FEMA spends nearly $3B to house hurricane victims

0 Comments | USA TODAY, August, 2008 | by Rick Jervis and Brad Heath

NEW ORLEANS -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency has paid nearly $3 billion in hotel bills and rental assistance for the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita -- by far the costliest emergency housing effort in the nation's history, according to government statistics.

On the cusp of the storms' three-year anniversaries, more than 14,000 families remain in FEMA-funded apartments across the Gulf Coast and as far away as Alaska. The spending continues today because three years of labor and planning across the Gulf Coast has not replaced enough of the homes and apartments the storms destroyed.

The price tag far outdistances housing costs after any other U.S. disaster, FEMA statistics show. The agency spent less than $250 million on housing for the previous...