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Tell congress to demand that FEMA honor its housing obligations to people displaced by hurricanes katrina and rita!
June 2006
Help displaced hurricane survivors by calling the chairpersons of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security and the U.S. Senate Homeand Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which oversee the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA).
Tell them that the U.S. government should not be in the business of making people homeless. Let them know that you are outraged that FEMA plans to renege on its agreement to provide displaced Gulf Coast residents with rental assistance vouchers for 18 months, until February 2007.[1] FEMA’s plan threatens over 50,000 people with homelessness as early as the next 4-6 weeks.[2]
We need Congress to do the right thing and demand that FEMA honor its rental assistance agreement for displaced persons. Further, Congress must ensure that the U.S. government adheres to its policy – Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons Policy (USAID) – which establishes the human rights protections of people who are forced to leave their communities as a result of a natural or man-made disaster.[3]
Please don’t wait! Displaced residents are counting on you
to make this important phone call now!
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security:
Peter T. King (R-NY) Curt Weldon (R-PA)
(202) 225-7896 (202) 225-2011
U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee:
Susan M. Collins (R-ME) Joseph I. Lieberman (D-CT)
(202) 224-2523 (202) 224-4041
[1]Evacuees Find Housing Grants Will End Soon, Shaila Dewan, New York Times, April 27, 2006, p. A1. See Watson v. FEMA complaint filed in the United States District Court, Southern District of Texas on May 24, 2006, available online at: http://www.femaanswers.org/images/d/da/ Watson_v_FEMA_-_1st_Amend_Complaint.pdf.
[3] This U.S. Policy recognizes the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and establishes the U.S. government commitments to providing housing and protecting the right to return for internally displaced persons. This U.S. policy is available at http://www.usaid.gov/policy/ ads/200/200mbc.pdf.
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