Saints Go Marching In? When?

It's been two years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast region, and still there are tens of thousands of families without homes. 30,000 families are scattered across the country in FEMA apartments, and many thousands of New Orleans families were evicted from FEMA apartments in the last year. Only 13,000 are in trailers. Thousands of FEMA trailers sit empty in Arkansas, locked and uninhabited, while tens of thousands of New Orleanians live in tents, on the street, or under bushes. Hardly any of the 77,000 rental units destroyed in New Orleans have been rebuilt.

The renaissance in America's most beleaguered city, such as it is, is a complex, dynamic and messy affair. Progress lives alongside stagnation, hope alongside despair. - Los Angeles Times, Aug. 25, 2007

Shortly after the storm, it seemed that FEMA would at least make it possible for the thousands of evacuees to live in FEMA trailers. The government was spending billions of dollars on buying trailers from all over the country and transporting them to Hope, Arkansas.

However, red tape and unworkable bureaucratic rules meant that the vast majority of trailers were never deployed. While the evacuees begged for trailers, the trailers sat in the hot Arkansas sun for months and now, years. The hot sun and heat in these locked up and unused trailers in Arkansas may have caused these trailers to become become uninhabitable. Trailer manufacturers explain that the glues, plastics, formaldehyde, and other contaminants used in their construction cannot withstand high heat and can lead to contamination and a breaking down of the materials. Evidently, trailers are not built in such a way to withstand months of being locked up on a tarmac, without fresh air, just baking in the Arkansas sun.

So, when some of these trailers were finally deployed in 2006 and 2007, many of them made their inhabitants ill.

The vast majority of the FEMA trailers that were appropriated for deployment to the Gulf coast continue to simply sit in Arkansas, unused.

"I haven't seen this level of government incompetence outside of the nation of China... And they executed an official in China for not having done their job," said Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), alleging parallels in lax consumer regulations and an uncaring government. "No one is asking for that here, but how about a simple application of the golden rule?" - Washington Post

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of New Orleanians still have no roofs over their families' heads.

More than half the city remains in a state of shocking disrepair - Los Angeles Times, Aug. 25, 2007

Returning basic services to parts of the city, including schools, child care and city buses, has been slow because of the process involved in obtaining federal funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"America should be ashamed," said the Rev. Bill Terry. "The nonprofit organizations have really responded. But all they can do is run the life-support systems to keep the city alive until the real help arrives." - Los Angeles Times, Aug. 25, 2007

Thousands of the homeless people in New Orleans today are people who, prior to the storm, had paid rent or mortgage payments. They had prepared meals for their families in their own kitchens. These newly homeless people had just two years ago tucked their children into warm and clean beds every night. Now, many of these people are living in third world conditions. They live on the street or in empty buildings - without any real hope of regaining their prior lifestyle.

What did they ever do to deserve such sadness and despair? Why have they been abandoned by their insurance companies, by their government, and by us? Where are the saints?

If you want to help, I know of one thing very specific you can do to help next week. Support the passage of legislation that will offer the relief. New legislation can direct help to the residents of New Orleans, help that they desperately still need.

Call your senators and ask them to support the Gulf Coast Recovery Bill of 2007 (S1668).

In addition to S1668, please also encourage your Senators to go further in helping the public and low-income housing residents who lost their homes in Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. After Katrina, thousands of New Orleans residents were locked out of their public housing apartments, even though thousands of those apartments were not even storm damaged and remained inhabitable. There's no good explanation for why they closed so many apartment units and prevented the residents from returning.

When you speak to your senator (or their staff) about the senate bill S1668, please encourage them to also support Senator Landrieu's amendments for public housing tenants and very low-income residents displaced by the storm.

Vast stretches of New Orleans still show little or no signs of recovery. A housing shortage and high rents have hampered business growth.
The homeless population has almost doubled since the storm, and many squat in an estimated 80,000 vacant dwellings. - Washington Post, August 30, 2007

The bill is expected to come to a vote soon. Its passage will be an important step toward rebuilding the infrastructure in the Gulf Coast region. Information on the Gulf Coast Recovery Bill (S1668):

Two years after the hurricane hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, the breakdown in government at all levels is well documented. - Washington Post, 8/28/2007

You can also support the Gulf Coast Recovery Bill of 2007 (S1668) by signing the petition at WhenTheSaints.org.