National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) Statement on 2nd Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
AUGUST 29, 2007
8:00 AM
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CONTACT: National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC)
Nicole Letourneau 202-662-1530 x227 nicole@nlihc.org
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Statement on 2nd Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
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WASHINGTON - August 29 - Sheila Crowley, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), issued the following statement today regarding the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina:
“When Congress returns to Washington after Labor Day, much attention will be focused on today’s housing crisis - mortgage foreclosures on sub prime borrowers and the credit squeeze that has followed. But Congress also needs to act on the continuing housing crisis that came in the wake of Hurricane Katrina two years ago. The Senate should take up S.1668, the Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act of 2007.
“Hurricanes Katrina and Rita damaged one million homes in four states; 300,000 homes were destroyed. Nearly three-quarters (71%) of the homes that were destroyed were affordable to low income families before the storm. The shockingly slow pace of rebuilding damaged homes has been well-documented. Replacement of housing that was lost is even slower. Even if all the replacement housing that was planned is actually built, which will not happen, there was never any intention by state and local governments to come close to replacing the affordable rental housing stock that was destroyed.
“Thus, two years later, at least 106,000 mostly low income families remain displaced. Some 31,000 families are still receiving FEMA rent assistance. Another 11,500 families who received HUD housing assistance prior to the storm are still getting disaster housing aid through HUD. And 65,000 families still reside in FEMA issued travel trailers and manufactured homes; 15,000 live in trailer camps with the remainder in trailers on their own property.
“Moreover, as many as 75,000 (maybe more) additional displaced households may have been cut off from FEMA rent assistance by mistake or wrongful action by FEMA. FEMA’s rules for determining continuing eligibility for rent assistance have been incomprehensible and arbitrary and its record keeping abysmal. One judge has called FEMA’s application process ‘Kafkaesque’ and another has labeled FEMA’s attitude toward aid recipients ‘cavalier.’ Any external examination of FEMA’s actions on rent assistance will reveal untold hardships experienced by evacuees at the hands of the federal agency charged with helping them, just as FEMA’s failure to address toxic conditions in their travel trailers is now being exposed.
“Fortunately for some of the families who are still displaced, the Bush Administration is finally transferring responsibility for their housing assistance from FEMA to HUD. As of November 1, whatever families FEMA says are still eligible for rental aid will be assisted by local housing agencies under contract with HUD instead of having to navigate the maze known as the FEMA call center. The new HUD program is not perfect, but it is a long overdue improvement.
“The House of Representatives passed H.R. 1227, the Gulf Coast Hurricane Housing Recovery Act of 2007, on March 21 by a vote of 302-125. Senators Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) introduced S. 1668, also called the Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act of 2007, on June 20, but have taken no further action since then. Both bills contain provisions that will speed the repair and redevelopment of federally-assisted housing on the Gulf Coast, untangle some of the federal rules that are impeding recovery and add new housing resources to the recovery effort. They will also codify the transition of disaster housing assistance from FEMA to HUD.
“Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Dodd should convene a hearing on his bill, S. 1668, very soon in September. Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-AL) should support the bill that will assist the many Alabamians who are still displaced. The Senate leadership should fast track the bill for a vote out of the Senate, with the goal of conferencing the bill with the House and getting it to the President to sign in September. There is no better way to observe the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina than to take action to make good on the promises that national leaders have made to the people of the Gulf Coast.”
The National Low Income Housing Coalition is a membership organization dedicated solely to ending America’s affordable housing crisis. NLIHC educates, organize and advocates to ensure decent, affordable housing within healthy neighborhoods for everyone.
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National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC)
727 15th Street NW, 6th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20005
202/662-1530; Fax 202/393-1973; info@nlihc.org; www.nlihc.org
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