Gulf Coast Emergency Housing Benefits Extended

The Obama administration will temporarily extend emergency housing programs for survivors of the 2005 Gulf coast hurricanes that were set to expire at the end of this month.

The Department of Homeland Security will allow states to request a 60-day-extension -- until May 1 -- of a Federal Emergency Management Agency program that is providing trailers, mobile homes and hotel rooms in four states to about 6,800 households displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

"We understand the importance of helping states smoothly transition families into a better long-term living environment," Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a written statement, saying the added time will help states coordinate the movement of families into other housing or government assistance programs.

The Housing and Urban Development Department will also continue for an unspecified period assistance to 31,000 families now receiving disaster rental aid vouchers, in part by allowing more of the families to switch to programs such as HUD's traditional Section 8 housing assistance.

"We want to help families transition out of the DHAP program in a way that does not harm them during these difficult economic times," HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said, adding that he hoped "to have a plan in place in the coming days.

FEMA housing aid traditionally ends 18 months after a disaster, but the scale of damage to housing stock on the Gulf coast from Katrina and Rita led to several extensions. The Bush administration set up HUD's Disaster Housing Assistance Program for hurricane survivors in 2007 to last for another 18 months, expiring Feb. 28.

A HUD spokeswoman said that Secretary Shaun Donovan believed the added time will allow more families whose DHAP assistance is ending to apply for Section 8 aid, and give the agency more time to process their applications.

Congress provided $85 million last year to pay for about 11,000 DHAP households to make the transition, which the Bush administration limited to elderly, disabled or extremely low-income families.

Donovan wants to expand eligibility for DHAP families earning up to the same income limits that apply for other Section 8 applicants, a change that he said would qualify half of the 31,000 households. In New Orleans, a DHAP family earning up to $17,950 a year can qualify for Section 8 aid. The change would lift the income limit to $29,900, or 50 percent of the region's median income.