Can you believe it’s been almost three years? Three years since the levee breaks? Three years since the Superdome? Three years since President Bush made those big promises in a generator-lit Jackson Square?
But three years out, where are we? How much progress has really been made? According to a new report released today by PolicyLink, we’ve seen some progress the past year, but not nearly enough — especially when it comes to the bedrock issue of housing for Louisianans. Far too many residents still can’t afford to rebuild their homes or find an affordable place to rent.
The new report, “A Long Way Home: The State of Housing Recovery in Louisiana 2008,” shows thousands of residents who want to return home are facing a critical rental housing shortage, inadequate rebuilding grants and a recovery plagued by red tape and ever-changing rules.
The report analyzes the three major federally funded housing recovery programs – the Road Home (for homeowners) and the small and large rental programs (for renters). Together, these programs allocate nearly $12 billion in federal recovery funds to restore housing in Louisiana.
Some key findings:
• In New Orleans, 4 of every 5 Road Home recipients rebuilding their homes did not get enough money to cover their repairs. Statewide, more than 2 of every 3 face the same predicament.
• Statewide, the average Road Home applicant fell more than $35,000 short of the money they need to rebuild their home. The shortfall hit highly flooded, historically African-American communities particularly hard.
• Nearly 40,000 low-income homeowners received an average of about $27,000 each from an additional Road Home grant program designed to help vulnerable residents.
• Renters still face huge hurdles—only 2 in 5 damaged affordable rental units statewide will be repaired or replaced with recovery assistance. In the New Orleans metro region, it’s an even more dismal rate of 1 in 3.
• The national credit crunch and personal financial vulnerability keeps many mom-and-pop landlords from being able to rebuild through the small rental repair program. Meant to restore more than 10,000 rental homes, the program has completed only 82.
• Nearly 28,000 families nationwide still rely on disaster rental assistance, with 14,000 in the greater New Orleans metro region alone. There will not be nearly enough affordable rental units on the market by the time the assistance runs out in March 2009.
The election season provides another chance to put the issue of Gulf Coast rebuilding at the forefront of our national dialogue. Let’s hope we’re at a very different place in the process come Year 4.
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Joan Walsh
Kerry Lauerman
Salon.com
Comments
I think the Obama campaign should make this an issue. I still believe that most Americans would be ashamed of these failures of the federal government, if they were reminded of them.
And yes, it was a crime what happened down here. I still cannot comprehend how it was allowed to happen and how Bush and his administration have never been held accountable.
I mentioned to my husband during the event, that I wondered why they didn't just load up school buses to take the people out of the city. It couldn't have been more than a couple hours into photos, where they showed a whole parking lot full of flooded school buses. Again, not to apportion blame, but how hard would it have been to look around and think -- ah, we have lots of those. Probably worried about insurance issues.
Speaking of that, there we are, again, on the flood insurance debacle. Water damage not covered without separate flood insurance at probably well over $1,000 extra a year (like I pay to live in a 100 year flood zone). Not too many poverty-stricken homeowners without a mortgage would have thought to carry flood insurance, yet the insurance companies have had banner years each year since Katrina.
We need a better attitude from American insurance corporations, we really do. But as I have said for six years, the greed and corruption starts at the top and filters all the way down. A lawless, morally bankrupt administration will not demand any better behavior of any other power monger, except for their own amusement...
Well, many people who did have significant insurance are finding they're not getting paid out what they thought or their damages far exceed their insurance. Also, the AVERAGE Louisiana homeowner is falling $35,000 short on the money they need to rebuild, after accounting for private insurance and government help. In NOLA, it's $55,000 on average. In the Lower Ninth Ward, it's about $75,000 short. When your entire life has been uprooted and you've been living in a trailer or a far-flung city for three years, where are you supposed to find that kind of money?
In a country with an actual social contract, a disaster of this scale would call for people to band together and help the victims. In this case, the only institution with the resources to do that on such a scale is the federal government. What's the purpose of FEMA, if not this?
If the people who believe that private insurance is the answer to these problems are going to carry the day, then we're truly screwed.