Town Sets Sights on Quaint Alternative to `FEMAvilles'
OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. — Mayor Connie Moran wanted something better for her city's hurricane victims than rows of generic government trailers.
She envisioned a neighborhood of "Katrina cottages" -- tiny yellow houses built in a Southern style, with sloped metal roofs and big front porches. They would be built with concrete foundations, not the tenuous straps and anchors that tether trailers to the ground.
A New York architect designed a prototype cottage and set it in the center of this coastal city, where it has been winning raves from locals. At 300 square feet, it's cozy, sleeps four, boasts ample storage and is covered in handsome siding.
A typical comment from passersby is "cute" -- a rare word on this storm-ravaged coast.
Today, however, the little house stands as a monument to the mayor's thwarted ambitions. Last month, officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency rejected Moran's funding request for an 87-home pilot project on the east side of town.
The issue wasn't cost: The cottage could probably be had for about the same price as a trailer. The problem was that the cottage would be permanent -- and FEMA is not in the business of providing permanent housing.
Moran said agency officials explained to her that under federal law, FEMA can provide housing only on a temporary basis after a disaster. For many Gulf Coast residents, that means the loan of a trailer or larger mobile home for up to 18 months.
As a result, the spot where Moran envisioned rows of starter homes will soon be another post-Hurricane Katrina trailer park. Like dozens of other "FEMAvilles" in the region, it will be welcome for the shelter it provides, but dreaded for its potential to degenerate into a blighted slum -- that is, if it doesn't blow away in the next storm.
The mayor was crestfallen, and her disappointment reflects a wider concern emerging across the gulf states. Trailers are pouring in to house the homeless -- eventually, 135,000 will be installed in the hurricane-battered region. Though many are grateful for the multibillion-dollar effort, they are worried FEMA's reliance on trailers could spawn serious long-term problems.
It is a fear Moran describes in blunt terms. "FEMA," she said, "is creating trailer trash."
Some Gulf Coast officials suspect that the trailers won't be temporary. They point to lesser disasters that have spawned hastily improvised trailer parks that have lingered after the 18-month deadlines.
