GAUTIER -- Recovery of affordable multi-family housing damaged by Hurricane Katrina lags behind repair and replacement of single-family homes, according to results of the a national study released Thursday. A study by RAND Gulf States Policy Institute estimates that recovery efforts for all housing types in Jackson, Harrison and Hancock counties are expected to take at least three more years and cost a total of more than $4 billion.
Michele Coats, Jackson County's planning director, said this number sounds accurate to her. "I'm assuming they're taking into consideration that not a lot of places are zoned for multi-family," Coats said. The study, "Post-Katrina Recovery of the Housing Market Along the Mississippi Gulf Coast," was sponsored by Oxfam America, a nonprofit organization that works to end global poverty, a private donor, the Mississippi Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors.
The study found that about 60 percent of the region's housing, including 5,700 rental units, was damaged by the storm, the report said. Also, 60 percent of the region's rental stock was located in the hard-hit coastal areas of Pascagoula, Gulfport and Biloxi, re-searchers concluded. Ninety-five percent of the region's multi-family properties were located either on the Coast or adjacent to the region. Researchers said that the Aug. 29, 2005, storm compounded the pre-Katrina shortage of affordable housing -- another point Coats agreed with.
Construction laborers and other workers needed to rebuild the region cannot come until there are more places to live, which delays the recovery process even more, Coats said. "We were already behind, and now we need it so much more," Coats said. The report states that construction permits had been issued for about 60 percent of the damaged housing, as of July. Coats said that in Jackson County, about 60 percent of the housing was damaged. As of Thursday, 5,794 building permits for housing damaged by Katrina had been issued for Jackson County.
While the study blames slow recovery to lack of access to funds, Coats said the area needed a new water and sewer infrastructure "yesterday." Coats said Gov. Haley Barbour created the Jackson County Utility Authority and funded its master plan, but she said it takes time to create that plan. Along the Coast, builders struggle with a lack of insurance and a lack of available land suitable for housing. Above Interstate 10, builders have to consider wetlands issues and a lack of infrastructure, Coats said.
The study used the 2000 Census and the 2005 American Community Survey, both from the U.S. Census Bureau, for information on pre-Katrina conditions. Researchers used data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to describe the extent of the damage done and building permit data for recovery information.
Source: The Mississippi Press