FEMA has trailers for New Orleans residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina. And many evacuees are desperate to move into them. But many neighborhoods are offering a familiar response: "Not in my backyard."
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, host: All along the Gulf Coast, thousands of storm victims have moved into tiny      white trailer homes provided by FEMA.  The big exception is New Orleans.      Officials there complain they can't bring people back home because there      aren't enough trailers.  But as NPR's Martin Kaste reports, that might      not be the real problem.</s>DEBBIE ELLIOTT, host: MARTIN KASTE reporting:</s>DEBBIE ELLIOTT, host: Most of the houses in the Lower Ninth Ward are still coated in black      muck. Helen Walker is part of a group of residents allowed in just to      retrieve personal effects.  Despite the bleak landscape, she says she      can't wait to move back.</s>Ms. HELEN WALKER (New Orleans Resident): I've tried to get a trailer.      They told me about a month and a half ago that I was going to get a      trailer.  OK? I didn't get a trailer.</s>KASTE: So far there are only a few hundred occupied FEMA trailers in all      of New Orleans, and most of those have been set up for employees of the      city and local industries.  City Council member Cynthia Hedge-Morrell,      who represents part of the Ninth Ward, says the city needs more trailers      for the general population and fast.</s>Ms. CYNTHIA HEDGE-MORRELL (New Orleans City Council): They want to come      back.  You take someone who's 70, 80 years old and you're telling them,      `You got to wait three to five years to come back,' you just killed their      spirit.</s>KASTE: Morrell and other council members have been complaining to FEMA      for weeks about the lack of trailers, but FEMA spokesman James McIntyre      says there is no shortage.</s>KASTE: Mr. JAMES McINTYRE (FEMA Spokesman):  We have more than 12,000 units on      hand, and our manufacturers are developing those and delivering them at a      rate of more than 500 a day.  So we can meet the need.</s>KASTE: The problem, he says, is that the city hasn't prepared enough      sites to take the trailers.  Too many front yards are still cluttered      with debris, and most of the properties still don't have reliable      electric and water hookups, or if they do, they haven't been inspected      yet.  The city has only six electrical inspectors with tens of thousands      of properties to go.</s>KASTE: The bottleneck infuriates local attorney Steven Randeau(ph),      who's come to City Hall to plead for more inspectors.</s>Mr. STEVEN RANDEAU (Attorney): As it stands right now, unless the      federal government hires private entities from outside of this circle,      this city is doomed.</s>KASTE: But his suggestion that the city hire private contractors gets a      chilly reception from City Council members, who say New Orleans' own      inspectors are on top of the job.</s>KASTE: Despite all the problems getting individual sites ready, there is another      way to bring in more trailers.</s>KASTE: FEMA has been building group sites, where dozens of trailers can      share water and power.  But this strategy is also hitting snags, such as      Kathleen Fisher(ph), who runs out in front of a moving backhoe to      confront the site foreman.</s>Ms. KATHLEEN FISHER: OK.  So this now is--the work is stopping right      now.</s>Ms. KATHLEEN FISHER: Mr. MICHAEL BLANC(ph) (Foreman):  As of right now.</s>Ms. KATHLEEN FISHER: OK.</s>KASTE: Fisher doesn't like the fact that this trailer site is being      built in her neighborhood park, and she's just managed to convince the      City Council to stop the project.  She explains to the foreman, Michael      Blanc, that she's not opposed to trailer parks in theory.</s>Ms. KATHLEEN FISHER: Well, I hope you all do...</s>Mr. BLANC: That's all I know.  I mean...</s>Ms. KATHLEEN FISHER: I hope you do a lot more work here...</s>Mr. BLANC: I'm just trying to help the people.</s>Ms. KATHLEEN FISHER: ...but not here.</s>Mr. BLANC: Well, we just trying to help the people, ma'am.</s>Ms. KATHLEEN FISHER: Good.  Me, too.  I'm helping my city.</s>KASTE: Twenty orange-vested workers stand beside the utility ditch that      they've just dug watching the backhoe fill it back in.</s>KASTE: Their perplexity is shared by FEMA staff.  During the course of      one City Council meeting, the FEMA representative was first scolded for      not delivering trailers fast enough and then berated for building group      trailer sites in city parks, locations that had been OK'd by the mayor's      office.  The `Not-in-my-backyard' feeling has spread to neighboring      communities, too.</s>KASTE: Unidentified Man:  All right.</s>KASTE: Just across the river in Jefferson Parish, FEMA's finishing a      site with 181 neat, white trailers.  Workers are pouring in concrete for      the mailboxes.  Contractor Ronnie Frank(ph) says he's glad storm victims      will soon have real addresses again.</s>Mr. RONNIE FRANK (Contractor): I'm telling you, with the way the mail is      running now, it'll be a blessing for them to have one place where they      can receive it, you know.</s>KASTE: But just over the fence, Johnny Henderson(ph) doesn't like the      prospect of so many New Orleanians with addresses so close to his.</s>Mr. JOHNNY HENDERSON: I don't know.  I mean, I don't have no problem      with the good folks who want somewhere to live.  But they go some trash,      and they going to come over here with their parents or their girlfriends      and they going to come over here and they going to bring their low life      right over here, too.</s>KASTE: Henderson's view was echoed at a raucous public meeting earlier      this week, in which Jefferson Parish residents made it clear that they      did not want trailer camps filled with New Orleanians.</s>Mr. JOHNNY HENDERSON: Put it where it come from.  Clean out their area and put      them on their property.</s>KASTE: And Jefferson Parish officials are listening.  Parish council      member Byron Lee told FEMA to take out half the trailers from the site      and to give preference to storm victims from Jefferson Parish.  FEMA made      no promises in part because picking and choosing residents this way may      violate federal housing laws.  But it has become clear that some of the      greatest obstacles to repopulating New Orleans are homegrown.  Martin      Kaste, NPR News, New Orleans.</s>DEBBIE ELLIOTT, host: You're listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.