Local evacuees given housing extension

Katrina evacuees in Houston have another month of city housing vouchers while federal officials take another look at who's eligible for continued federal aid — the second extension of the local voucher program since the initial May 31 deadline. Under the agreement, signed Friday, landlords may continue to honor city vouchers for about 8,400 households through July 31.

Though most eligible evacuees have been moved from the city voucher program to less generous federal assistance, the government said almost 9,000 households were ineligible for federal aid. Mayor Bill White and city officials said that number wasn't accurate, and the number of ineligible households has dropped during subsequent reviews.

Still, many evacuees in other parts of the country had to deal with the May 31 deadline — and now a class-action lawsuit has been filed on their behalf against FEMA because many of those families have had their utilities cut off.