Alright, but what NOW...

[CBL4]

A list should be made of EVERY empty rental house and or apartment building, across America.

Who is going to pay the rent and the security deposit?

I own several rental properties a few of which are vacant. I am very choosy about my tenants. Perhaps it is cold of me to resist volunteering my properties to unknown people but it is simply good business. If I get one bad tenant, I can lose several others.

If you would like to take the risk, feel free. I simply cannot afford it.

CBL

 

[Nyarlathotep]

There are empty rental homes all across America, and there are plenty of donations pouring in from all areas. Why can't someone set up a Relocation Station, and begin the process of resettling people NOW???

For one, I am sure that anyone who lost their house in the disaster is perfectly free to get a rental elsewhere if they have the means. I know I would if I was int hat predicament. As for those without the means, the constitution does not allow for the government to just seize private property and begin settling people on it. They are going to have to depend on whatever government and/or private aid they can get and that takes time, it's not going to happen in a week. And I see lots of appeals even as far out as where I live in Nevada to take in persons displaced by the disaster, so I am sure that anyone who WANTS to open his property up to refugees has ample opportunity to do so.

There is also the matter of the sheer magnitude of the problem, you can't just move the entire population of the Gulf Coast all over the country overnight. Nor can other areas of the country easily absorb a massive influx of refugees in such a short time either. This isn't just a few dozen people we are talking about. Or even a few hundred.

Last, who said all of these people WANT to be moved all over the country. SOme are probably still looking for loved ones, others harbor a hope they can rebuild where they are.

Pie in the sky ideas sound good on paper, but you have to think these things through.

 

[CBL4]

There are numerous organization trying to provide housing. Here is the mission statement of one located in Oregon and Washington:

Katrina Housing Northwest is a grassroots organization dedicated to providing a long-term relief solution to the families and individuals rendered homeless by Hurricane Katrina. We are seeking homeowners in the NW who are able to immediately house families and victims of hurricane Katrina for a minimum of 4-6 months. Our organization is committed to finding long term housing, helping each family locate social services in the area, helping children enroll in school and keeping evacuees in touch with one another. We are currently seeking transportation methods and the support of our local government officials to help with the endeavor.

We understand that relief is much more than providing a place to live. We will be providing support for families wishing to remain in the area as well as those who choose to move back the the Gulf Coast when they are able. We also want to help evacuees make contact with each other, uniting families and friends and providing a sense of community even far from home.

http://www.katrinahousingnw.org/Mission.htm

The woman who started the organization quickly realized that the biggest problem was assuring both the refugees and the volunteers that they were not putting them in a dangerous situation. Background checks on the volunteers was feasible but there is no way to do an accurate check on a refugee that has no identification.

CBL

 

[JenJen]

I am still not hearing about moving people into more permanate 'houses'...although many HAVE refused rooms aboard these cruise ships.

The Red Cross said, that they wouldn't be financing 'homes' for the displaced. The spokesperson said they were in the business of offering temporary 'shelter' to those in need.

The American public, celebraties, and even some corporations have really stepped up and opened their hearts and wallets to this endeavor, donating huge amounts of time and money to the relief effort. That said, I still haven't heard of anyone getting resettled yet. However, I understand that there isn't a 'single' database wherein one could find and arrange the surivors into groups or subgroups, yet. Supposedly, there are 'several' survivor lists one needs to look over, in order to find a specific person.

The sooner these people are in homes and or apartment, the better for them, the relief workers, and the economy.

There are empty rental homes all across America, and there are plenty of donations pouring in from all areas. Why can't someone set up a Relocation Station, and begin the process of resettling people NOW???

http://www.katrinaslost.com/
http://www.nola.com/forums/searching/
http://www.katrinahousing.org/
http://www.hurricanehousing.org/
http://www.hurricanekatrinasurvivors.com/home/
http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/katrina (Red Cross)

That's all I'm copying. If you want to search for yourself, try "Katrina Survivors". These are forums and survivor registries and housing lists for surviviors & family. And JREF also links to hurricanehousing.org.

People are working to resettle people NOW. This part isn't as emotionally exciting to the news outlets - it's not going to be 24 hour news. Now it's going to be poignant vignettes of individual families. The Katrina coverage is already starting (just) to taper down.

After 9-11, there was a lot of conversation (where Red Cross was slammed for not participating) about centralized survivor databases. I'm not sure how that's going this time - I haven't seen much coverage.

Jen

 

[King of the Americas]

INDEED...

...I am finding LOTS of stories about resettlement, now...

...and the kind of efforts taking place are exactly as I suggested.

I understand that FEMA is trying now to distribute debit cards of 2 grand each to huricane survivors, but that they may not begin until tomorrow to pass them out. The Red Cross is envolved in a similiar effort. Wal-Mart has already passed out over 2000 cards, with a value of $200 to be used at Wal-Mart locations.

Is it me, or have the private peoples and organizations been MUCH faster than government sources, at distributing relief to victums...?

Who's for privatizing disaster relief!?!?

 

[JenJen]

Re: INDEED...

...I am finding LOTS of stories about resettlement, now...

...and the kind of efforts taking place are exactly as I suggested.

I understand that FEMA is trying now to distribute debit cards of 2 grand each to huricane survivors, but that they may not begin until tomorrow to pass them out. The Red Cross is envolved in a similiar effort. Wal-Mart has already passed out over 2000 cards, with a value of $200 to be used at Wal-Mart locations.

Is it me, or have the private peoples and organizations been MUCH faster than government sources, at distributing relief to victums...?

Who's for privatizing disaster relief!?!?

I suspect some of it is just how the media plays things. It's less exiting to see people pulling things together rather than watch them fall apart so now we will start getting smaller doses of warm and fuzzies instead of massive doses of disaster.

Different agencies have different jobs. The gov't is gonna be cleaning up sewage and bodies and the Red Cross is helping people get their names in databases and find homes. Red Cross also acts as liaison to between Feds and evacuees. That's where the warm and fuzzies are.

But then again ... a little riot at the Astrodome can mix things up a little.

Jen

 

[King of the Americas]

To JenJen:

I understand that neither the Red Cross, nor any other agency has yet managed to database a list of the known survivors...

Isn't this, or rather SHOULDN'T this be a priority!?!?

 

[King of the Americas]

2 weeks...

...and still no ONE list of survivors to access, for the Red Cross and other relief organizations.

I know it is a daunting task, but should this be a priority, to SOMEONE!?

 

[JenJen]

Re: 2 weeks...

...and still no ONE list of survivors to access, for the Red Cross and other relief organizations.

I know it is a daunting task, but should this be a priority, to SOMEONE!?

I gave you a few links to survivor lists & forums. Am I reading you right? First you're not happy because there are no sites and now you're not happy because there's too many?

I don't know how it works but I'd like to think that the official agencies & major charities have agreed to one site. Sorry, I don't care enough to do the research - if you do, go to it. But it's the internet - you can't stop people from setting up another site that may compete with Red Cross. If I were a survivor or family, I think I'd check Red Cross first and then look into some of the others.

It seems to me that it has been a priority - they were taking information when people checked into the Astrodome, for instance. But I would say that actually saving lives and getting them to safe, dry locations with food and water would come before the survivor lists. And yes, it probably is daunting.

Jen

 

[Beerina]

What thread do you think you're posting in? Because this is a 400-pound non sequitur.

Perhaps the skeptical community should publish a chapter on "troll detection" in their "baloney detection kit".

 

[King of the Americas]

To JenJen:

My original assertion that there wasn't ONE databse configured by major the relief efforts, not that there weren't 'enough' lists.

It has been more than 2 weeks out since the storm passed, and from I heard Red Cross reps say, THEY still don't have all of the survivors listed in a single registery.

Daunting as it may be, I think this issue is an absolute neccessity, if long term recovery efforts are to proceed with efficiency.

 

[Nyarlathotep]

Re: To JenJen:

My original assertion that there wasn't ONE databse configured by major the relief efforts, not that there weren't 'enough' lists.

It has been more than 2 weeks out since the storm passed, and from I heard Red Cross reps say, THEY still don't have all of the survivors listed in a single registery.

Daunting as it may be, I think this issue is an absolute neccessity, if long term recovery efforts are to proceed with efficiency.

And who says that they aren't attempting to do exactly that? In fact I seem to recall that they are trying to consolidate all of the lists that each relief and government agency has kept into one master list of which survivors have been shipped where.

It's not a task that can be done in a few days as you seem to think, though. For one thing, every time a name duplicates a decision has to be made as to whether or not it represents two different people. Ever look at how many 'John Smith"s there are in a major metropolitan phone book, for instance? Further, every agency involved likely keeps it lists in its own database so their lists may or may not be compatible with the other organizations databases, so some programming has to be done to merge the lists into one. And those are just the difficulties I can think of off the top of my head. It's not a mater of simply say the word and its done.

 

[CapelDodger]

Re: Re: To JenJen:

It's not a task that can be done in a few days as you seem to think, though. For one thing, every time a name duplicates a decision has to be made as to whether or not it represents two different people. Ever look at how many 'John Smith"s there are in a major metropolitan phone book, for instance? Further, every agency involved likely keeps it lists in its own database so their lists may or may not be compatible with the other organizations databases, so some programming has to be done to merge the lists into one. And those are just the difficulties I can think of off the top of my head. It's not a mater of simply say the word and its done.

Shouldn't it have been done in a general sense, before this particular disaster? Surely that's the sort of thing that FEMA should have created? Name, date of birth, current location and status. That's all that's needed, and people maintaining the local databases can extract it into a simple common format. The need for such a system was predictable.

 

[King of the Americas]

I agree with "CapelDodger".

WHY aren't all of these relief agencies already equiped to make such a list, AND have it be compatible with ALL of the agencies involved???

WHY wasn't this one of the FIRST issues to solve???

WHY is it STILL not fixed???

I sure hope this is a lesson we won't have to re-learn when another such storm or disaster hits...

 

[JenJen]

I agree with "CapelDodger".

WHY aren't all of these relief agencies already equiped to make such a list, AND have it be compatible with ALL of the agencies involved???

WHY wasn't this one of the FIRST issues to solve???

WHY is it STILL not fixed???

I sure hope this is a lesson we won't have to re-learn when another such storm or disaster hits...

PLEASE cite whatever it is that has this BEE in your BONNET.

Getting people dry and fed is more important than databases. They now have access to TELEPHONES and INTERNET - they can contact family directly.

The Red Cross seems to be the official database and FEMA directs people to check there first. There are a lot of special interest sites (some important ones to check because they may have bypassed the Red Cross net) and databases set up by concerned individuals and organizations and they may compete with the Red Cross database but I don't know what you can do about that except always know that the Red Cross is the primary site.

FEMA Recovery

Do you have a reason to THINK that this isn't so? Then cite it. It's EASY to sit back and COMPLAIN if you don't KNOW what you're TALKING about. And YOU DON'T EVEN seem to know IF it IS a PROBLEM and you're SCREAMING about why it STILL hasn't been FIXED.

I'm not saying that things couldn't be done better but I haven't seen anything except for YOUR HOLLERING that makes me think there's a major problem.

Jen

 

[crimresearch]

I agree with "CapelDodger".

WHY aren't all of these relief agencies already equiped to make such a list, AND have it be compatible with ALL of the agencies involved???

WHY wasn't this one of the FIRST issues to solve???

WHY is it STILL not fixed???

I sure hope this is a lesson we won't have to re-learn when another such storm or disaster hits...

Because property rental is an unregulated, private, and very transient business?

You are seriously faulting 'someone' for not knowing what rental units will be empty next week, or next month?

Why does it always have to be up to the nanny state to fix all ills?

And as for the rest, people from the gulf are being settled in all over...with all sorts of groups and idividuals coming up with ways to get them work, shelter, education, etc.