Are Politics Stalling Gulf Coast Recovery?

GULFPORT, MS - No one disputes the fact that housing is the No. 1 priority for the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. Gov. Haley Barbour, when asked about the top three needs after Katrina, would often reply: "Housing, housing and housing." Significant progress has been made in the past three years, but there is much work remaining to be done. But the current dispute over using federal Housing and Urban Development Block Grant money to help repair and rebuild the Port of Gulfport appears to be more about politics than housing.

A group of Democrats in Congress, including Mississippi's 2nd District U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Bolton, are seeking to stop the Barbour administration from using $600 million in block grant money for the port, saying it was intended for low-income housing needs. The use of the HUD block grant money was approved by Congress in 2005, when the state received some $5.4 billion to help recover from the devastating storm. The port request was approved by HUD under the congressional authorization.

The grant money has also been used to rebuild the utility infrastructure on the Coast in addition to being used for grants to homeowners. The Port of Gulfport is a vital part of the Coast and a key to the recovery effort because residents must have jobs. That is not to say that low-income housing is not a priority issue, especially in providing rental units on the Coast. Katrina damaged or destroyed some 2,700 public housing units.

Those who build rental housing have been under the same pressures of those who own their homes in finding affordable insurance and dealing with the higher costs of construction and availability of workers. A $263 million rental assistance program provided landlords forgivable loans to replace rental housing. As part of the HUD approval for the port waiver, Barbour also put another $100 million into low-income housing.

Critics have a short memory. The use of HUD block grants was a unique approach to get relief funds to Mississippi quickly and to get around the problem of the U.S. government giving funds directly to individuals, businesses and communities. From the beginning, it was the intention of Congress to use those funds to rebuild communities, including vital infrastructure. The Port of Gulfport is part of economic infrastructure. There are legitimate questions about how well housing efforts have been handled. It has been a slow and confusing process at times and the Barbour administration has been hit with some deserved criticism.

However, three years after the storm, a unified bipartisan effort to push recovery and especially to get needed funds to Mississippi, appears to be degenerating into some partisan sniping. Politics should not hinder recovery efforts. Yes, the Coast does need more low-income housing, but it also needs the jobs that the Port of Gulfport provides. There is no reason why both of those goals cannot be met from federal funds already provided.