Home is where the public service is

A new development in the Katrina evacuee housing story: Fannie Mae and the Harris County Housing Authority will offer police officers, firefighters, nurses and other public servants staying in Houston a rent-free year in 68 foreclosed houses and condos in the Houston area.

Officials decided to offer the homes to public servants because their services were needed in Houston to help deal with the 150,000 evacuees staying in the city, housing authority CEO Guy Rankin said.

"We could probably do 680 homes," Mr. Rankin said of the need for evacuee housing. But public servants who remain in hotels or apartments with short-term leases can "provide support for the citizens of Houston and the Gulf Coast states who are located here."

"There's room to grow the program. Now we're getting the word out and doing the first 60 or so in the correct way," he said.

An interesting detail: At the end of the free year-long lease, the evacuees will be given the option to buy the properties. Looks like we're trying to recruit some permanent new public servants.