Upcoming Interfaith Gulf Coast Housing Call

by: Laura Wintroub

Tue Feb 08, 2011 at 13:53:35 PM EST

The gulf states are still living with the destruction wrought by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which swept away more than 70,000 units of affordable rental housing.

Fewer than a third of those units, which are crucial to housing the poor, the elderly and the disabled, have been rebuilt. The 5,000 or so that are still on the drawing board might never be constructed unless Congress extends a program that encourages businesses to invest in housing by providing them offsets for tax liabilities.

The Mississippi housing victory: Reilly Morse talks to Bryan Parras

by: Jeremy Burton

Mon Nov 22, 2010 at 13:40:23 PM EST

Last week I mentioned the huge victory in Mississippi for  advocates to secure $133 million for low income recovery after Katrina.  While this story was noted in the national media, folks have been asking me what it's all about. 

Reilly Morse of the Mississippi Center for Justice sat down with Bryan Parras (one of our Gulf Coast Fellows for Community Transformation)  and Ada McMahon and gave an interview to the Bridge the Gulf project. In part:

Q: Why will this be more inclusive than the initial housing assistance programs [created after Katrina]?

A: The initial programs would not help folks who had hurricane wind damage.         

You have historically racially segregated neighborhoods, and then you have a railroad which separates them, functions as a racial dividing line; And then you have a tidal surge that causes a lot of the damage, and if you’re not touched by the tidal surge because you are on the wrong side of the tracks, you end up with no assistance.
So there were clusters of unmet housing needs, that were wind-damaged.  They were predominantly low-income, they were predominantly African American.  They’re now going to be assisted.

But the other advantage of this is, this is not purely a racialized outcome, this is helping low-income folks of any form or description that need the assistance.

Notes from Mississippi

by: Jeremy Burton

Wed Nov 17, 2010 at 11:32:22 AM EST

Last week we gave a lot of attention to New Orleans here.  That made sense since so many of us were there for the GA and, let's face it, it was easier to give folks site visits 10 minutes from the French Quarter rather than hours away.  But the story of the Gulf Coast recovery after Katrina, Rita, BP et al (they've really gotten shafted these past 5 years) is broader than NOLA, bigger than Lousiana, stretching across 5 states from Texas to Florida. 

So last wednesday, Mae & I set off for the Mississippi coast to visit with friends, connect with partners, and plan for this winter, when JFSJ will be taking several service learning groups to work in Gulfport & Biloxi, two adjacent coastal cities.This area was hit hard by Katrina, and hasn't always gotten the resources for some of it's poorer residents to recover.

1st stop, Gulfport, where we visited with Mrs. Dorothy McClendon of the Soria City Civic Association, and also a Gulf Coast Fellow.  She's working to preserve a historic black neighborhood in Gulfport, and particularly focusing on the lack of quality youth programs and educational services (we'll be helping with afterschool reading programs). I think Mae was a little horrified when - as we toured the community in our rental car with Mrs. Dorothy showing us where they hope to establish an after school center - a Gulfport police car pulled aside to inquire if we were lost, and then, having assured him that I knew where we were, he tagged along a block behind us for the duration, until we (literally) crossed over the railroad tracks into the more upscale beachfront area.

On down the beach to Biloxi.  Stopped briefly at Beauvoir, the Jefferson Davis home, where the Confederate flag still flies to honor their president, and where the state of MS is building a Presidential library (because it's good for tourism of course).  Mae is horrified again (check out the music on their site), I'm not since I've been there before (and have maybe spent a little more time in the deep south).

Finally, we're in East Biloxi. 1st we're visiting with Sharon Hanshaw at Coastal Women for Change, another of the awesome

Grassroots energy in New Orleans

by: Laura Wintroub

Wed Sep 29, 2010 at 15:53:43 PM EDT

Living in New Orleans After Katrina

by: Jeremy Burton

Tue Sep 28, 2010 at 09:46:03 AM EDT

A powerful graphic essay by Jordan Flaherty is up at Truthout, exploring issues of money and power in the NOLA recovery.  The 1st panel is here:  

 With props to Bridge the Gulf for the flag.

Thinking about disaster relief before the disaster hits

by: Laura Wintroub

Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 14:30:52 PM EDT

This new investment vehicle would give people an opportunity to invest in bonds to support disaster relief, including money for redevelopment projects and funding for retiring home and business loans on homes and businesses that no longer exist after the disaster.  The latter is important and frequently undervalued in disaster relief.  How can homeowners and businesses take out very low cost loans to rebuild after disasters when they are already carrying mortgages or business loans for property and assets that might have been swept away by floods and storms?  Disaster relief funding has to enable people to clear the books on their debts rather than driving them into bankruptcy under the guise of offering loan funds for rebuilding.

Generally, Congress comes up with disaster-specific bond programs, such as the Gulf Coast Recovery Bonds, typically for large-scale capital projects such as airports and hotels, not for homeowners and small businesses devastated by the catastrophe. For example, an October 2008 audit of Louisiana’s use of the Gulf Coast bonds revealed 105 approved projects, mostly office buildings, hotels, and retail businesses such as a Coca Cola bottling plant and a Marathon Oil refinery.   These disaster relief bond programs are authorizations to issue bonds to support specific big ticket projects, not to create a general funding pool for disaster relief geared to homeowners and small businesses.

Just another reason to love George Clooney

by: Laura Wintroub

Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 16:37:15 PM EDT

Brief New Orleans media roundup

by: Laura Wintroub

Mon Aug 23, 2010 at 14:39:37 PM EDT

Lots of interesting stuff happening in New Orleans these days.  The upcoming five year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is nearly upon us, and the long-term effects of the oil spill remain somewhat unknown.  Add in a new mayor and a major city budget deficit, and the activity is more than palpable.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu addressed a gathering at the National Press Club last week.  Among other statements, he predicted that the joint recovery from Katrina and the BP oil spill will take at least another five years.  While that timeframe doesn't come as a surprise, it does reinforce just how much rebuilding work remains.

For other Katrina anniversary media coverage, check out this NPR guide to television retrsopectives airing this week in honor of the five year anniversary.  And for a jolt back to present day, today's New York Times has an article about the progress of the city's new defense system against future mega storms.

Lastly, for a look at what's happening locally, the Times Picayune just posted this listing of Katrina fifth anniversary events taking place throughout the city this week.  There's an incredibly rich collection of talks, tours, and service events planned.  Also included in the post are some of the photos originally published before, during, and after the storm.

A tale of two cities

by: Jeremy Burton

Tue Aug 17, 2010 at 17:12:48 PM EDT

Five years after Katrina and 4 months after BP, all is not well in the Big Easy.  A recent Kaiser Foundation report is being hailed by the Times-Picayune as evidence that the city is moving in the right direction, but Lance Hill from the Southern Institute for Education and Research sees a darker picture in the data.  He writes:

Some of the responses were broken out by race and they provide some useful insights into the difference of opinions between black and white storm victims and the different ways they continue to experience the impact of the storm.

From the report:

The Katrina Pain Index

by: Jeremy Burton

Mon Aug 09, 2010 at 13:30:26 PM EDT

With the fifth anniversary of Katrina coming up later this month, the Louisiana Justice Roars blog helpfully provides this disturbing (and also hopefull) update of the facts on the ground.  The report was compiled by a collaboration amongst local academics, in cluding Lance Hill from Tulane who has met with many of our service teams over the years, and Davida Finger from Loyola, a Jewish New Orleans native a human rights attorney who came back to her hometown after the storm and has been a leader in the local just recovery movement.

In sum:

The challenges of post-Katrina New Orleans reflect the problems of many urban and suburban areas of the US - insufficient affordable rents, racially segregated schools with falling populations, great disparities in income by color of households, serious pollution from remote uncaring corporations, and reductions in the public services like transportation. Katrina made these more visible five years ago and continues to make a great illustration of the US failures to treat all citizens with dignity and our failure to achieve our promise of liberty and justice for all.