From the AP wire:
In an acknowledgment that the hurricane-shattered Gulf Coast is in a housing crisis and strained by a slow recovery, the Bush administration said Thursday that it intends to house storm survivors into 2009.[.]
Federal housing aid for evacuees from hurricanes Katrina and Rita had been scheduled to end Aug. 31. The extension to March 2009 will enable many struggling residents to afford the rising costs of rent and utilities; on the flip side, it may entice the displaced to delay returning to the bruised Gulf Coast.
From what I understand about the slow pace of recovery in that part of the country, this is probably a wise decision. There were complaints, for example, a few months after Katrina about folks still trying to rebuild from Ivan who were being forced out of their trailers, due to the expiration of the assistance window and the need for the trailers in the Katrina recovery area.
The decision also has the effect of postponing bureaucrats’ evicting folks until after the next election, a point I imagine a few folks in Washington don’t mind in the least.