Stung by complaints it was pushing hurricane victims out before the holidays, FEMA extended its hotel housing program Tuesday by a month in 10 states where most of the homeless evacuees sought shelter after Katrina and Rita.

More than 46,000 families in those states now have until Jan. 7 to move out of hotels and into travel trailers, mobile homes or apartments until they find permanent homes. The deadline comes much sooner -- Dec. 15 -- for 3,500 other households scattered nationwide, before the Federal Emergency Management Agency stops paying their hotel bills.

Last week, FEMA set a Dec. 1 deadline to stop hotel payments everywhere but Louisiana and Mississippi, where housing remains scarce. But that plan drew sharp criticism from Congress, city and state officials and housing advocates who feared 15 days would not be enough time for evacuees to find stable housing and sign leases -- a process that can take months in rental markets already nearing capacity.

"We want these families to be back in some semblance of normalcy," FEMA acting director R. David Paulison told reporters. "We want them in decent housing. We want them out of these hotels and motels and into apartments."

Still, Paulison said, "Let me make this really clear: We are not kicking people out into the street. We are simply moving them from hotels and motels and into apartments that we will continue to pay for."