New Orleans officers will get new federal housing

NEW ORLEANS — The city's police officers and other first-responders will continue to have federally sponsored housing after they vacate the cruise ships they've called home since Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Sunday.

About 1,500 families have been living and eating for free on two ships FEMA rented after the storm devastated the city Aug. 29. It's time for the ships to return to private service, and the residents must leave by March 1 — the same cutoff for civilian evacuees still living in FEMA-sponsored hotels.

FEMA said it would provide trailers, either at the person's house or in a group site, or pay for them to stay at a 117-unit apartment complex in the eastern part of the city for up to 18 months.