FEMA Trailers Hit Auction Block

Tens of thousands of FEMA trailers once used as temporary housing for Hurricane Katrina victims are now sitting in lots waiting to be auctioned to the highest bidders. MPB’s Phoebe Judge reports on one town happy to see the trailers move on.

The FEMA travel trailers started pouring into Purvis, Mississippi right after Hurricane Katrina where they were placed on a seventy acre lot before being shipped out to hurricane victims in need of temporary housing. At one point more than 10,000 trailers were being stored within the town limits. Purvis Mayor Roger Herrin,

“It’s kind of like if you live by a railroad track, you get used to the sound of a train but the railroad tracks are going to there forever, FEMA trailers are not supposed to be there forever.”

This week the federal government is holding its fourth public auction on a group of the remaining trailers in Purvis. David Robbins is the director of the Office of Personal Property Management for the United States General Services Administration, the group responsible for the running the auction,

“It is a similar process for what citizens might find on eBay, go on the website, find an item they are looking for and they are able to submit bids on the property.”

Robbins says this auction will be for a single lot of 488 trailers. While individual trailers have been sold in previous auctions, the large lots sales are an attempt by FEMA to reduce the storage footprint. Mayor Herrin says he will be glad to finally see the trailers leave town,

“We have had just thousands of complaints on the trailers. The need for the trailers is gone, and the trailers need to be gone along with the need.”

Over a thousand trailers have been sold since FEMA started holding public auctions in September. FEMA is stressing that any unit sold is not mean for long term habitation though, and is cautioning buyers that they assume all responsibility for units purchased. Those warnings come after high levels of formaldehyde were found in a number of the FEMA travel trailers used after Hurricane Katrina.