National
FEMA spends $250K a month to store unused trailers



The Federal Emergency Management Agency is spending $250,000 a month to store about 10,000 unused mobile homes in an airfield in Arkansas, The New York Times reports.

The trailers cost about $34,500 each and were supposed to be used as temporary housing for hurricane victims. But they now sit idle despite a request by Sen. Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota) to use some of them to address overcrowded housing conditions in Indian Country.

The unused trailers are part of an estimated $2 billion in fraud and waste spent by FEMA in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Get the Story:
'Breathtaking' Waste and Fraud in Hurricane Aid (The New York Times 6/27)
pwnyt

Relevant Links:
Federal Emergency Management Agency - http://www.fema.gov

Related Stories:
Editorial: Send FEMA trailers to Indian Country (05/29)
FEMA rejects Sen. Johnson's request to help tribes (5/22)
Editorial: Send FEMA trailers to Indian Country (04/26)
Sen. Johnson wanta FEMA homes sent to tribes (4/25)