Indian Tribes Welcome Much-Maligned FEMA Homes Rejected After Katrina

"LITTLE AXE, Okla. -- Wanda Tiger and her husband needed a new home after a long-term house-sitting arrangement came to an end. But for members of their American Indian tribe in rural Oklahoma, affordable housing options were few.

Then tribal leaders learned of an impossibly attractive offer: Mobile homes that had never been occupied were available from the government almost for free. They had stood vacant for years after being rejected as temporary housing following Hurricane Katrina.

'When you ain’t got nothing, you’re happy with whatever you can get,' said Tiger, a member of the Absentee Shawnee tribe who now lives in a three-bedroom home courtesy of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 'They call them temporary homes, but hey, sometimes it’s your permanent home, and we’re satisfied with it.'"

Nomaan Merchant and Murray Evans report for the Associated Press July 6, 2011.