The doors to housing units intended for migrant workers and low-income residents are opening across rural Colorado for people forced from their homes by Hurricane Katrina.
Federal and state authorities say they are bending and suspending regulations at federally funded rural housing sites so that hundreds of evacuees can be deemed eligible instantly because they have no income. The evacuees can move in and fill out the qualifying paperwork later.
Owners of the units must agree to let these tenants move in and will be reimbursed for the rent subsidies, security deposits and other costs later.
“We’re just happy to help, and we hope our owners take the opportunity to open their hearts and let these families in,” said Gigi Dennis, state director of rural development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Dennis said her office is surveying to find out how many of the 1,400 rural- development rental units in Colorado have vacancies. The units are in 149 complexes spread across Colorado in communities of fewer than 20,000 residents.
The Montrose County Housing Authority has already agreed to make available many of the 72 units at a migrant housing complex near Olathe, and director Tim Heavers said he is just waiting for evacuees to arrive. Some are expected to move into the complex Sunday.
“Some vans went down to pick people up and bring them up here,” Heavers said.
He said many of the rooms that are equipped with refrigerators and microwaves have been sitting empty this year. The farm workers were not able to stay there because of federal regulations that prohibit certain classes of guest workers from staying in federally funded housing.
Heavers said that the spotlessly clean units are ready and that local residents have been donating clothing and other goods that evacuees will need when they move in. Businesses also have been offering jobs to those relocated by the storm. Heavers said the only aid they have not pinned down is food and cooking assistance in the large commercial kitchen at the Olathe complex.
Dennis said evacuees who were already living in rural development housing in the path of the hurricane will be given priority for the rural units in Colorado. Some of those residents will be coming from the former Lowry Air Force Base in metro Denver, where they have been staying for the past few days after being evacuated. That base is serving as initial housing while state authorities find longer-term locations for the evacuees.
“We have no idea of what the demand will be,” Dennis said.
Staff writer Nancy Lofholm can be reached at 970-256-1957 or nlofholm@denverpost.com.
