. No Shit, I Wonder If It Isn't KBR Making That Money? n/t

[benburch]

6. I think we have a winner. nt

[SoCalDem]

9. Can you imagine how much better it would be if FEMA just

paid the rent on apartments in nearby areas and bought these folks a car? In 18 months they could at least get a head start on their futures, or at least have some breathing room to consider what they should do. If relocating is the best for their family, they should have that option to take the money they "would have gotten in a trailer".. and could start over.

Realistically, most of those mortgages will be defaulted on anyway, and the trailer is just another coy trick to get these people do put in a lot of sweat equity on a house they may have to abandon in a year anyway.

If you are a typical homeowner in NOLA, you probably lost not only your home, but your job(s). Right now people are still getting some breaks, but the banks still want the money back that they loaned you.. Say you need to re-fi and roll the unpaid payments into the new loan?? Well, if your employment record shows that you have been out of work since August, or your "new" job pays less, who's to say the bank will even LOAN you new money?..What if they really just want the property back so they can flip it for more when the Disneyfication is complete?..or maybe they have cut a sweetheart deal with Uncle Sam to write off their losses, and still retain the property they seized?

At 3300 a month for even 6 months, if I were upside down on my loan or close to it, I would prefer a check for the 6-month's worth of Fema assistance, and I'd gladly move away and start over.

a check for $20K would go a long way towards a fresh start..

Of course the real rub is that The folks who rented are pretty much S.O.L. they are somehow expected to land on their feet somewhere..anywhere..even though they probably lived most of their lives on their knees... major hurricane that took every belonging they had in life is somehow supposed to have imbued in them, the "spirit" to willingly start all over again..even if they are old and or sick..and they get to do it with very little help..:puke:

[nuxvomica]

13. No. It's Bechtel

Once you get past Halliburton/KBR, that probably would've been your next guess anyway. ;-)

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/13394657.htm

[gizmo1979]

7. How does one get these contracts?

Man I could use a good government contract to tide me over.

[Randypiper]

8. You get them by being a Republican

http://scoutprime.blogspot.com/2006/01/bring-new-orleans-back-commissioners.html

[gizmo1979]

16. Dammit foiled again.nt

[FormerRepublican]

12. Time to do the math - $3300 x 18 = $59,400.

How many of these things have they handed out for that price? Heck, they could have built whole housing tracts for what they're paying for temporary trailers that are probably rickety crap so cronies can pocket $$$.

Bush = CRIMINAL!

[SoCalDem]

14. Exactly..just buy a bunch of land on some higher ground

and put up manufactured housing..They could re-create whole neighborhoods, and for a lot less money.. Lots of these people are mourning the loss of their community as much as their homes.. Some of these neighborhoods are old established ones, with people who have known each other their whole lives..

Why not at least try to keep these people together if they want to be?..If they managed to find work, with no rent/housepayment for 18 months, they could decide for themselves if they wanted to stay where they were relocated to, or in the interim, could have saved enough to move elsewhere.

[FlaGranny]

15. Never happen,

our tax money is needed for Bush's friends. They need it much more than folks made homeless by hurricanes. You see, at the end of that contract, Bush friends have made a tidy profit and the many of the homeless are in the same place they started.

[springsteen4senate]

18. the overpayment goes to their reelection fund...

goddamn contractors