By April Chan
Maryland Newsline
Friday, Oct. 7, 2005

WASHINGTON - The D.C. Armory, which provided temporary shelter for 295 New Orleans evacuees left homeless by Hurricane Katrina, closed its doors this week as the last of the temporary residents were placed in local motels, officials said.

“They have a door now and an honest-to-goodness bed,” said Cameron Ballantyne, spokesman for the National Capital Area’s Red Cross.

The Red Cross has been working with the D.C. Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to secure area housing for the evacuees, he said.

While the Red Cross’ role is predominantly one of immediate disaster relief, such as providing food and clothing, Ballantyne said that for the next 58 days, it will help relocated residents to find permanent housing, medical care and job placement.  “What we don’t do ourselves, we will be their liaison to an agency that can help,” he said.

Evacuees will not be left to fend for themselves, Ballantyne said. “Each family, depending on their need, is given a case worker,” he said. “Those folks have our contact information, so if they need further assistance, we will help them.”

And the 58-day limit for Red Cross aid is not a concrete deadline. “It may turn into a case-by-case basis,” Ballantyne said. “In the long run, they’ll be taken care of.”

Barbara Childs-Pair, director of the D.C. Emergency Management Agency, credits the Red Cross with making this transitional housing phase possible. After the first 58 days, HUD and FEMA will pick up the task of finding the motel residents interim housing for up to 12 months, she said. The federal government will pick up the tab.

“The overwhelming majority want to go home to New Orleans,” she said. “But there are a number of people who have found jobs here, too.”

Thirty-five evacuees who attended city-sponsored job fairs last week now have jobs, she said.

Childs-Pair said that to date, 100 housing units – excluding motels – have been secured for 75 individuals or families. Forty-three individuals or families are now living in five area motels.

She said the relief agencies have not limited their aid exclusively to the Armory residents, since there are more than 1,600 evacuees living in the D.C. metro area. Many came to Washington on their own.

While a number of well-meaning individuals had offered to house evacuees in their homes, Childs-Pair said she doesn’t know of any Armory residents who accepted the offers.

“They want their own privacy,” she said. “A lot of them have children. They made the decision that they didn’t want to live with other people.”

Ballantyne said every effort has been made to accommodate families with school-age children. “Our goal is to try and get them in a geographic area they’re familiar with that is close to work and schools. We don’t want to send the kids to school in Fairfax but have the family live in Maryland.”

Banner graphic by April Chan, incorporating photo from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Newsline Web content edited by Chris Harvey; Capital News Service stories edited by Adrianne Flynn and Tony Barbieri.  

Copyright © 2005 University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism