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Uncertainty's Second Wave
Stella Oselem, 78, arrives at her new hotel room in Rockville, emergency housing made possible by the American Red Cross.
(Photos By Kevin Clark -- The Washington Post)
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Terry B. Thomas, the D.C. Human Services official who is the on-site manager of the walk-in center, said the caseworkers face challenges in matching evacuees' preferences with what's available, either in public housing or in units offered by private landlords. In addition, he said, some landlords indicate the kinds of tenants they will accept, expressing a preference for families, for example.
David Harold, 51, was one of the last people to leave the armory, taking his two duffel bags and three suitcases of donated clothes and shoes. In his first-floor room at the Travelodge, he sat in bed one morning last week and watched Sidney Poitier fight off the bad guys in "In the Heat of the Night." He was unsure about how to plan his day. He was unsure about a lot of things.
Harold said he had been assigned a social worker, pointing to the name "Daniel McKae" written in a spiral notebook, but he said he had lost the worker's phone number.
His sister, Margie Jackson, 47, called from Metairie, La. He told her he needed some money to buy food. She said she would try to send something by Western Union.
Jackson said in a telephone interview that if he were to get some assistance with a ticket or bus ride home, he could stay with her. But a few days later, she said she hadn't been able to reach him again for several days.
"Right now, I'm really worried. They have him way up there, and he don't know anybody," Jackson said. "I don't know what to think, how to think."
The armory housed 250 evacuees when its shelter opened Sept. 6. About 20 people a day are now visiting the walk-in center at D.C. General, including some evacuees who did not stay at the armory, Thomas said.
Thomas said many former armory residents are coming in to apply for services that were available weeks earlier -- disaster assistance funds from FEMA, help with housing or public benefits like food stamps or Medicaid.
Some social workers had difficulty reaching clients for weeks at the armory because the residents were so busy with other activities, Thomas said. Other caseworkers didn't have business cards, making it harder for evacuees to remember whom they spoke with. And with the trauma of the hurricane, Thomas said, some people were just not ready to absorb information and make life-changing decisions.
Malve Abuhatab, Oselem's social worker, has 22 other evacuees in her caseload, as well as 20 other cases from the city's Strong Families Program.
After moving out of homes twice, Oselem seemed less certain about staying in the Washington area, her caseworker said. Abuhatab planned to visit Oselem at the hotel today to explain that it still is not safe to return to her New Orleans neighborhood. Together they would pursue other options.
