HOUSTON, Dec. 25 (UPI) -- Four months after Hurricane Katrina struck, thousands of evacuees have nowhere to go but face deadlines to find permanent housing.
The evacuees living in government-subsidized Houston hotels have been given until Feb. 7 by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to find alternate arrangement.
An additional 105,000 evacuees housed in apartments under a city-sponsored voucher program that guaranteed rent and utilities for a year might face eviction March 1, when FEMA stops reimbursing the city for the program, The Washington Post reports.
Houston officials and apartment owners are not happy with the deadlines, but FEMA officials say they will instead provide a year's worth of rent-only payments to individuals under a more strictly regulated assistance program.
The city accommodated an estimated 250,000 of the Gulf Coast residents who left their homes after Katrina struck in late August followed by Rita.
