It's Official. FEMA wants their Money BACK from Katrina Victims...in other words, SCR*W YOU!

Am I reading this right? They are demanding more than $20 million back? And it's not like it's all some mega-loans or something...

Luisa Mejia, 28, was living in an apartment in Metairie, a New Orleans suburb, when Katrina drove her family out of town. "We left with nothing but important papers and maybe two sets of clothes," she recalls. "We were in Atlanta with no money, living in a home with 40 people." All they got from FEMA was a check for $1,200, which they used to buy clothes and food. Six years later, Mejia can't understand why FEMA would ask residents to pay for its employees' mistakes."

What is going on here?

FEMA wants its MONEY BACK

ColoradoJens

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Wow wow wow... Dont have much to say unless I want to be banned

FEMA already has sent letters to thousands of victims of other disasters, asking them to return more than $22 million. Letters to victims of the 2005 hurricanes could go out in a matter of months, but it's too soon to tell how many people will be told to repay or how much money is at stake.

"People used this money to survive," said Davida Finger, a law professor at Loyola University in New Orleans who represented plaintiffs in the class-action case. "We don't want people to have to give money back that they simply needed for rent and food."

And a quote by a gentleman named Paul Wegener

"They'll have to pry it from my dead hands if they try," the 75-year-old said.

reply to post by ColoradoJens

As a new hurricane season begins Wednesday, FEMA is working to determine how much money it overpaid or mistakenly awarded to victims of the destructive 2005 hurricane season.

I believe the news caster is trying to put a spin on this to get attention.

But from what I heard many victims looted FEMA for thousands claiming to be other people. They achieved this in the chaos that occurred after the storm. Some went in 10-20 times and received 10-20 checks, all in different peoples name or something like that.
I am no fan of FEMA but I also am no fan of thieves that prey upon a system that was stressed. FEMA is there to help people even though they suck greatly at everything they do!

reply to post by ColoradoJens

It's pretty obvious to me why FEMA is doing this. They are conditioning the population there to *REFUSE* money from FEMA.

They know that these people are going to become so distrustful of FEMA now, that when FEMA sends out checks after the next disaster, many of those people will rip the checks up. And that is *exactly* what FEMA wants.

reply to post by ColoradoJens


Typical of FEMA...lets see its only 2011. Six years later and they are just now finding these "mistakes"?

Well if FEMA camps do exist, they certainly wont have to try hard to do away with us all as
thier ineptness will certainly take care of it.

And another thing, FEMA was just granted a fresh 1 Billion dollars to aid the tornado victims.
However they have said no to several states request for aid, and untold number of folks.

I think FEMA is just a bunch of RED TAPE!

Originally posted by AnteBellum
reply to post by ColoradoJens

 

I believe the news caster is trying to put a spin on this to get attention.

But from what I heard many victims looted FEMA for thousands claiming to be other people. They achieved this in the chaos that occurred after the storm. Some went in 10-20 times and received 10-20 checks, all in different peoples name or something like that.
I am no fan of FEMA but I also am no fan of thieves that prey upon a system that was stressed. FEMA is there to help people even though they suck greatly at everything they do!

I agree with your statement. According to the article, the rules have been changed to make it so FEMA can't get the money back (for accidents after Katrina). They acknowledge that their own system was to blame for much of the problems in distribution...however, I am the person who received $1200, lost my home and had to move...I used that money to get my family some burgers, clothes and the transport to grandmas...I really could care less if FEMA wasn't up to snuff in running its own organization. Why bother?

CJ

reply to post by AnteBellum


While I am sure there was fraud in some cases and some have gotten caught then went to jail. I am sure there are many who qualified and didn't get any money. Regardless. If they actually care about recouping money they should start with the billions that was carried in cash to Iraq through the Defense Dept. Once got there is simply disappeared. Anyone witha brain knows that money isn't that unaccounted for and suddenly disappears into thin air.

Just goes to show you cant rely on your government to fix things after a disaster, or even to help people survive. Its all about money. Wasn't FEMA the same organization that gave hurricane victims cheap mold and asbestos infested trailers to live in? And now they want people to repay them for their "aid". The only words to describe these people arent allowed on this site.

the morel of the story when in doubt do not take the hand out, better to starve than to be a salve. Now it is up to the people that took it the FEMA money to prove that they spent it on food and rent and not some TV set, car boat or fancy room at the Hilton.

appaling
to demand money back from disaster victims
is there no low that humanity wont stoop

The amount of fraud that went on during Katrina is absolutely staggering and I suspect this story is mostly about them going after fraudulent claims. Every year there are people who apply for aid just to try to grab a few extra dollars; interestingly enough in Chicago the last year applicant numbers dropped insanely after local news stations started running commercials informing the populace that submitting a fraudulent claim to FEMA was in fact a crime that would be pursued.

LinkHere is an interesting article that goes into other areas, not just Katrina.

Documents obtained by The Associated Press show that FEMA is seeking payments from more than 5,500 people who were affected by 129 separate disasters since 2005, including floods, tornados, hurricanes and other calamities from Arkansas to American Samoa. The agency is still reviewing records, and more repayment requests could go out soon, including to victims of Hurricane Katrina.
FEMA admits the payments were largely its own fault — the result of employees who misunderstood eligibility rules, approved duplicate assistance for costs that were already covered by insurance or other sources, or made accounting errors. But the agency is still obligated to try to recover the money.

“We are committed to being responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars,” spokeswoman Rachel Racusen said.

I am all about being prudent with tx-payer cash, but all this is going to do is drive people into further debt and cause even more hardship than if they never got the cash at all.

The robots in DC are due for an upgrade.....can't they see the trouble they are going to cause?

Hmmm... I wonder what will happen when I ask for my social security money at retirement age. What do you think will happen when I demand that? This is amounting to nothing more than a shake down! These disgusting bureaucrats are the filth that is destroying our society.

reply to post by CaptGizmo
you think you will get it???? get real by this time next year there will not be SSI, and then no SSD as well. it will be self funded. that mean you pay your way in and then collect like a 401k.

Originally posted by bekod
reply to post by CaptGizmo

 

you think you will get it???? get real by this time next year there will not be SSI, and then no SSD as well. it will be self funded. that mean you pay your way in and then collect like a 401k.

Yea I know...I guess you did not detect my sarcasm in my post. I was making a point
in what I said .

This makes me glad I didn;t get in line for FEMA help when I had the chance to. We got flooded out of our home but only sustained minor damages. I had to replace all the HVAC ductwork and insulation under the house as well as take apart the heat pump and clean the mud out of it.
Our neighbor got a nice check from FEMA that got them a new heat pump and contractors to fix everything under the house that I had to.
I was proud that I didn't have to accept help at the taxpayers expense and I didn't want to feel like I was indebted to the Federal government in any way.
Now I'm on SSDI but at least I paid in to that so I still have my self respect at least.

There's ALWAYS strings attached.
No such thing as "free money", at least not for us "little people".

Originally posted by Helig
The amount of fraud that went on during Katrina is absolutely staggering and I suspect this story is mostly about them going after fraudulent claims. Every year there are people who apply for aid just to try to grab a few extra dollars; interestingly enough in Chicago the last year applicant numbers dropped insanely after local news stations started running commercials informing the populace that submitting a fraudulent claim to FEMA was in fact a crime that would be pursued.

Staggering indeed. This article, dated as it is, shows in essence the same circumstances as today. For an organization that has such a large amount of money, why are they so bad at what they do? Is that a self evident question? Maybe...Also, from a sheer financial standpoint, their mistakes have led to this costing much more than they will recoup...

CJ

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
This makes me glad I didn;t get in line for FEMA help when I had the chance to. We got flooded out of our home but only sustained minor damages. I had to replace all the HVAC ductwork and insulation under the house as well as take apart the heat pump and clean the mud out of it.
Our neighbor got a nice check from FEMA that got them a new heat pump and contractors to fix everything under the house that I had to.
I was proud that I didn't have to accept help at the taxpayers expense and I didn't want to feel like I was indebted to the Federal government in any way.
Now I'm on SSDI but at least I paid in to that so I still have my self respect at least.

There's ALWAYS strings attached.
No such thing as "free money", at least not for us "little people".

I agree with you. I cannot make that same decision for someone else in desperate times, however, and I'm sure you can understand why some took what little was offered. That said, convictions are the essence of a person.

CJ

On one hand this may seem pretty cold, but I can tell you for a fact many many people took full advantage of FEMA and the "free money" that was being tossed around. Anyone who was in this area at that time can tell you the same thing. So even though it seems very heartless to demand money back from those who lost everything, those who lost everything were thinking and doing anything they could find ways to get more than they should have.

It is something that you see down in this area every hurricane season. A couple years back we had Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. I was living in a nice middle class home with 3 bedroom and 2 bathrooms which I was renting. The place itself was not in the greatest shape. There was always something going wrong and the place needed many repairs. At some point there was a pan that catches water from the AC unit that had gotten some holes in it. As a result the water dripped through the ceiling and in fact did plenty of damage through out the ceiling in many rooms of the house. When attempting to get that pan replaced, one of my roommates stepped in the wrong spot, tripped and almost fell through the ceiling. Instead of going through the ceiling, there was a big sag in the ceiling where he had landed.

Shortly after Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, my landlord came by with an Insurance adjuster and a rep from FEMA and blamed everything that was wrong with the place the Hurricanes. He received his nice fat check and in exchange for our silence and cooperation he knocked some money off our rent for a few months. The thin is.... almost everyone down here does it. It is just so commonplace that I get looked at like I have 3 heads for suggesting that we don't take advantage of the situation.

And they'll probably get it, too. *Sigh*

Charity is dead. Charity is seen as a drain on the state, and more to the point, a drain on other citizens' tax dollars. Tax dollars that are going to be taken regardless of whether they help other, needy citizens, of course, and used for defense and myriad other funding many people oppose and wish weren't funded by their tax dollars. But tax dollars all the same. And we can't have someone's tax dollars going to some other citizen who needs it more, after all. That just wouldn't be fair.

Peace.