BREAKING: Evictions begin for hurricane victims

FEMA had planned to stop paying for hotel bills for 12,000 victims of Hurricane Katrina today, and a last-ditch attempt by attorneys to get (another) stay has failed, the AP reports:

A judge turned aside a last-minute attempt today to force the federal government to continue paying directly for hotel rooms of 12,000 families made homeless by last year's hurricanes [...]

Attorneys for the evacuees tried unsuccessfully to get U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval to issue a temporary restraining order aimed at forcing FEMA to continue the direct hotel payments. The lawyers argued the forthcoming money from FEMA will not be enough for reasonable living accommodations or for continued hotel stays.

The decision would result in 8,000 to 10,000 families being put out of hotels across the United States on Monday, said Tracie Washington, an attorney representing evacuees. Many of those families began packing their bags and checking out of hotels as early as late Monday morning.

"These folks are out on the streets today because the federal government, President Bush and everyone else made the decision that it's time for these families to go," said Bill Quigley, another lawyer for the evacuees.

Quigley said most of the people have yet to receive trailers and checks for temporary aid. "These people are going to be homeless. We've heard from a lot of people who are going to be sleeping in their cars," Quigley said.

Quigley (an advisor to our Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch project) has a good point about the trailers. While thousands are on the waiting list, news surfaced last week that 10,770 trailers are sitting unused in Hope, Arkansas because officials got the wrong size.