Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
1401 New York Avenue, NW
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20005

For Immediate Release
Contacts:
Kim Alton
(202) 662-8600
May 29, 2007

Lawyers' Committee Works to Stop Unjust Evictions of FEMA Trailer Residents Along the Gulf Coast

In response to the efforts of the Pascagoula, Mississippi City Council to use zoning laws to evict residents from their FEMA trailers, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the Mississippi Center for Justice have filed suit to preserve this housing for hundreds of FEMA trailer residents. On Friday, May 25, 2007, the Mississippi Center for Justice filed a bill of exceptions in the Circuit Court of Jackson County on behalf of nine residents in three trailer parks, challenging the City Council's zoning decision to terminate residents' rights to live in their trailer parks.

On May 15, 2007, the City Council denied special use permits to three trailer parks currently housing over 500 residents. These parks are now “in violation” of local zoning laws, and may be forced to close within a matter of weeks. FEMA, which says it must obey local ordinances, does not have a plan to move residents elsewhere and will have to close down the trailer parks.

Residents have nowhere else to go. Some residents were homeowners before the storm and are still rebuilding. Others were renters before the storm, but rental prices in the area have skyrocketed since Katrina. There is a complete lack of affordable housing throughout the region.

Tillar Barnes and his family have lived in a FEMA trailer park since February 2006. Mr. Barnes and his wife are raising three young children in their trailer. He works for the City of Pascagoula, which is essentially acting to displace its own employee from affordable housing. Mr. Barnes and his family owned a home before the storm, but have not yet been able to rebuild.

These anti-trailer ordinances are spreading across the coast. Housing advocates and FEMA fear a “domino effect” of city action that displaces tens of thousands of families:

• In Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, the local government passed an ordinance setting a March 31, 2007 deadline for removing FEMA trailers from the Parish. The law takes aim not at trailer parks, but the thousands of trailers located on private property with permission of the landowner. Approximately 3,000 persons have requested extensions.

• St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana is attempting to close 600 trailers in parks, some of which are slated for eviction by July 15. This is especially ill-timed because just last month, Parish officials bemoaned the lack of FEMA trailers and noted they still had a waiting list with over 100 families looking for FEMA trailers.

• St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana officials have targeted trailers with an ordinance like Jefferson Parish's, affecting hundreds of trailer residents.