Judge demands answers on Katrina housing program

WASHINGTON (AP) _ A federal judge called the Bush administration's handling of a Hurricane Katrina housing program "a legal disaster" Wednesday and ordered officials to explain a computer system that

Wednesday, December 13th 2006, 1:12 pm

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ A federal judge called the Bush administration's handling of a Hurricane Katrina housing program "a legal disaster" Wednesday and ordered officials to explain a computer system that can neither precisely count evacuees nor provide reasons why they were denied aid.

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon, who ruled last month that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had violated evacuees' constitutional rights by eliminating their housing payments without notice, admonished the government for not moving fast enough to restart the program for between 3,600 and 5,500 storm victims.

"Let me make this clear," Leon told government attorney Michael Sitcov. "Tell FEMA that I'm expecting them to get going on this. Like immediately."

Leon ruled that FEMA mishandled the transition from a short-term housing program to a longer-term program this spring and summer. Instead of explaining why funding was being cut, FEMA provided only computer-generated and sometimes conflicting program codes, Leon said.

The judge ordered FEMA to explain those decisions so thousands of evacuees can understand the reasoning and decide whether to appeal.

"I'm not looking for a doctoral dissertation," Leon said. "I'm looking for a couple of paragraphs in plain English."

Sitcov said that FEMA's computer system cannot do what the judge wants. The eight-year-old system is set up only to produce program codes, he said. The program also cannot say for certain how many evacuees in Texas were covered by Leon's order or how many people appealed the denial of their aid, Sitcov said.

"It's not as adept at doing these kinds of machinations," Sitcov said.

Leon appeared bewildered and ordered FEMA officials to testify Monday about the program. He said he didn't understand why the letters couldn't be written by hand. He said 10 employees, working overtime and on weekends could translate program codes into 5,000 understandable letters in two weeks _ nearly the amount of time that has passed since his ruling."

"This is a legal disaster. People's rights are being denied," Leon said. "I don't want us to get so mired in the minutiae and the law while, in the meantime, people who need help are not getting help."

FEMA has appealed Leon's order and is hoping a higher court will block its enforcement until the appeal plays out. That ruling is unlikely before next week, and Leon said he wants the agency to start working on the problem immediately.

"Two weeks have been lost and I don't want another day to be lost," Leon said. "We've got to get moving."