Fewer FEMA Trailers

PASCAGOULA, Miss. (AP) - There are only 850 FEMA trailers being
used in Pascagoula compared to the 7,000 that were in use right
after Hurricane Katrina.
An official with FEMA's recovery assistance division, Sid
Melton, said this week that 621 trailers remain on private property
and 231 are in Pascagoula's four emergency group housing trailer
parks.
Of those still in trailers, 343 were renters before the 2005
storm, Melton told city council members.
He said there are more than 100 people who rented before the
storm who are still living elsewhere in FEMA housing.
Pascagoula officials earlier this year ordered all four
emergency group housing sites closed but did not set a deadline.
Police records show that after the city demanded that security
be placed in the parks, crime has decreased.
Melton says FEMA is aggressively working to find residents
permanent housing by May 1.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)