Cities try to shut FEMA trailer parks

0 Comments | USA TODAY, September, 2007 | by Brad Heath

Communities along the Gulf Coast are moving to banish the government-issued trailers that house tens of thousands of people whose homes were destroyed by the devastating hurricanes in 2005.

Those cities and parishes are shutting down impromptu trailer parks set up after the disaster, telling homeowners they either must show progress rebuilding or get rid of the emblematic white travel trailers dotted across front yards from Alabama to Texas. About 65,000 Gulf Coast families live in the trailers, which were issued as temporary housing by the Federal Emergency Management Administration.

"It's an act of tough love," says Pascagoula, Miss., Mayor Matthew Avara. "We don't want to put any unneeded hardship on any of our people, but at the same time, we've got to...