[StBernard] from CityBusiness for posting

[Westley Annis]

By CityBusiness staff report

2007-02-06 3:29 PM CST

WASHINGTON - Rep. Richard Baker, R-Baton Rouge, issued the following
statement today after the House Financial Services Committee's hearing on
the Federal Housing Response to Hurricane Katrina:

"The central housing challenge created by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, of
course, was the damage and destruction wrought upon 200,000 homes, but the
issue is not confined to that challenge," Baker said. "The debilitation of
such a massive amount of housing stock has created another challenge, a
shortage of housing, particularly affordable housing, that has impacted not
only the areas directly hit by the storms but also throughout south
Louisiana where the displaced have settled.

"Those on the committee who have visited Louisiana know, however, that when
we talk about post-Katrina and Rita housing, we are also talking about the
rebuilding of communities."

Baker offered a critique of The Road Home program.

"First, there is the matter of buyouts. While the percentage of homeowners
choosing among The Road Home's buyout options is relatively small, the
number of homes estimated to be acquired by the state may still run as high
as 15,000, all of which ostensibly will be handed over to local authorities
* to do what with the physical and financial burden of these wrecked and
abandoned properties, and with what resources, I know not.

"These questions will be particularly pressing for the recovery of a
devastated parish like St. Bernard, where half of all residents have
indicated they will choose a buyout.

"The second possible obstacle is the already widespread reporting that aid
calculations are significantly lower than what people expected to receive
based on what they need to fully rebuild their homes. This could result in a
great number of properties either being left basically 'unfinished' or
undergoing a substandard, 'bargain' version of what's needed.

"Finally, apart from these residential property questions, any severely
damaged and abandoned commercial properties, which did not qualify for
assistance under the parameters of Road Home, could form barriers to
replacing the likes of drug stores, bakeries, and doctors' offices that
communities need to be fully functional.

"If this is indeed the kind of situation we can expect to find in a
post-Road Home Louisiana, then the time to start planning how to confront it
is now. I suspect the complexity of the challenge will require more serious
consideration and much tougher decisions than we currently bring ourselves
to make."

Baker said the Unified New Orleans Plan is an "extraordinarily positive
development," and it should be commended for its citizen-focused
inclusiveness and consensus building. UNOP plan wants to help people elevate
homes to FEMA Base Flood Elevations, whose cost is not covered by The Road
Home, which covers damage only.

"One of the most promising ideas I have heard discussed, and touched upon in
UNOP's 'Housing Solutions for All to Return' proposal, is a program to
rehabilitate underutilized, abandoned, and blighted properties," Baker said.
"This concept would involve utilizing a strong and professionally governed
redevelopment authority, like the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, a
public-private partnership which would be the recipient of buyout properties
from Road Home but which could also assemble, sell, or redevelop itself
other blighted properties that stand in the way of neighborhood
revitalization.

"I believe the best hope for rebuilding communities may lie in the
mobilization of such local redevelopment authorities, but they should not be
limited to New Orleans alone, when other parishes hit hard by Katrina like
St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, Lafourche, Terrebonne, and those
similarly hit by Rita like Cameron and Vermillion, face similar challenges.
This concept could also be considered valuable for other larger parishes
that suffered less damage but face different, housing shortage challenges
due to the influx of newcomers, such as St. Tammany, East Baton Rouge,
Lafayette, and Calcasieu parishes."

Baker said before any new federal investment is considered, thought should
be given to the fact Louisiana will enter into the general legislative
session with a surplus of $1.9 billion.*
Click here to find out more!