Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency are planning to have 27 new mobile homes ready for families to move into by mid-June. The FEMA trailers will be at the former site of the Totem Pole Mobile Park along Highway 99 in the Rogue Valley.
鈥淭his is one of the sites that literally burnt to the ground, that people had just moments to flee from,鈥� says Jamie McLeod-Skinner, interim city manager for the City of Talent. 鈥淎nd so now, it鈥檚 an opportunity for folks to return.鈥�
The Totem Pole site is one of three housing projects in the works in the Talent and Phoenix area. There are still approximately 125 families displaced by the Almeda Fire waiting for housing, according to FEMA spokesman Paul Corah.
But between finding property and acquiring the trailers, the process has been slow in the Rogue Valley. Corah says the agency considered over 300 sites in Jackson County alone.
鈥淚t鈥檚 easier to get an RV site way away from Talent and Phoenix, but no one wants to live out there,鈥� Corah says.
According to McLeod-Skinner, with FEMA investing in the infrastructure, the city is hoping the Talent site could potentially be used for permanent housing.
鈥淓veryone recognizes that kids and families were in that stressful situation that much longer, but the hope was that with that additional time spent up front it may open the door for longer term [housing] and more housing stability,鈥� she says.
The new trailers are available to tenants rent-free until March 2022, 18 months after the emergency declaration for the Almeda Fire last September. McLeod-Skinner says she expects officials in Talent, Jackson County and the Governor鈥檚 office to extend that deadline.
