Miss. state-supplied cottages condemned after Gustav

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Miss. state-supplied cottages condemned after Gustav

USA Today*

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-09-25-miss-gustav-

cottages_N.htm?csp=34

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) — In Donnell Landtroop's state-supplied

cottage, mold grows on the walls and dried mud coats the floor, the

foul remnants of Gustav, the second hurricane in three years to

leave her family homeless.

The Labor Day storm ruined dozens of cottages like hers in southern

Mississippi that were supposed to be a safer, sturdier alternative

to government-issued trailers for families displaced by Hurricane

Katrina in 2005.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency has condemned more than

230 of the cottages, leaving Landtroop and other coastal Mississippi

residents scrambling to find shelter in a storm-scarred region where

affordable housing is scarce.

" It's just been one big mess after the next, " said Landtroop, whose

home in Bay St. Louis was demolished by Katrina's storm surge three

years ago.

Landtroop lived on her property in a FEMA trailer before the state

replaced it with a cottage in November 2007. Gustav's storm surge,

which approached 10 feet in the area, left at least a foot of water

behind. Two days later, Landtroop returned and found a notice on the

front door that her cottage is uninhabitable.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Hurricane Katrina | Gulf Coast | Red Cross |

Federal Emergency Management Agency | Labor Day | Biloxi | |

Gustav | Bay St. Louis | Hancock County

Landtroop, a 35-year-old dog groomer and single mother of three, has

moved her family six times since Gustav forced them to evacuate.

They stayed in a Red Cross shelter until it closed last week. Now

they're living with relatives.

Roughly 2,800 families whose homes were ruined by Katrina in 2005

have been living in the state-built cottages. They were billed as a

safer replacement for trailers issued by the Federal Emergency

Management Agency, which were believed to be exposing occupants to

dangerous levels of formaldehyde, which can cause breathing problems

and is classified as a carcinogen.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency is exploring housing

alternatives for people whose cottages were ruined by Gustav, but

help for many residents can't come soon enough.

" They're still living in these damaged cottages, with nowhere else

to go, " said Rhonda , director of a housing resource center in

Hancock County, where most of the condemned cottages are located.

is trying to help Landtroop and more than a dozen other

cottage dwellers find temporary shelter, but the housing center has

only a small pot of grant money to divvy up.

" It's not a lot of money, so it's not going to go very far, " she

cautioned.

On the front doors of condemned cottages, the city posted

encouraging notes for storm-weary residents.

" You did it before and you can do it again this time, " Mayor Eddie

Favre wrote. " The residents of Bay St. Louis are resilient people

and your city government does care about you. "

After Katrina, Mississippi used a $281 million federal grant to

build hundreds of cottages with up to three bedrooms and 840 square

feet of space. Louisiana, meanwhile, hasn't built a single cottage

yet with its share of the federal funding.

Mississippi's cottages, with blueprints inspired by Gulf Coast

architecture, come with front porches and kitchen appliances and are

designed to withstand winds of up to 150 mph.

The cottages are meant to be temporary, but Mississippi says they

can be converted into permanent dwellings. The state obtained a

federal waiver that allowed them to be temporarily set up in flood

zones so residents could live on their own properties.

" We knew that if there was a storm surge, they would flood, " said

Lea Crager-Stokes, the agency's deputy director. She said it was the

agency's legal responsibility to condemn cottages that insurance

adjusters deemed uninhabitable after Gustav.

" There is a huge mold risk, and we don't want them to live there, "

she said.

Crager-Stokes said the state will foot the bill for some displaced

families to stay in hotels or apartments until they can find more

stable homes. The state also plans to offer residents new cottages,

but only if they're willing to relocate to a commercial mobile home

park or a plot of land where the cottage could qualify as permanent

housing.

, 48, of Bay St. Louis, said that option isn't

practical for her 72-year-old mother, Lolita Morales, whose cottage

took on two feet of water from Gustav. Morales has been staying with

and another daughter in Biloxi.

" I would rather her be with us or my sister so we can keep an eye on

her, " said , whose home next to the cottage also flooded. " Why

put something else here? If we get another hurricane, it's just

going to flood again. "

Landtroop said her family's Gustav evacuation cost her the money she

planned to use for a deposit on an apartment. While she was grateful

to get a cottage free of charge, she is desperate for a helping hand

to get through the next few weeks.

" After Katrina, everywhere you turned there was help, " she

said. " Now there is no help. "