Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com
Published - Wednesday, March 12, 2008
FEMA’s waffling insulting to Stockton residents
A message to the Federal Emergency Management Agency: No one wants to live in your trailers.
No one wants to pay $200 to $300 just to keep warm. No one wants to wait while their future and their home are in the hands of the federal government (read: bureaucrats).
Most importantly, no one wants to leave their town.
And not to sound ungrateful, but FEMA trailers were the only thing that stood between many flood victims and homelessness, so they took the government up on its offer. But no one wants FEMA trailers to be home forever.
For most of the victims of last August’s flooding, they’ve made a choice. Those who decided to leave — to strike out on their own, going somewhere else — are gone. The victims who remain want to stay. And as we talk about small towns disappearing and the erosion of communities, isn’t it a great thing that despite the tragedy of the floods, folks still want to rebuild in places like Stockton, Houston, Rushford and Minnesota City?
While FEMA has done good things in our communities after the flood and did more to respond in our area than in other disaster-affected locations, it seems like the federal government in the case of the trailers is tripping over itself. FEMA and the federal government are sending these already stressed citizens — especially in Stockton — a very mixed message.
On one hand, FEMA promised it’s not here to boot anyone out of these temporary houses.
On the other, the federal government is telling Stockton residents who are living in the trailers that a decision about whether their homes will be bought and the property mitigated isn’t expected until sometime later — when exactly is a little fuzzy. FEMA officials say that waiting for the federal government’s mitigation decision isn’t a permanent housing plan, so Stockton residents could get the boot after the 18-month time period because they don’t have permanent plans. Or at least permanent plans that satisfy FEMA.
Last week, after the Daily News and The Associated Press ran stories about the understandably upset residents of Stockton, FEMA reiterated it had no “immediate” plans to kick out trailer dwellers. Yet, it also couldn’t accept that some of the residents were waiting … on the federal government.
The problem with how FEMA is handling the situation is that beneath all the guidelines there seems to be an assumption: That folks around here want to live in FEMA trailers; that they’re somehow happy and would make them permanent if they could.
That may be the case elsewhere, in other disaster-ravaged communities, but in places like Stockton, people want to rebuild their houses and rebuild their lives.
We also can’t blame residents for waiting and not wanting to build. After all, if the government is going to purchase property in Stockton for flood mitigation, rebuilding becomes a moot point, if not a waste of time and resources. Rebuilding while the federal government is still evaluating seems to be a risky proposition for these residents. Most folks in the same situation would bide their time, just like the Stockton residents, and wait on the federal government.
Right now, FEMA’s pressure on these residents is most unwelcome, especially since they’re trying to rebuild their lives, many having lost nearly everything. It’s making a tragic situation worse.
Instead, something needs to happen with FEMA, not Stockton. The federal agency needs to do a better job of allowing for circumstances like this. After all, this situation really boils down to the federal government waiting on itself, while pointing a finger at flood victims.
In a very real way, Stockton residents are captives of FEMA trailers, not squatters as the federal agency seems to imply.
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