Katrina Cottages Not Heading For Katrina Victims

Buyers from other parts of the country are threatening to snap up the supply of homes before they can get to storm victims.

1 minute read

December 11, 2006, 12:00 PM PST

By Christian Madera @http://www.twitter.com/cpmadera


"Bureaucratic delays and a spat between Mississippi and Louisiana have stalled release of federal money the two states need to move Hurricane Katrina victims into the cottages and other permanent homes.

Meanwhile, people outside the Gulf Coast have expressed interest in using the cottages for everything from vacation homes to ski lodges to military housing, according to Ray Taylor, whose California-based company, Housing International, makes the homes.

That means families living hundreds of miles from the Gulf Coast and New Orleans may move into the storm-proof cottages months before most Katrina victims do.

Just outside Washington in Montgomery County, Md., a steel-framed Katrina cottage built to withstand 140 mile-per-hour winds is on display in a parking lot. It's about to be the new home of Phyllis Johnson, 59, whose dilapidated house nearby will be torn down and replaced by the cottage."

Sunday, December 3, 2006 in The Clarion-Ledger

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