FEMA grants leave some behind

Bob Sullivan Technology correspondent • Profile • E-mail

Ariane Muse was 8 months pregnant when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, where she had been renting a tiny basement apartment. The 20-year-old single-mom-to-be had been doing everything she could to save money. She even shared the phone line with her landlord, an old family friend. 

Katrina chased Muse from New Orleans, all the way to  Hampton, Ga., where she found a temporary bed with another family friend. There was no time to register for federal government emergency aid; Mother Nature had other plans for her. 

Within a few days, bad news turned good, and she gave birth to a baby boy named Lilpon. Her next step: a call to Federal Emergency Management Agency to apply for the $2,000 that was being given to New Orleans evacuees. And that's when one more bout of bad news came. FEMA turned her down.

“I thought it was unbelievable," she said. "How could they do something like that?”

Here's how: By the time Muse applied for a FEMA grant, her landlord had already received FEMA funds.  Muse was caught in a database trap. As part of its fraud screening procedures, the FEMA system wouldn’t allow two applications with the same phone number. 

For the past three weeks, her application has been "on hold," she says. She checks FEMA’s Web site every day looking for good news, and hoping that FEMA will change its mind. But she’s losing hope.

"It's been so long, and now we are hearing that FEMA is not giving any more money," she said.

That's not true; FEMA is still making millions of dollars in grants each day.  But rumors have dogged FEMA's hurricane assistance program from the start, as victims speculate wildly on what criteria the agency is using to dole out funds.  The speculation is fueled in part by stories of people like Muse, who have fallen through the cracks of the recovery effort.

FEMA's massive no-strings-attached $2,000 grant program -- called expedited assistance -- is in the cross-hairs.

Flood of complaints
A month after hurricane Katrina hit, FEMA cut off its “expedited assistance” program, saying it had done its job. Hundreds of people who have sent emails to MSNBC.com disagree. The emails, complaining about the FEMA program, were sent in response to a news story about "expedited assistance" published on this web site last week. About half of the emails were from people who said they had been unfairly denied FEMA aid. 

FEMA officials concede the enormous grant process – which so far has given about $2 billion to 1 million victims – has been hit with glitches.  But the agency is slowly working through the problems and pledges to help as many victims as possible.

FREE VIDEO Frustrated by FEMA Oct. 12: A month after hurricane Katrina hit, FEMA cut off its “expedited assistance” program, saying it had done its job. Hundreds of people who have sent emails to MSNBC.com disagree. MSNBC.com's Bob Sullivan reports. MSNBC

“The sheer magnitude of this event requires a little bit of patience,” said Nicole Andrews, a FEMA spokeswoman. 

Expedited assistance was designed to be a no-strings-attached $2,000 payment to all hurricane victims to help them deal with immediate evacuation and aftermath expenses.  But hundreds of hurricane victims said they were denied aid for arbitrary reasons.  One typical maddening scenario: Computer glitches on FEMA’s Web site caused many victims to apply multiple times, which in turn caused their applications to be tagged for suspected fraud.

Because displacement was one criteria used to determine eligibility, quirks hit others who happened to apply for aid while still in their hometown. In one case, a resident who initially contacted FEMA during an inspection of his destroyed home was denied benefits -- the operator ruled that since he was at his home, he didn't need aid.  Others who stayed behind to work in emergency services and camped near their damaged homes were given the same explanation.

But most snafus often had the flavor of an unforgiving database.

"Due to computer problems with the online application, we inadvertently had duplicate applications," wrote Sean Nolan of New Orleans.  "Because of this we have received nothing and even though we have repeatedly spoken to the FEMA helpline, there is no answer as to when it will get resolved."

Criteria was unclear
“I’m sure that’s completely frustrating,” Andrews said.  FEMAs systems did kick out applications that had redundant information, such as similar addresses, to prevent fraud. But she said people in Muse’s case are entitled to expedited assistance grants – and they should appeal.

Complaining of jammed phone lines and other hurdles, many of those who emailed MSNBC.com wrote that the appeals process seemed futile, while others were not aware that they could appeal.

Harried phone operators may have been part of the problem, said Andrews. FEMA now has 12,000 operators answering the phones – many are on loan from the Internal Revenue Service, she said.

“Maybe you have a FEMA operator who is well versed in FEMA programs, maybe you don’t,” she said.

Katrina victims say they were denied assistance because they had homeowners’ insurance, for example – which wasn’t the criteria for expedited assistance,  Andrews said.  FEMA issued a press release Oct. 8 in an attempt to reign in some of the rumors and misinformation.

Andrews said qualification terms were simple. Those who were in mandatory evacuation areas and couldn't return to their homes after the storms were entitled to $2,000 instant grants.  But there are gray areas.  Eligibility is unclear for residents in some parts of Southeast Texas who didn’t evacuate initially, but left later when it became clear that power would not be restored for weeks.

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