FEMA to quietly conclude emergency hotel housing for evacuees

FEMA says it will end hotel payments for people left homeless by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by the scheduled 1 December deadline. The program of hotel payments drew criticism last month for its high cost and open-ended time frame. Some 53,000 people remain in hotel rooms today, mostly in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, and Mississippi. In Louisiana and Mississippi, where the housing supply is tight in certain areas, the lead FEMA recovery official will have waiver authority to continue hotel payment assistance. FEMA has spent more than $1.2 billion on transitional housing assistance to date.

-read the Washington Post report or the FEMA press release