Native Americans Now Living in Deadly FEMA Trailers; Thousands Already Distributed, More Requested
July 7th, 2011Via: Seattle Times / AP:
Wanda Tiger and her husband needed a new home after a long-term house-sitting arrangement came to an end. But for members of their American Indian tribe in rural Oklahoma, affordable housing options were few.
Then tribal leaders learned of an impossibly attractive offer: Mobile homes that had never been occupied were available from the government almost for free. They had stood vacant for years after being rejected as temporary housing following Hurricane Katrina.
To Tiger and members of other tribes, the homes seemed perfect, even luxurious.
“When you ain’t got nothing, you’re happy with whatever you can get,” said Tiger, a member of the Absentee Shawnee tribe who now lives in a three-bedroom home courtesy of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “They call them temporary homes, but hey, sometimes it’s your permanent home, and we’re satisfied with it.”
Nearly six years after the hurricane, the mobile homes that became a symbol of the government’s failed response are finally being put to good use. FEMA has quietly given many of them away to American Indian tribes that are in desperate need of affordable housing.
In the aftermath of the 2005 hurricane, FEMA bought thousands of temporary homes for $20,000 to $45,000 each – both mobile homes and travel trailers.
The mobile homes proved impractical in areas where power and water service had been destroyed. And some people living in travel trailers started to fall sick because the RVs had high levels of formaldehyde, a cancer-causing chemical common in building materials.
Since then, it seemed doubtful that many of the mobile homes would ever be used. But on American Indian reservations, the offer of free housing has been welcomed, particularly among families who live in conditions so crowded that it’s not uncommon for a single mobile home to be shared by more than a dozen relatives.
Tribes have taken almost 2,000 of the government homes and requested more.
Related:
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FEMA Trailer Manufacturers Knew About Formaldehyde, Findings Went Undisclosed
Formaldehyde-Laced Death Trailers to Haiti!?
Judge Rejects Class-Action Status in FEMA Trailer Suits
Banned FEMA Formaldehyde Trailers Return for Latest Gulf Disaster
Research Credit: ottilie
I think it’s a shame that these people feel like they don’t have any other options than these god-awful trailers when they have a cultural history as rich and historical as the Native Americans. I don’t mean to be flippant, but what about a tipi or some other traditional structure that has roots in their community? They have apparently bought into the modern culture as thoroughly as the crazy white man. They’d be ahead of the curve, considering that we’re all going to find ourselves living somewhere in between the Amish and the pre-Columbian Native American lifestyle in the future anyway.
gotta remember the policies of cultural genocide that occurred in british colonies like america and australia. even speaking the native language was a floggable offense for children, much less exercising any kind of housing development or old world tech manufacture.
plus, as i was reminded recently, the jewish leadership in 30’s germany kept telling people to go along and they wont hurt you. or more emotionally charged even the “white devils” were not hunting blacks in africa, they sat on the boats and paid the black natives to do it for them. many groups many places have fallen into the same pattern.
social hierachries
hierarchies
I use to scoff at the Amish. Now I salute them.