Washington (CNN) -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency has not attempted to recoup some $643 million in payments that were improperly given to 160,000 individuals for housing and other aid following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, an independent government investigator says. In a letter to FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, Inspector General Richard Skinner wrote that a federal court in 2008 ordered FEMA to change its process for recovering the money. But Monday, three years after that court ruling, "These payments remain uncollected because your office has not given final approval of a new recoupment process," Skinner wrote. Following the back-to-back storms in 2005, FEMA disbursed more than $7 billion in assistance to survivors. At the time, the government placed a premium on distributing the money quickly because of the dire needs of residents of the Gulf Coast. The money was intended for rental assistance, home repairs, housing replacement, moving costs, medical costs and other individual assistance.
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FEMA disbursed more than $7 billion in aid after hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit in 2005
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Later, FEMA estimated that about $643 million were improper payments
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FEMA cited human error and fraud as the causes of improper payments
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An inspector says FEMA "has not given final approval" on a process to recoup the money
In Skinner's letter to Fugate, @placeholder wrote Fugate should "promptly take action" to recover the money.