Gulf Rental Aid Extended

The Bush administration has developed a plan that extends rental assistance to victims of 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes until March 2009 and transfers management of the disaster housing voucher program to the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Sept. 1.An estimated 40,000 families that were displaced by the hurricanes remain in public housing. "HUD will provide the time-tested principles of case management to assist the families and provide the community support and safety that these families need to get back home," Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson said. Starting in March 2008, HUD will begin to reduce the rent subsidies in $50 increments. Meanwhile, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will continue to manage the 86,000 travel trailers and mobile homes in the Gulf Coast that hurricane victims continue to use for housing. They will have to start paying rent next March. But FEMA is giving those residents the option to buy the mobile units for a few hundred dollars. An estimated 80% of the mobile units are used by homeowners who are still rebuilding their homes.