Wednesday, June 21, 2006

"A Very Late Checkout"

"This winter, FEMA put up over 300 Hurricane Katrina evacuees in New York City hotels. Almost all of them have gone back to their lives, their jobs. But not Theon Johnson. He's currently sprawled out watching Halloween 5 on one of the two full-size beds in his room at the JFK Airport Holiday Inn. He is one of four evacuees still living in a hotel in the city.

The others left in February and March, when, after spending more than $500 million, FEMA stopped paying for hotel rooms housing some 40,000 evacuees across the country. That left many scrambling for places to live. But thanks to the city's squatters-rights law, evacuees here were safe. Their rooms weren't paid for, but since they'd been in them for more than 30 days, the hotels couldn't just kick them out. Only a judge's order could evict them."


Full Article: New York Metro

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