3 years after Katrina, cast out again

Renaissance Village was once the biggest emergency trailer park in the United States, but more than 500 households have relocated to apartments, homes and hotels. Most of those who remain in the trailers just north of Baton Rouge are poor, elderly or disabled. Some struggle with depression or are resistant to change; others are convicted felons or have drug and alcohol addictions.

"He will just sit there for the rest of his life if no one intervenes," Sister Judith Brun, a Roman Catholic nun coordinating assistance, said Thursday of one resident on her list of tenants who had yet to secure homes. "And this woman," she said, pointing to another name, "she's about to have a nervous breakdown."

Moving is an immense challenge for residents without access to transportation or phones. At midweek, with the deadline looming, there were almost as many recovery workers and caseworkers at the park as residents. They scrambled to help people tour apartments, fax leases to landlords, track down copies of birth certificates.

And still the requests kept coming in: Were there any boxes? How could they get a U-Haul truck?

Even those who have already moved face problems. Some are in apartments without furniture. Others are concerned about where they will go when the government's emergency subsidies run out. As early as Friday afternoon, residents in hotels began to call, saying they were hungry. A volunteer was dispatched to Sam's Club to buy microwaveable macaroni and cheese, bread, and peanut butter and jelly.

Most of the households leaving the trailer parks are eligible for emergency government-subsidized housing until March. Those who cannot prove where they were living before Katrina will get FEMA housing aid for one month.

"They just want you to get out of here, but they don't care where you move," said Bryan Hebert, 46, who moved to an apartment but returned to the trailer park last week to eat and work out a long-term housing plan. Hebert is not eligible for FEMA funding because he cannot track down his old New Orleans landlord. He said he had trouble finding work without a vehicle or good access to public transportation.

"I just pray to God and hope he brings me the answer," he said as he dipped a saltine cracker into a can of tuna.

Despite the problems, almost all of the last residents at Renaissance Village said they were eager to leave.