Haley Barbour's effort to divert disaster housing recovery money has met a new obstacle. Twelve House members, including Chairman Bennie Thompson who oversees FEMA and Chairman Barney Frank, who oversees HUD, wrote Appropriations Chair Obey this week to block Mississippi from diverting $600 million in disaster housing recovery money into expansion of a state-owned port in Gulfport.
With about 5,000 households still in formaldehyde-laced FEMA trailers and 8,000 households more seeking relief from recovery groups, this diversion must be stopped. Please take a moment to contact Congressman Gene Taylor, who supports the diversion, to tell him that restoring affordable housing in his own district should take priority over a massive port expansion.
To get the background, you can see Congressional hearings held this spring.
The first was by Maxine Waters, who has been a staunch supporter of displaced storm victims. This hearing covered unmet needs across 5 states, but it centered on Governor Barbour's diversion and Secretary Jackson's approval of the diversion.
The second was a joint hearing subcommittees of Homeland Security and Financial Services, co-chaired by Congresswoman Waters and Congressman Cuellar. The first part exposed an unconscionable fingerpointing game between FEMA and HUD over the funding of disaster repairs to public housing. Legislation to fix this error was passed in the House last week. The second part examined flaws in HUD and FEMA's response following the hurricanes.
For 10 months advocates have pushed back on this bad decision, ignoring claims that this was a done deal. It is incredibly gratifying to see senior members of Congress step in and begin the process to right this wrong. Please send these people notes of support if you can.
Barney Frank
Bennie Thompson
Maxine Waters
Luis Guiterrez
Emanuel Cleaver
Al Green
Melvin Watt
Gregory Meeks
William Lacy Clay
Michael Capuano
Gwen Moore
Keith Ellison