Housing.com News, Analysis & Opinion: Hurricane Housing: FEMA's Stupidity Vortex

Just when I thought FEMA had reached their event horizon of ignorance--the point where they could not possibly get any dumber or more incompetent--they go and surprise me again:

WASHINGTON - FEMA will replace locks on as many as 118,000 trailers used by Gulf Coast hurricane victims after discovering that the same key could open multiple mobile homes, the agency said Monday.

Some keys could open as many as 50 different locks — causing a security risk in heavily populated trailer parks in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Was no one paying attention when these trailers were manufactured or rolled out? Didn't anyone think to check for this sort of thing?

Mind you, the sad part is that if you're holed up in FEMAville for the duration, you probably don't have anything worth stealing, but that's not the point.

I guess I'm not being entirely fair to FEMA, for as Frank James points out, they probably just assumed they would work, as we all would, but "assuming" is not an acceptable course of action when you're put in the business of protecting people's lives.

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Just when I thought FEMA had reached their event horizon of ignorance--the point where they could not possibly get any dumber or more incompetent--they go and surprise me again: WASHINGTON - FEMA will replace locks on as many as 118,000 trailers used by Gulf Coast hurricane victims after discovering that the same key could open multiple mobile homes, the agency said Monday. Some keys could open as many as 50 different locks — causing a security risk in heavily populated trailer parks in Louisiana and Mississippi. Was no one paying attention when these trailers were manufactured or rolled out? Didn't anyone think to check for this sort of thing? Mind you, the sad part is that if you're holed up in FEMAville for the duration, you probably don't have anything worth stealing, but that's not the point. I guess I'm not being entirely fair to FEMA, for as Frank James points out, they probably just assumed they would work, as we all would, but "assuming" is not an acceptable course of action when you're put in the business of protecting people's lives.