Martha Randolph, an ailing Katrina evacuee who has run out of the federal money that paid rent on her southwest Houston apartment, has to wait a little longer to find out whether a court ruling will give her a last-minute reprieve from eviction.
A federal judge has ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to restore the housing assistance to Randolph and as many as 3,500 other evacuees in the Houston area. But it will still take at least a few days of bureaucratic wrangling to set up the process.
"Meanwhile, we have community organizers combing through calls from people who believe that they are eligible and could be potential beneficiaries of this lawsuit," said Ginnie Goldman, the head Texas organizer for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform.
As a result of a lawsuit filed by the Houston chapter of ACORN, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington has ordered FEMA to resume rent payments for thousands of evacuees who have been evicted or are on the brink of it.
Imminent eviction
One of them is Randolph, 56, who has been living in a FEMA-subsidized, southwest Houston apartment since September 2005, soon after Katrina devastated the New Orleans area. She is facing imminent eviction since her FEMA assistance ran dry.
"The apartment managers told me I have to be off the premises immediately. But I have emphysema, hypertension and congestive heart problems," Randolph said.
"I have no money. I have nowhere to go. I don't know what I can do."
Leon last week accused FEMA officials of dragging their feet on implementing his order.
FEMA officials told the judge Monday they would be sending letters to about 4,200 evacuees in Texas by the end of the week explaining why aid was denied and how they might reinstate it.
Anxious waiting
But as officials work out the fine points of restoring payments, anxious waiting continues for evacuees like Randolph and Janice Kiper, 54, who is expecting eviction this month from a home on which she no longer can pay rent. Since fleeing New Orleans after Katrina, Kiper has received $3,700 in FEMA housing assistance.
She was cut off in September.
"I've sold my car. I had to sell my parents' wedding rings. I have absolutely nothing else to sell. I've got nothing left," Kiper said.
"I expect to be on the streets by Christmas."
Kiper doubts federal housing assistance will come in time to keep a roof over her head.
Despite FEMA's assurances Monday, the agency is appealing Leon's ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, asking the court to place Leon's order on hold until the case is resolved.
The higher court may rule on that request this week. If it sides with FEMA, the agency could halt the program just as it was restarting it.
35,000 housing units
The city initially administered the federal housing program for evacuees in Houston, paying landlords for 35,000 housing units at the peak of the program, said Assistant City Attorney Robert Johnson, manager of the Joint Hurricane Housing Task Force.
Since Oct. 1, evacuees have received the federal rent assistance through the Wichita, Kan.-based Corporate Lodging Consultants, Inc., operating under a FEMA contract to administer disaster housing assistance.
"It is our hope that FEMA would provide the extension of service to them. They are a private enterprise and they do this much better than we do," said Johnson. "We did the housing program as an emergency."
lori.rodriguez@chron.com
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