FEMA trailers

[GraciesMom]

I saw a report on the news last night that FEMA trailers that were used after Katrina are being stored at the cost of tens of millions of dollars to American taxpayers a year - I think the exact figure was around $28 million. The justification is that they are stored so they can be put into place quickly in an emergency. Seems to me that it would make more sense, in this economy, to save that money spent on storage by giving the trailers to homeless people - especially those that have lost their homes due to foreclosure - and let them pay rent to the RV parks that have lost business due to the high gas prices until they can get back on their feet. Then if there is another emergency, I'm sure the RV manufacturers that are trying to keep their heads above water would welcome the tens of millions of dollars to sell the government new trailers, as would the RV dealers that are going out of business on a daily basis. Doesn't that make MORE SENSE??

[GraciesMom]

I saw a report on the news last night that FEMA trailers that were used after Katrina are being stored at the cost of tens of millions of dollars to American taxpayers a year - I think the exact figure was around $28 million. The justification is that they are stored so they can be put into place quickly in an emergency. Seems to me that it would make more sense, in this economy, to save that money spent on storage by giving the trailers to homeless people - especially those that have lost their homes due to foreclosure - and let them pay rent to the RV parks that have lost business due to the high gas prices until they can get back on their feet. Then if there is another emergency, I'm sure the RV manufacturers that are trying to keep their heads above water would welcome the tens of millions of dollars to sell the government new trailers, as would the RV dealers that are going out of business on a daily basis. Doesn't that make MORE SENSE??

[Ray,IN]

You are trying to apply logic to government thinking, a losing battle I'm afraid.
These trailers require permanant hookups, as they have no holding tanks. This requires a "trailer park" be built and maintained, which is what FEMA had trouble closing down. Some had degerated into slums.
Glad to see you still view a glass half-full, keep the faith.

[GraciesMom]

I was under the impression that theses were standard TT's . . . tanks and all. The video on the news made them look just like the TT's sitting around me now. Same names . . . same manufacturers . . . two little propane tanks in the front. I didn't realize these things were government specials.

[hondo122]

I was in Mississippi last year doing Katrina volunteer work and can say for a fact that they are not TT. They have propane tanks but no holding or freshwater. Most that I saw were on the owners site but there were a few parks which were not very nice. They were mostly folks who had been renting before the storm.

[GraciesMom]

OK - so you lose your home, you have NOWHERE TO LIVE - or you're homeless like so many families are and have been for ages . . . even if these things have no holding tanks, any reason why things can't be hooked up to a sewer in an RV park OR a trailer park and the water hooked up? If they can't be used that way, then they still need to sell the darn things, and stop paying such ridiculously high rent to store them. It just seems that there is a BETTER solution to the problem than paying rent on empty trailers when so many people need shelter. Even if they were used as portable classrooms for overcrowded schools . . . or even "bunkhouses" for over-crowded prisons. It just amazes me how easily the government wastes our money.

[Tom N]

They could park one of two at every Walmart for the less fortunate.

[Ray,IN]

Only in the beginning stage of buying trailers, some(a few comarativly) were actual camping trailers. Then FEMA negotatied contracts for the special-built trailers and production lines began to sing with joy.

[read & learn]

Those trailers will sit some different locations for years, than when they are needed the tires will be flat, families of field mice will have lived there for years, bees, wasps and who know what else will be living there and the ACLU will start a law suit not to move them as the mice and insects have rights over human beings as they been here longer.
So lets just have a auction and save alot of money.

[SeeTheUSA]

I thought the FEMA trailers were deemed uninhabitable because of Formaldehyde.

[Hitchhiker]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I thought the FEMA trailers were deemed uninhabitable because of Formaldehyde. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Based on the formaldehyde concern, the CDC recommended that FEMA move residents of the Gulf Coast area displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita out of travel trailers and mobile homes.

Click here for the CDC Fact sheet.

[tmar10]

It may be cheaper for FEMA to scrap the TTs instead of facing the hundreds of lawyers repesenting thousands of clients who claim the free living quarters will be the sole cause of all future illnesses.

Based on current litigation throughout the country, being a good samaritan is becoming a liability. What will happen when no one is willing to help?

[hamguy]

"I was under the impression that theses were standard TT's . . . tanks and all. The video on the news made them look just like the TT's sitting around me now. Same names . . . same manufacturers . . . two little propane tanks in the front. I didn't realize these things were government specials."

The government bought what the manufacturers were set up to build. Then they let them sit with NO ventilation and people complain because the products outgas and cause DEATH (not likely). Remember panic, uncontrolled, is best.

Most all, in fact ALL plastics outgas. But if properly ventilated, no one notices OR cares.

[TXiceman]

A few years ago, some of the government trailers were brought to Houston to sell. I stopped and looked at a few and you talk about trashed out. It is hard to believe that people have such disregard for someone's property. If I were loaned something to use until I could do better, I certainly would not trash the unit.

Ken