Slow recovery

It's hard to believe that four years after Hurricane Katrina struck, some people are still living in FEMA trailers.

But it's true. Nearly 3,000 mobile homes and trailers across the Gulf Coast still house victims of the disaster.

In Louisiana, some 2,100 families are living in trailers, USA Today reports. Most are homeowners attempting to rebuild their homes, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Mississippi counts 781 families in the same situation.

Still, that is progress: 134,000 temporary dwellings dotted the landscape after the August 2005 disaster.

FEMA and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development want people to vacate the temporary trailers, many of which have been deemed unsafe due to the presence of formaldehyde and other toxins.

The agencies are gathering $50 million in housing vouchers to ease the transition.

Why are people taking so long to move?

Many are elderly and disabled. Federal housing funds have been slow in coming.

Thousands of rental units were destroyed by the storm. Insurance rates have escalated, complicating matters. Homeowners have lost some funds to unscrupulous builders. Some federal housing funds to build rental units have been diverted to other projects.

Yet as one legal adviser to disaster victims said, "We're dealing with the hard-to-house people."

It is good and a sign of compassion that the federal and state governments have not forced people from their shelters.

Some Gulf Coast residents have yet to fully recover from that storm.