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Class
action lawsuit prompts judge to stop FEMA from forcing Katrina
victims out of hotels
Download
PDF of judge's order
SAN
FRANCISCO, Dec. 13 - U.S. District Judge Stanwood R. Duval, Jr.
on Monday extended the January deadline for hurricane evacuees
to remain in hotel rooms across the country. The ruling allows
those displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to remain in hotels
until February 7 or two weeks after they receive a notice regarding
their application for assistance.
The
Monday ruling was in response to a class action lawsuit filed
in November by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights along with
the New York law firm of Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP; John Pierre,
Attorney and Professor at Southern University Law Center; the
Public Interest Law Project; and the Equal Justice Society.
"Katrina
showed us that the most vulnerable communities - who are already
victims of racial and economic inequality - will likely be the
ones to suffer most," said Eva Paterson, president of EJS.
"Had FEMA been allowed to cut off support for the almost
100,000 hurricane victims, it would have been another sad example
of how this disaster is less about rain and wind than it is about
race and class."
In
response to FEMA's unjustified decision to force people out of
hotels without alternative housing options, Judge Duval noted,
"It is unimaginable what anxiety and misery these erratic
and bizarre vacillations by FEMA have caused these victims, all
of whom, for at least one point in time, had the very real fear
of being without shelter for Christmas."
In
addition, Judge Duval's order requires FEMA to notify all displaced
persons who were incorrectly told by the agency that they must
apply for a SBA loan in order to obtain temporary housing assistance.
Pursuant to the court order, FEMA "must notify applicants
and potential applicants that no such requirement exists and that
no applications will be held up for Temporary Housing Assistance
processing due to an SBA Loan application not being filled out,
or being filled out incorrectly, unnecessarily, and/or superfluously."
This
decision by the district court is the first federal court decision
against FEMA's federal housing assistance program and is a significant
landmark for all hurricane survivors.
The
Equal Justice Society, a national civil rights organization based
in San Francisco, also issued a petition on Nov. 17 to the federal
government calling for "bold action" in the wake of
the nation's worst hurricane. The 14-point demands include a call
to President Bush to reorder national priorities and restore funding
to federal agencies responsible for fortifying the nation and
administering relief programs. The petition also asks whether
the race of the predominantly black victims was a major factor
in the government's sluggish response to the widespread and unprecedented
suffering.
For
more information on the Equal Justice Society's efforts, visit:
http://www.equaljusticesociety.org/petition.
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