'We just want a home': Nearly 1,000 Houma-area residents are still waiting on FEMA housing after Ida

Seven months after Hurricane Ida, Pointe-aux-Chenes residents Earl and Brenda Billiot finally got approval to move into their FEMA trailer. The camper had been placed on their property, where their storm-ravaged home still sits.

Before then, Earl, a commercial fisherman, commuted 20 miles each way most days from their son’s house in Bayou Blue, straining his family’s finances due to the cost of gas.

They didn’t expect it to take this long, especially since the temporary trailer was first placed on their property in February.

Brenda and Earl Billiot stand outside their hurricane-damaged home in Pointe-aux-Chenes and their FEMA trailer in March.
Brenda and Earl Billiot stand outside their hurricane-damaged home in Pointe-aux-Chenes and their FEMA trailer in March.

Each time his wife Brenda called FEMA to check on the status, she was told to remain patient.

Read this: This hurricane season will pose unique challenges in Lafourche. Here are some of them.

Related: Louisiana will do extra checks of nursing home evacuation sites before hurricane season

“You know, we've been patient long enough,” Brenda said. “We’re not asking for much — we just want a home.”

In late April, the Billiots joined the 61% of Terrebonne and Lafourche parish residents who applied for FEMA housing assistance and have actually been able to move in.

This comes after WWNO first inquired in March when only 36% of households had been moved in.

FEMA originally approved 5,086 households in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes who met the minimum criteria to receive direct housing after Ida, which can include temporary trailers. Representatives said that not all of those who qualified ended up participating in the program.

So far, 1,483 households have moved into a unit, with 919 remaining to be housed.

‘What’s taking so long?’

Marilyn Picou of Chauvin stands outside the FEMA trailer she's been given that had been set up facing a ditch, causing safety and accessibility concerns, in March. Contractors finally fixed and rotated the camper the first week of May, which is when Picou received the key.
Marilyn Picou of Chauvin stands outside the FEMA trailer she's been given that had been set up facing a ditch, causing safety and accessibility concerns, in March. Contractors finally fixed and rotated the camper the first week of May, which is when Picou received the key.

“What’s taking so long?” is a sentiment repeated throughout the community.

In Chauvin, Marilyn Picou had a travel camper installed on her property last winter but didn’t get to move in for several months. The steps to the camper were facing a ditch, compromising her safety to get in and out.

Picou also had to deal with her actual home’s storm damage, smaller-than-anticipated insurance payouts for repairs and the death of her husband.

Contractors finally fixed and rotated the camper the first week of May, which is when Picou received the key.

“I’m just trying to manage it all," Picou said. "I've just got to do what I've got to do.”

Reasons for delay

Hurricane Ida has left black mold and other damage inside Marilyn Picou's house in Chauvin.
Hurricane Ida has left black mold and other damage inside Marilyn Picou's house in Chauvin.

In prepared answers, regional FEMA officials said the multistep installation process, including everything from parish permitting to getting the proper setup for electrical wiring, has the potential to cause a delay.

“If at any point an inspection fails, this can result in more significant delays,” the statement reads. “This applies to all sites — private, commercial parks and group sites.”

This happened to the Billiots, whose trailer had an energy meter installed in February but was without power until April. Entergy spokesman Brandon Scardigli said the utility company is unable to discuss individual customer cases but did say the process takes extra time when working with local and FEMA officials.

“Delivering power to trailers, and, in some cases, entire parks can be a cumbersome process that includes permitting, engineering and design services and construction, all of which take extra time to complete safely and in compliance with applicable rules and regulations,” Scardigli said.

The 2021 hurricane season caused some residents in Terrebonne and Lafourche to be out of power as late as December, though the estimated date of restoration was said to be the end of September.

Group sites are tasked with meeting multiple requirements, including whether the landowner is willing to enter into a leasing agreement with the federal government and whether those areas can support an influx of residents.

FEMA officials don’t scout the locations in person and instead decide on them remotely. Recently, plans for a group site on Klondyke Road in Mongtegut were canceled after residents raised concerns over traffic congestion due to ongoing bridge construction nearby.

As for group sites in Terrebonne and Lafourche, they’re expected to be ready in July — a month into the 2022 hurricane season.

Construction skyrockets

Terrebonne Planning and Zoning Director Chris Pulaski said the parish has issued more than 10,000 permits so far this year for construction — five times the annual average. The office also has received three full-time FEMA inspectors to help process applications.

More: What is the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind speed scale? Breaking down how we classify hurricanes.

Evictions: Hurricane Ida resulted in illegal evictions across Louisiana. This bill aims to stop them.

For group sites, Pulaski said, there are a lot more approvals the parish, contractors and FEMA have to get through.

“When they said four to six months, I thought it was inclusive of those group sites. When you factor those in, you're talking about a year or more. ... Hearing just anecdotally from our counterparts in Calcasieu Parish in the Lake Charles area, they have residents that are just now getting into FEMA units. And Hurricane Laura was in August of 2020. So that's 18 months,” Pulaski said. “They seem to be on track for the private sites, but that's the low-hanging fruit.”

Pulaski said there is a lot of concern that residents affected by Hurricane Ida still don’t have housing almost nine months after the storm. He attributes the slowness to the steps in the process, which can take a while to get through because of bureaucracy and the sluggish pace of administrative action.

Charging rent for a FEMA trailer

But this relief isn’t permanent. Ida has left a crippling housing shortage in the area, where many residents who want to stay have been pushed out.

FEMA’s policy generally only allows residents to live in a FEMA trailer for 18 months, though that may be extended if the permanent housing situation remains dire.

If people can’t find homes, they could stay in their temporary trailers, but FEMA policy states that the agency can charge rent starting 18 months after the storm's emergency declaration was issued.

The rent has already started for some Louisiana residents impacted by hurricanes Laura and Delta in 2020. The rent is based on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s listing for fair market rates in the area.

FEMA said it will work with low-income survivors to reduce their rent whenever possible. Asked how, FEMA said residents have a right to appeal showing proof they are unable to pay the charged amount.

Pushed out of the community

In an attempt to alleviate delays from FEMA, Terrebonne Parish government set up tent base camps for Ida survivors to sleep, do laundry and receive meals three times a day. The program ran about five months, until residents were able to find more-permanent solutions.

In addition, the state started a pilot program offering campers to residents of areas hit hardest by Ida.

As of mid-May, Terrebonne had 2,213 state trailers delivered, with 2,042 of those occupied. Pulaski said the difference is a combination of trailers currently unoccupied or recently decommissioned because residents no longer need the temporary shelter.

The Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness did not give a set date for how long the program will run. The agency said it will “continue to evaluate … temporary sheltering needs'' and is still working on an extension with FEMA.

But the state program has also been plagued by delays, and local officials have decried the overlap between it and the FEMA program.

Pulaski said there needs to be a focus on longer-term housing solutions because residents feel they are being pushed out.

“If they're talking July, August, September, October before some of these other group sites are completed and ready for leasing, what are those people doing between now and then?" he said. "Chances are, they're going to have found a house or they're going to have moved away from the parish, and we hate to see that.”

— Kezia Setyawan is a staff writer for the Coastal Desk at WWNO-New Orleans Public Radio.

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Hundreds in Houma area still await FEMA housing 8 months after Ida