EVACUEES' TIME RUNNING OUT FEMA DEADLINE COULD BURDEN LOCAL SERVICES.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

As Los Angeles County officials intensify efforts to address problems of homelessness in the region, experts worry that hundreds of Gulf Coast hurricane evacuees in the area soon could be adding to overburdened services and shelters.

Earlier this week, FEMA warned 150,000 hurricane victims living in hotels and motels nationwide that it would stop paying for their rooms on Jan. 7.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials did not have figures for the number of evacuees in the county, but estimate 1,400 families statewide are receiving hotel vouchers.

Officials at 211 LA County - the phone line evacuees were encouraged to call to get services - estimate 4,500 people in the county may be affected.

``What is going to happen to these unfortunate folks is a result of quick-fix solutions and the political ploys of extending already strained resources to help the people who were displaced by the hurricane,'' said Leslie Croom, a community organizer for the United Coalition East Prevention Project.

``There are 90,000 homeless people in the county. We have the largest homeless population in the United States, and it's going to be very frightening to see what will happen to these folks.''

In September, the Board of Supervisors voted to spend $10 million of a $138 million surplus to help the 4,500 Hurricane Katrina evacuees who had informally relocated to the region since the disaster.

FEMA, which originally planned to end the voucher program on Dec. 1, is requiring 10 states with more than 90 percent of the 150,000 people living in hotels - including California - to outline plans by Jan. 7 for completing the placement of evacuee households into qualified temporary housing.

``I think it's unconscionable that FEMA is going to yank vouchers out from underneath individuals and families when they have nowhere else to go,'' said Bob Erlenbusch, executive director of the Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger & Homelessness. ``They obviously need the housing vouchers or they wouldn't be in hotels now.

``A couple of weeks' reprieve is a nice gesture during the holidays, but it's sure an awful way to start the new year.''

Tony Bell, spokesman for Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, said although the hotel voucher program ends Jan. 7, FEMA will provide rental assistance for evacuees who apply.

``FEMA remains responsible for addressing the housing needs of Katrina evacuees, both in terms of providing funding for housing and helping evacuees locate housing,'' said Phil Ansell, director of programs and policy for the Department of Public Social Services.

About 3,600 Katrina evacuees have applied for cash assistance, food stamps and health insurance through the county's welfare department and 2,200 people have been approved for aid.

None of the four other county supervisors or their staff members returned calls Wednesday on what efforts might be undertaken with the deadline looming for evacuees' end of hotel vouchers.

But Marie Quon-Hom, assistant director of the county's Community Development Commission and Housing Authority, said she is very concerned.

She said there is little her agency can do to provide Section 8 rental assistance and public housing for additional evacuees.

Currently, the agency is helping two families displaced by the hurricane obtain public housing, and another family obtain Section 8.

About 130,000 people are on waiting lists for Section 8 rental assistance, Quon-Hom said, adding that a somewhat smaller unknown number are waiting for public housing.

``We are concerned, but if there is no funding for us to help, there isn't much we can do beyond Jan. 7,'' Quon-Hom said.

So far, FEMA has spent $4.4 billion helping the 1.4 million families affected by the hurricanes.

Nick Samaniego, spokesman for the American Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles, said the agency has helped 1,800 families displaced by the hurricanes and is now serving 250 families.

``So three months out now, we are kind of out of the picture now,'' Samaniego said. ``We have stepped back into our regular role, which is disaster relief.

``It's taken much longer for these folks to transition to local, state and federal aid that should have been available to them, usually much quicker.''

Troy Anderson, [phone]

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com