Merry Christmas--or Should We Say Happy Holidays?

From the good people of FEMA, a special holiday message for folks who lost everything in the hurricane--you're on your own:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency moved Tuesday to nudge victims of Hurricane Katrina toward self-sufficiency, announcing that it would cut off financing for most of the 60,000 families in government-paid hotel and motel rooms by the end of this month.

Nudge, eh? More like the housing equivalent of a Friday afternoon downsizing:

Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on a House panel that oversees housing issues related to the hurricane, said FEMA was not giving the families enough warning.

"Two weeks' notice is outrageous," Mr. Frank said. "These are not people who can easily find alternative accommodations."

The agency has also notified state and local governments that it plans to end financing on March 1 for a program, set up in about two dozen cities, through which apartments have been rented on behalf of storm victims. Houston alone has issued 39,500 vouchers for evacuee families, costing the federal government more than $100 million.

WIIIAI put it best:

FEMA will stop paying for the housing of Katrina victims on December 1, because December 25 would have been too unsubtle even for them.