FEMA Tells Katrina Victims It Wants Its Money Back

December 29th, 2011 - By Brande Victorian

No one will ever forget how poorly the government handled Hurricane Katrina when it hit New Orleans in 2005, and now to add insult to injury, FEMA is asking victims to return money they received from the natural disaster.

More than 83,000 debt notices have been mailed out to victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma who FEMA says it paid improperly. The federal agency is attempting to recover more than $385 million, or roughly $4,600 per person. The amount represents slightly less than 5% of the roughly $8 billion that FEMA distributed after the storms, and according to congressional testimony, at least a portion of the overpayments were due to FEMA employees’ own mistakes such as clerical errors and failing to interview applicants.

Despite the fact that the improper payments weren’t the recipients fault, FEMA says it is required by law to make an effort to recover the money. Last week Congress approved legislation that would allow the agency to waive most of the debts and FEMA spokeswoman Rachel Racusen says they are reviewing the law’s provisions and developing a plan to implement them. As of now, it’s unclear how many recipients will benefit from the new law, and so far about 30% of the notice recipients have appealed their debt notices. Victims may also ask for a waiver due to economic hardship or set up a payment plan.

“It is important for any individual who has received a recoupment notice to know that these letters are the start of a conversation with FEMA, not the end,”Racusen says. But with so many people still coming to terms with the devastation of losing everything they owned, not to mention the people they loved, you would think FEMA would have forgiven the debts auotmatically.

What do you think about what FEMA did? Are they right to try to recover the funds they inappropriately distributed?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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  • Kieth_micheals

    U fuckin racist cracker

  • bjewhejwhbhfedhh

    It sucks but we all know there’s no such thing as free money, and those folks who got the help knew that.

    • Caribbean in the house

      except welfare, wicks check, food stamps & housings complexes so its the samething negros

      • Fhdjkfhhfsdlf

        u r soooooo ignorant……

        • Caribbean in the house

          & you negro’s not

          • Sappstress26

            I love when foreigner’s come to our country and talk crazy knowing they come from dirt roads and shack’s! Ha! Hate on Hate on! Jealousy against us beautiful Afro American’s make my day!  When you go back home to visit your grandmother who’s still living in a shack with no restroom because “YOUR” government care’s less about her, tell her of all the wonderous things us AFRO American’s are up to MMMKAY! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!! Watch out for that stray dog running up to her house and don’t drive off the cliff on your underdeveloped streets

            • Sierra

              Peace be unto you

  • Liddle

    This is an outrage!

    • Caribbean in the house

      good for you negros

      • Cocochixa622

        Your common sense equates to that of a flee!!! Do you really feel that disconnected to the afro American…sweetie u are no different….when a person see’s u they see black….and last time i checked the Caribbeans have been opressed and discriminated as much as the afro American…if you really feel like that take your fake superiority complex back to your shanty town.WHAFEDO!!!

        • Caribbean in the house

          as long as you negros go get hang, whipped & your afro-american female get rape by the clu clux clan & don’t forget to finish picking the cottons off the fields. i’m black but not a afro-american negro that silly name puzzy dr.martin luther king made up for you people. the white man treat us better when they come to my caribbean/westindies country once they step off the american soil & when they go back to their country [which don't belong to negros because they didn't conquer nothing but the cotton fields] thats when the white man treat you negros like sh!t. good for you.

  • Sue

    I’m not completely understanding this. They want recipients of FEMA to pay FEMA back because they were overpaid or because the recipients were supposed to return the funds in payment during a specific amount of time? Or is it both?

    If they were overpaid then that is not the recipients fault, that’s FEMA’s fault. Watch who you hire, call it a loss FEMA.

    If the people were supposed to pay the money back,  then I am hoping the recipients were notified of this when they were receiving the funds, right? If not, FEMA, once again, call it a loss.

  • Natasha T

    I’m so glad I don’t live in New Orleans and didn’t live there 6 years ago. As if they made Katrina come to their town or something. The Occupy Movement need to go protest at the FEMA headquarters! Plus FEMA didn’t do enough to help those victims in the first place, having them hanging on the rooftops for days and weeks waiting for somebody to save them while their loved ones drowned in the rising water, and now you want money back from them?! GTFOH with this BS, the people down there are still going through this isht!

    • Blink

      Dont rely on the Occupy Movement protestors, you do something…. 

      • Caribbean in the house

        yeah because the weak NAACP & the puzzy CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER can’t do anything about it anyway when the white man coming to get the afro-american negros

  • Stephanie

    If I work at a retail store and give a customer back too much change, I surely can’t call them up and ask for the extra money back!  The ONLY reason I could justify FEMA asking for money back is if the victims falsely documented how much they lost. But since this is FEMA’s error, I don’t think they have a right to ask for money back.

  • L-Boogie

    This is really sad.  I think how the government handled this situation really indicates the way in which they view minorities whether socioeconomic, racial, or both. 

    • Caribbean in the house

      only to afro-american negros

  • Caribbean in the house

    to bad afro-american negro, too too bad.

    • Natasha T

      there were other races there that suffered too dumbass!

      • Caribbean in the house

        yes & i feel sorry for them but not the afro-american negros, lets just say the water that wash them up its a reminder how back in the days the white man use to hose you negros down with the water hose.