[StBernard] House passes Gulf Coast relief measure

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Thu Mar 22 20:32:17 EDT 2007


Prospects in Senate are uncertain

WASHINGTON -- In an effort to boost rebuilding along the Gulf Coast, the
House passed legislation Wednesday to take Louisiana off the hook for paying
a share of the recovery tab and would -- if financed by Congress -- put more
rebuilding money in the pockets of flooded-out homeowners.

Over Republican objections, the bill also would help low-income renters by
granting federal housing vouchers to those still displaced by the August
2005 storm. It would block the demolition of public housing in New Orleans
and force the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to move 3,000
former residents back in by Oct. 1.

"Without passage of this bill, we are giving our implied consent to the
permanent exile of residents who only wish to enjoy the same rights and
privileges to a home that everyone else across the country would want to
enjoy," Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, had said Tuesday at the
outset of the two-day debate. "This bill makes the road home smoother for
our people and helps a great deal toward getting our people back home."

The legislation, the first of an array of Katrina recovery bills, passed on
a 302-125 vote, with 72 Republicans -- including all of those in the
Louisiana delegation -- joining all of the Democrats in support. But its
prospects in the Senate are cloudy. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., whose
Senate Banking Committee will receive the bill, took no position on it
Wednesday.

Cutting red tape

The bill would grant Gov. Kathleen Blanco her top priority by eliminating
the need for Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states to pay 10 percent of the
cost of hurricane recovery. The mandate has slowed the recovery by requiring
small communities still reeling from the storm to comply with a host of
federal regulations to get rebuilding money. President Bush opposes the
provision, but it passed the House with little comment.

"Red tape is holding us back," said Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville.
"Some of our local communities don't have a tax base anymore. They can't
afford to pay this."
The bill also would free an estimated $1.2 billion for Louisiana's Road Home
rebuilding program by resolving a year-long conflict between the state and
the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Larger grants

Also gliding through was a provision that would allow Louisiana to make Road
Home awards without first subtracting insurance proceeds or other disaster
assistance. The Congressional Budget Office estimated it would retroactively
add an average of $20,000 to each Road Home grant, and Rep. Richard Baker,
R-Baton Rouge, said it could be as much as $50,000

However, the bill doesn't provide the extra financing the state would need
for the larger grants, estimated to be an additional $5.5 billion.
"They've given us a gift card, but they've got to put the money on it," said
Andy Kopplin, executive director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority.

Public housing

More controversial were provisions in the bill related to public housing.
HUD has proposed tearing down four major New Orleans public housing
complexes damaged in the Hurricane Katrina flooding and building
mixed-income dwellings.

But thousands of former public housing residents demanded that the
apartments be fixed instead. With rents skyrocketing in New Orleans, they
said they couldn't afford to wait five years or more for a new development.

Under the bill, authored by Reps. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Maxine Waters,
D-Calif., former residents would have to decide by Aug. 1 whether they want
to return and HUD would have to provide apartments by Oct. 1 to 3,000 former
residents.

"It's time for everyone who wants to come home to come home," Frank said.

Republicans said rehabilitating New Orleans public housing would only
re-create bad conditions that existed before the storm. A Republican
amendment requiring public housing residents to work at least 20 hours a
week was defeated.

But just before the final vote, Rep. Bobby Jindal, R-Kenner, led the charge
to give preferences to elderly and disabled people and permanently ban
convicted felons from public housing. Federal law prohibits felons from
living in public housing, but allows local housing authorities to let them
back in three years after their convictions.

"Because this bill is so important to us on the Gulf Coast, one of our
concerns in repopulating public housing is we want to make sure we don't
have drug dealers or gang members coming back," Jindal said.

Frank accused Jindal of politicking.

"This is just an effort to help Jindal run for governor," Frank said. "He
knows he won't get any votes out of public housing residents in New Orleans,
so he can demonize them."
The bill also would extend a voucher program for former public housing
residents set to expire in September. About 30,000 families have their rents
paid through the disaster voucher program. Under the bill, those vouchers,
which pay $1,174 a month for a two-bedroom apartment, would be extended to
December and beyond. Eligible recipients would be placed in the federal
Section 8 housing voucher program.






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