[StBernard] Reports document post-Katrina failures

[Westley Annis]

Reports document post-Katrina failures 
Studies of storm, aftermath paint 'bleak picture' on eve of 1st anniversary
The Associated Press


Updated: 8:22 p.m. CT Aug 22, 2006
NEW ORLEANS - No less than a half-dozen reports on the Hurricane Katrina
recovery effort are being released to coincide with the one-year anniversary
of the storm - and nearly all criticize the sluggish pace of the response.

The reports document a host of problems, from the still-unfinished levees to
the plight of small businesses and the continuing racial divide.

"It's a pretty bleak picture," said Minor Sinclair, who heads the U.S.
regional office of Oxfam America, a charitable organization.

Many of the reports focus on the failure of federal dollars to reach their
intended targets. Oxfam's report points out that although $17 billion has
been approved by Congress to rebuild homes in Louisiana and Mississippi, not
one house has been rebuilt with that money in either state.

A report from the Democratic members of the House Small Business Committee
found that 80 percent of small businesses on the Gulf Coast have not yet
received loans promised by the federal government. The Small Business
Administration has approved loans in excess of $10 billion, but only $2
billion has found its way to business owners.

100 days for a loan approval
The report also cited massive delays at the federal agency, forcing some
business owners to wait as long as 100 days for a decision on loan
applications.

"These long delays have not only caused many viable small businesses to fail
that would have otherwise survived, but has contributed to the slow recovery
of the local economy," the report said.

A call to the SBA for comment was not returned.

Three reports found that the lack of federal aid disproportionately affects
black residents and the poor.

In Louisiana and Mississippi, blacks are more likely to be renters than
whites, two reports noted, citing census data. Though a large proportion of
the dwellings destroyed by Katrina were occupied by renters, only a fraction
of the federal housing assistance has been earmarked for rental units,
according to several of the studies.

NAACP notes impact for renters
A report by the Mississippi conference of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People said the lack of rental aid will have
long-term impacts on places like Biloxi, Miss., where 70 percent of renters
were black, and Pascagoula, where 75 percent were black. A report by the
Brookings Institution in Washington argued that with rents having risen 39
percent in New Orleans, the need to repair affordable rental units is
crucial.

Compounding the problem is the degradation of such services as public
transit, which are typically used by low-income residents. A policy paper by
the Washington-based Leadership Conference on Civil Rights found that only
49 percent of the New Orleans area bus routes have resumed. Only 17 percent
of the buses are operational.

"Many of the poor in New Orleans do not own cars ... so they are dependent
on public transportation in order to work," the paper said.


Housing stock problems
Several studies said the lack of affordable housing continues to weaken the
labor pool.

"If people have nowhere to live or if they can't afford to live where they
work, it becomes difficult for them to go where the jobs are. ... The end
result is that recovery in the struggling areas is being slowed, sometimes
to a near halt," said a report by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of
Government and the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana.

Amy Liu, author of the Brookings Institution report, pointed to streets that
are still choked with debris as evidence of the failings of the recovery
effort.

"These still storm-scarred neighborhoods are a stark reminder of the
magnitude of the storm," she wrote. "But they also hang like billboards,
advertising that little progress has been made."

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published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14472537/


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