The first Katrina cottage was occupied in New Orleans according to a September 27 report from ABC Ne

The first Katrina cottage was occupied in New Orleans, according to a September 27 report from ABC News. Omaira Falcon was the first resident to occupy a Katrina cottage in Louisiana, according to the report. The state received a $74 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) three years ago to build a total of 500 cottages. “Initially the cottages were supposed to be temporary housing to replace the FEMA trailer,” the report stated. “That’s changed and the cottages will now be permanent housing. A number of state lawmakers blame an unqualified contractor from the start and a lot of red tape as some of the reasons why it’s taken so long to get folks back home and into those cottages. Louisiana had been facing a September deadline to construct all 500 units, but last month FEMA granted an extension to Jan. 31.” In Mississippi, Katrina cottages have been more extensively used. A total of 2,830 units were occupied as temporary housing, and as of late August, 1,700 units were still occupied, according to a report in the September issue of New Urban News. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency is trying to convert the cottages for use as permanent housing. The Katrina Cottage idea came out of the Mississippi Renewal Charrette, an October 2005 event that produced plans for an 80-mile stretch of hurricane-damaged coastline.