BILOXI, MS - Biloxi resident Allen Johnson said he's been given six months to vacate the FEMA trailer he's living in on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. But the disabled single father and college student barely can afford the rent he's paying for the land the mobile home sits on now, much less upwards of $750 for a one-bedroom apartment. "Two years and counting and we still don't have the help that we deserve," he said.
Johnson was one of dozens of Hurricane Katrina victims and recovery advocates who gathered Tuesday at the Capitol to urge lawmakers to address affordable housing issues. Specifically, they asked senators on a newly formed housing committee to pass House Bill 896, which would create a task force to study establishing a trust fund that could give more people access to reasonably priced places to live.
State officials say they're doing everything they can to help, from securing funds for more work-force housing to encouraging economic development. "What we are doing is unprecedented, and we welcome the opportunity to tell people about it," Pete Smith, spokesman for Gov. Haley Barbour, said in a statement.
Senate Housing Committee Chairman Hillman Frazier said Katrina didn't discriminate by race or income when it flattened much of southern Mississippi in August 2005. "In rebuilding the Coast, we must be sure that all of us are coming back online together," said Frazier, D-Jackson.
But now many low-income, elderly or disabled residents are struggling to rebuild because of slow, confusing assistance and lack of accessibility to affordable housing, said Roberta Avila, director of the Interfaith Disaster Task Force. As of Monday, 9,732 FEMA trailers still were in the lower six counties, according to Federal Emergency Management Agency officials. The numbers from Barbour's office vary slightly, at 7,036, for the three coastal counties, as of Feb. 22.
Avila and other recovery advocates said Tuesday that the only way many families have recovered is through charities and volunteers. "Gov. Barbour has gone on spending sprees with Katrina recovery money intended for the people of Mississippi to recover," said Avila, referring to his recent request to divert $600 million from a Katrina housing program to expand the Port of Gulfport.
But Barbour has said expanding the port is crucial to Katrina recovery, too, as it would provide jobs and stimulate the economy. "Port restoration was part of the original plan we submitted to the federal government," Smith said Tuesday. "Part of a comprehensive recovery is creating jobs, which is what rebuilding the port bigger and better will accomplish."
Smith also touted the state's efforts to provide funds to create long-term work-force housing. The state recently awarded an extra $150 million for 16 projects. In all, the projects should result in the construction of about 5,850 affordable housing units along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, according to a news release.
Other Katrina victims and recovery advocates said Tuesday that problems with affordable housing are the result of the assistance exemption for residents with wind-damaged homes. "We are trying to rebuild, but we need you all's help today, come see what we are going through," said George County resident Glenda Perryman during her tearful testimony. Perryman's home was damaged by high winds, but the federal housing program was limited to residents with storm surge damage.
Barbour has said Congress asked federal money not be used for those with wind damage because insurance should have picked that up. He also has questioned where the cutoff would be for assistance with wind damage, as many homeowners throughout the state dealt with high winds during the storm.
Exempting some from federal aid doesn't just puni
Source: ClarionLedger.com