Many Texans calling tents home 2 months after Ike - Nation |

Many Texans calling tents home 2 months after Ike - Nation |:

"...to no one's surprise, local officials and residents say FEMA has been slow to respond with the mobile homes it promised to provide. The federal agency promised officials last week that it has worked hard to cut the red tape and that housing remains its No. 1 priority.

In Bridge City, a blue-collar community of petrochemical workers, Ike damaged nearly 90 percent of the 3,400 homes.

The Ashbys, both 70, had hoped they could stay nearby in a hotel or rent an apartment or home while they repaired their house. But the closest vacancies of any kind were in Houston, 100 miles away.

'There just wasn't anything,' Ferrel Ashby said. The couple ended up sleeping on their son's couch at first and then in a tiny travel trailer he used for fishing trips."