Eviction looms: Louisiana aids Hurricane Ida survivors, but housing still hard to secure

Colin Campo, Houma Courier-Thibodaux Daily Comet
·4 min read

Survivors of Hurricane Ida living in state-provided shelters will be evicted Tuesday. They say the system has tried to help, but the program doesn't work.

Tiara Johnson and her family have navigated multiple caseworkers throughout the disaster relief programs, but she said they have found dead ends at every turn. She and her uncle each rented before the storm and are in one system, and their grandmother Mabel Johnson owned a home in Bobtown and is in another. On the weekend before they must exit their Ida Shelters campers on April 30, they still had no no place to go.

"They did give us help to move out of here, you know," Dontrel Johnson said. "I don't want to sit here and be wrong to slander them and say, 'They didn't give us no help, they just puttin' us out.' They gave us help, but they have no places for us to go."

Dontrel Johnson sits outside he grandmother's home in Bobtown. His family are staying in state-provided campers on the property of the home which the federal government is demolishing and rebuilding. The camper program ends tomorrow, and they have nowhere to live.
Dontrel Johnson sits outside he grandmother's home in Bobtown. His family are staying in state-provided campers on the property of the home which the federal government is demolishing and rebuilding. The camper program ends tomorrow, and they have nowhere to live.

The state-run Ida Shelters program is separate from the federal government's FEMA trailer program. The state provided campers to survivors who lost their homes due to Hurricane Ida in 2021.

The program began with FEMA reimbursing the state's costs, but that ended January 2023. The state absorbed the $2 million a month costs since then, but officials say they can no longer foot the bill. Throughout that time, case managers would confirm residents were taking measures to find more permanent housing and offer options to aid them.

Director of the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Jacques Thibodeaux said he proposed three solutions for the end of the program. One was for the parishes to pick up the costs and continue the program, another was to sell the campers to the survivors at a discounted price and the third was housing vouchers.

Lafourche and Terrebonne both said they cannot afford to float the program.

Tiara Johnson and her uncle, Dontrel Johnson, have emails showing each step of the process, and the many case workers they have gone through. Both provided physical documents showing acceptance for a voucher of $1,000. Dontrel received a voucher in March from the Louisiana Housing Corporation, through the Louisiana Rapid Rehousing Program to cover up to $1,000 in costs. It requires him to provide a lease to receive the payment.

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He said he checked with one landlord with a rental home, but landlords require the money in hand before they will give him a lease. He's currently in talks with another landlord to try again.

"They want the paperwork so they can go and check out the house before they pay the people," he said. "They want everything, the copy of the lease and everything… before they pay the money."

Mabel Johnson, her granddaughter Tiara Johnson and child sit outside her state-provided Ida Shelter camper. The campers were provided to Hurricane Ida survivors in 2021. The program ends April 30, 2024, and the family has nowhere to go.
Mabel Johnson, her granddaughter Tiara Johnson and child sit outside her state-provided Ida Shelter camper. The campers were provided to Hurricane Ida survivors in 2021. The program ends April 30, 2024, and the family has nowhere to go.

Their grandmother, Mabel Johnson, recently was approved for funding by Restore Louisiana to demolish her home and build a new one. In the meantime, Restore Louisiana has approved to pay for her to rent. She was supposed to get a phone call about it last week, but didn't. She said she'd be calling all day Monday, to try and find out what her next step is.

Tiara and Dontrel each have three kids. They said they will leave their kids with Mabel at the rented home until they figure out their situation. In the meantime, both said they will just have to live in their cars until it's all sorted out. The majority of places they go with the assistance just aren't interested.

"We cannot find a place to stay at all, and when you talk to these people from the apartment complexes, I swear, the first thing that they say is, 'We don't take vouchers. We don't take assistance,'" Tiara said. "It is hard as hell, and there ain't nobody out here trying to help."

According to Houma City Court Civil Department Supervisor Connie Fitch, in an eviction process the landlord files an eviction with the City Court. The City Court covers evictions throughout the entirety of Terrebonne Parish. If the judge rules to evict the tenant, the Terrebonne Parish Marshal then carries out the eviction.

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Hurricane Ida survivors can't find a home as Ida Shelter program ends