Fewer than 50 families expected to remain in FEMA trailers past deadline

Fewer than 50 Linn County families are likely to remain in mobile homes provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after Nov. 27, the original deadline set by the agency.

That's the estimate of Steve Schmitz, director of the Community Recovery Center in northwest Cedar Rapids. He said about 100 Linn County families remain in FEMA homes, and “more than half have plans to get out by December.”

After the June 2008 flood, FEMA brought 564 trailers to Iowa to house displaced residents rent-free for 18 months - through the end of November. The agency announced last week it would keep the mobile homes in Iowa - now 124 - through next June, but tenants who stay in them would pay rent starting in December.

“It's causing great concern and we're trying to help people through that,” Schmitz said.

Schmitz said the center's case advocates, who work with flood-displaced residents, haven't received rental details from FEMA. Agency officials said rents will be the local market rates set by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, with reductions based on a family's size and annual income.

HUD rates for the Cedar Rapids market are $920 monthly for three bedrooms, $649 for two, and $493 for a single-bedroom unit.

“Homeowners are some of the most concerned, because they're already paying their mortgages and their taxes, and now they're having to pay rent,” said Schmitz. “Renters are still very concerned. Their issue is that the availability of rental properties in the price ranges they were accustomed to pre-flood are gone.”

Schmitz said recovery center caseworkers are working with 26 displaced renters, including 18 still in FEMA homes.

FEMA officials won't say how the conditions placed on Iowa's extension compare to those in the Gulf Coast and other disaster areas. Press secretary Clark Stevens said only that when the agency extends its housing services in a disaster area, “an element of that extension typically includes a rental fee.”

Residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 have since moved out of FEMA-provided mobile homes.

Clark said agency officials are considering Wednesday's request from the Rebuild Iowa Office to waive the rental requirement.

“We will continue to work with our partners at the state and take their concerns into consideration as we assess how best to meet our shared goals of helping individuals transition out of the temporary housing program and into more permanent housing solutions,” Stevens said Thursday.

Stevens emphasized the HUD rates are “a ceiling,” and most residents still in the homes will qualify for a reduction.