WAVELAND, Miss., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Housing advocates say Hurricane Katrina victims about to be forced out of U.S. government-supplied cottages in Mississippi will have no place to go.
Some 2,300 of the one-, two- and three-bedroom structures supplied by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency to temporarily house Katrina victims are still being used, but the cottages will need to be emptied by the end of January and removed by March, USA Today reported Wednesday.
"If these (cottages) are gone, there's just not going to be enough affordable housing," Tim Kellar, administrator of Hancock County, Miss., told the newspaper. "We don't have an alternate plan if that happens."
Many of the cottages sit on residents' lots while they rebuild wrecked homes, said Mike Womack, director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. They were meant to be temporary, and may not withstand another powerful storm. They also violate local zoning rules, he told USA Today.
FEMA officials say they are willing to sell the cottages to residents, but that depends on local approvals and some cities, such as Waveland and Bay St. Louis, Miss., will only allow the cottages in trailer parks, advocates contend.
