TIME: Evacuees Grow Anxious in Houston

[DeepModem Mom]

Evacuees Grow Anxious in Houston
TIME's Sonja Steptoe reports on the bureaucratic obstacles facing those seeking help at the Reliant Center
By SONJA STEPTOE/HOUSTON


....Long lines, bureaucratic confusion, misleading rumors and painful disappointment have become part of the daily routine for many weary evacuees who, like the Green-Clark family, remain in Reliant Park nearly two weeks after being shuttled here from New Orleans. Of the 150,000 storm victims who fled to Houston from Louisiana and the rest of the Gulf Coast since August 31, 27,000 were deposited in Houston's largest shelters. As of Tuesday morning, 3,760 are still here . Although they're grateful for the material and emotional support they've received, many evacuees are also growing increasingly frustrated with red tape and disorganization they encounter as they try to rebuild their lives, find jobs, obtain insurance and other benefits, and secure more permanent shelter. Storm victims can sign up for food stamps, financial aid, housing assistance, and unemployment and social security benefits, as well as register on the computerized nationwide survivors' database and receive advice on filing insurance claims. But first, they have to find the right entrance, get into the right line, and show up with the right forms and documentation — a confounding maze of requirements that can take days to navigate.

The debit card distribution is a case in point. Last week, when FEMA and the Red Cross each announced plans to give evacuees cards worth up to $2000, the Reliant Center was overrun by storm victims from inside the facility and from shelters throughout the city. Fistfights erupted along the lines that quickly snaked around the complex, and people fainted from heat exhaustion, prompting officials from both agencies to evict the evacuees who had stormed in from outside facilities, and shut down the system for the day. The Red Cross resumed its giveaway the following day with less chaos, though the Houston Chronicle reported that some recipients returned later to report that their cards weren't working. FEMA meanwhile, briefly resumed distribution then abruptly decided to discontinue its debit card program altogether and told anxious hurricane victims to apply for aid through its website or its toll-free number. The agency promised that applications would be processed speedily, but the Chronicle quoted evacuees complaining they had been unable to get through on the phone line.

Anxiety and exhaustion are evolving quickly into impatience and anger. New Orleans community leaders living inside the complex, helped by an advocacy network of Houston churches and schools, has gotten some 4,000 evacuees to sign a petition demanding immediate financial assistance; a long-term recovery package; streamlined procedures for obtaining services, and, smoother transition to homes away from mass shelters. Houston officials said that under a plan devised by local, county and federal housing authorities in conjunction with New Orleans government officials and the Houston Apartment Association, they expect to have moved the vast majority of evacuees out of the Reliant complex by the weekend and into more permanent dwellings. Already, the agencies have found apartments furnished with two beds, a table, and couch for more than 3,000 evacuees. But many, many more are still standing in line, waiting.


http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1104399,00.html?cnn=yes

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Admin is jut WAITING for an excuse to get rid of them...one way or another

[Erika]

3. True, send them back into the cracks

Let's just pretend, again, they don't exist.

[Dudley_DUright]

2. but, but, but...

I thought Babs Bush said that it was "<chuckle> working out very well for them"?

[Erika]

4. Babs chuckles alot

She has such a beautiful mind uncluttered with reality just like her son.

[Skink]

5. In Texas we just expect to be reimburst.

Now that's some hospitality.

[Infomaniac]

6. And Larva Bush Says She Hasn't Heard Any Complaints

Larva's - my new favorite name for Pickles - comment to the media after she visited some shelters was that everyone was just so grateful and she hasn't heard any complaints. My, my what a surprise. Another clueless member of the Bush family. I guess nobody in the WH bothers to read magazines like Time and Newsweek. These folks sure have some legitimate complaints. Maybe Larva and Babs should stop dithering around for the cameras, sit down and take some applications. The Red Cross has asked for 40,000 volunteers. Can't somebody in the Bush clan spare a few hours a week doing something useful instead of these self-serving photo ops?

[Puglover]

8. Oh that's great...."Larva"

Pickles reminds me of Buddys wife on the Dick Van Dyke show which is a pleasant memory. I'm with you....Larva it is!

[niallmac]

7. Katrina is a 'Come to Jesus' moment for this country.

Sure we have poverty and racism and a tax system that crushes every last ounce of breath out of 'social programs' but we never had to really look at it all. Well, here comes Katrina. Millions of car owning lucky and mostly white folks get to leave the disaster. Who is left behind? Those people we like to forget exist.

Oh they may be the product of a slave based economy. Oh they may be the people we depend on to live in an oil refinery polluted swamp land to keep this country running. Oh they may be the social result of a port city, an oil city that can only offer what a country that pretends to be color blind will allow.

Yeah man, the black poor family several generations into the
numbing effects of welfare without any avenue of hope as if such people would be incapable of appreciating a new start. This is the Astro Dome family we judge when we say "Why didn't they just leave?"

The guns at the exit point from the flood were embarrassing weren't they? I mean we had to actually admit that an exit is not really in the cards for these folks during a flood or any metaphor.