MIAMI — Trying to make the best of a bad situation, federal officials might use foreclosed homes as temporary housing for hurricane evacuees in Florida as soon as this summer.
The proposal would keep people close to their homes and communities instead of scattering them around the country, which happened when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans nearly four years ago. Thousands never returned.
But the idea is still in its infancy, and many questions remain unanswered, including whether the banks that own the foreclosed homes would agree to such a plan.
“It makes all the sense in the world,” said Jack McCabe, a South Florida real-estate analyst, who has watched tens of thousands of homes go into foreclosure. “We have a lot of vacant units available.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it might consider using foreclosed homes if hotels, shelters and other housing options are full and only for a catastrophic situation, such as Hurricane Katrina. The idea was discussed at a hurricane drill this week in Florida.
Meanwhile, thousands of Gulf Coast hurricane victims who have missed deadline after deadline to leave their federal housing are being offered additional help and the chance to buy trailers for as little as $1 as the government seeks to avoid mass evictions.
For weeks, officials have been warning people displaced by Katrina and Rita in 2005 that their federally supplied trailers and mobile homes might be repossessed if they stay.
Instead, President Barack Obama’s administration said Wednesday the federal government will offer $50 million in new housing vouchers and give residents the option of buying their units if they meet safety standards and local zoning rules.
About 3,300 households remain in federally supplied trailers and mobile homes in Louisiana and Mississippi, down from a high of 143,000 along the Gulf Coast after the storms.
