When will anyone learn? FEMA is at it again. The Baton Rouge Morning Advocate reported yesterday that FEMA is paying double the retail value for mobile homes that are to be provided to flood victims. Read and weep:
For the amount of money FEMA is spending on temporary mobile homes for flood victims, the federal agency could buy displaced residents modest houses in some parts of Baton Rouge.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is spending an estimated $129,200 for the purchase, transport and installation of each "manufactured housing unit" placed on the private property of a flood victim, according to a document provided to a Louisiana congressman. If the unit is placed in an already existing commercial park for mobile homes and travel trailers, then the cost increases to $149,000, because of the extra expense to lease the site pad. And if the mobile homes are placed in FEMA designated group sites, then the price can rise as high as $170,000.
Officials say the cost is infuriating. They note it's more than double the market rate and argue a more cost-effective program could potentially yield the faster delivery of the mobile homes, which are in high demand and short supply four months after the flood. Some families that have been approved for the trailers might have to wait another month and a half to get into a unit, which are homes that range from one to three bedrooms and can be as big as 980 square feet.....
Troy Davis, whose been in the manufactured housing industry for more than 30 years in Hammond, said he is familiar with the model home that FEMA uses for victims, which he described as a low-end mobile home. He said he could sell that particular model for $37,900, which would include delivery, "skirting" to cover the area around the elevated home, and air conditioning hook ups. He said the additional sewer and water connections would cost another $600. At that price point, he said, he'd still make a profit as a retailer..... Rest of the article.
And right-wing nuts are worried about FEMA concentration camps? It can't even get mobile homes right.
15 comments:
Fake news story
Ahhhhh. That's the plan to silence dissent, is it? Anything that conflicts with the worldview you'd like us to have is 'fake'.
Welcome to the new McCarthysim re-purposed as all liberals know that recycling is a good thing.
Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but it seems the trailers are at least TRIPLE (not "double")the price they should be.
I wish the public could really understand what it felt like to be in busiess after Katrina. The FEMA contractors and the federal government employees were something else.
Never trust the government
Let's see if anything changes, or if it's just different people doing the same thing. The next disaster is waiting to happen in 2017.
Yup, the dismantling of the Kenyan's toothpick facade will be a disaster for liberalism and Donkeycrats nationwide.
Go look at the specifications for these mobile homes. They are completely over-engineered by the government. One example: these trailers must have sprinkler systems installed.
I've been in a number of FEMA trailers, none of which has a sprinkler system. Trump will put an immediate stop to this crap. People became millionaires due to FEMA/Katrina ripoffs. Some were even named Patel.
Kingfish - this triggers bad memories of Katrina. Why no comment on the US Supreme Court's recent affirmation of the Rigsby sisters' verdict against State Farm Insurance for defrauding the national flood program?
I may be mistaken, but wasn't the Katrina cottages sold after they were used for pennies on the dollar?
No doubt the "middle men" were preferred government contractors who "took care" of certain politicians.
Were is all the press coverage of FEMA follies like during Katrina? Heck of a job Barack.
Why not just pay the $170K for a home, not a mobile home? Money better spent. If we take out the bureaucracy in government and spend money wisely, we would not be in such a deficit (I realize there are other factors but it starts at home - cannot spend what you do not have). As a business person, I hope Trump puts an end to this nonsense.
10:27, if they spent the $170K for a home they would not have enough left to stick in their pockets. This is not something to help out the people, it is a way to make some people rich. People should have learned that by now. Any disaster can be a dream come true for politicians and their buddies.
11:33, isn't that what the government is paying anyway? Why not get a real home versus a mobile home that is not safe to be in during tornado weather? Or better yet, give those people jobs.
At the end of the day, Brownie did one hell of a job!
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