News on the FEMA housing response

This is an email circulated yesterday by Sheila Crowley, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, quoted here by permission:

From: Sheila Crowley
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2005 1:50 PM
Subject: Housing Area Command and Joint Housing Solutions Center.
With some poking around, we have determined that the Housing Area Command and the Joint Housing Solutions Center are two different entities, although they are "joined at the hip" according to Mr. Kwong who answers the phone at the Joint Housing Solutions Center.

Hank Williams is "chairing" the Joint Housing Solutions Center, which comes up with "ideas" about what to do. Brad Gair, a career FEMA guy who was the FEMA coordinator for 9/11 is directing the Housing Area Command, which is supposed to implement the ideas from the Joint Housing Solutions Center. The Housing Area Command is in charge of operations and let the contracts with Bechtel et al.

Some of our own previous notes about who's doing what for disaster housing are here ... here ... here ... and here. [LATE 9/13 Here, too, including a recent clarification.]

[MORE: Sheila Crowley and the NLIHC have just released a letter to Congressional and administrative branch housing leaders calling for the creation of a "central federal housing entity" to coordinate the disaster response and making recommendations for the response itself....
...Meanwhile Sen. Sarbanes is pushing a bill for emergency housing vouchers, detailed here.]