Victims of Katrina

Houston, Texas has been over run by Katrina victims. After being down in that area, and listening to the local news, I can tell you first hand, that some of these "victims" are not contributing to society. In an opinion piece titled Self-help in the Houston Chronicle, it suggests anything but.

FEMA should extend housing assistance for Katrina evacuees. It's their best chance for self-sufficiency.

The understanding I have gotten after speaking to people who live in that area, these people have worn out there welcome. Most are not getting jobs, even though there are jobs to be hand, even with a little training.

About 100,000 hurricane survivors in Houston use FEMA vouchers to pay rent. At the end of this month, about 4,000 families, deemed ineligible by FEMA, will lose their vouchers. The rest will lose theirs within three months as FEMA's one-year commitment to evacuees draws to a close.

It's been almost a year. Many area hit just as hard by Katrina, and then Rita have been working to pull themselves back together. It's been hard on them too, so why is even more so for those from the New Orleans area?

Even those most sympathetic to the evacuees rightly worry that extending services too long may create chronic dependents. That would be draining for taxpayers and life-poisoning for the evacuees themselves.

I hate to say it, but many of those wanting extensions were already "dependent" BEFORE the hurricane, and moving to a different location isn't going to change that.

Clearly, all able-bodied evacuees need to get jobs as quickly as possible. Experience with refugees offers the blueprint for how to make this happen. The two ingredients will be giving help navigating their new lives — and readying them for self-sufficiency.

I've seen the results of those "able bodied" people. The crime has risen at an alarming rate, the murder rate is much higher than it was just one year ago. Many of the gangs that were in New Orleans are now in Houston, rivaling for territories held by the local gangs.

"We need to keep the evacuees in apartments for 18 months," says homeless expert Love. "With that needs to go an intense effort to get them linked up with services, including employment and health care, so they can take care of themselves."

My heart goes out to those families who lost everything, and they did need a time of healing. A few will take longer than others. For those who are making excuses to continue to live off the money that FEMA has so generously provided from the taxpayers, enough is enough!