SUN HERALD ARCHIVE: Letter from Mayor Brent Warr

Recently there has been an ill intended story circulating claiming that I applied for a Hurricane Katrina homeowner grant but did not occupy the house. I am answering the rumor now in my words. I have requested a full review of my file by the appropriate agencies and intend to proactively respond to all legitimate questions concerning my eligibility for this grant.

The hurricane destroyed approximately 4,000 Gulfport homes and most of those left standing were significantly damaged. My family home was one of these. Efforts to rebuild and repair have been excruciatingly slow-going and difficult for so many of us. I along with nearly 20,000 other Coast residents, who had severe storm damage to our homes, certainly appreciate the help the MDA Homeowners Grant Program is providing. This is a crucial step in the recovery process for all of us. We should all expect that these grants are awarded fairly and are awarded based on a fulfillment of requirements and in accordance with the intent of the program to get people rebuilt and back into our homes.

My Home

I owned my home for over a year and a half prior to Hurricane Katrina making landfall. My home represents the 2 mortgages and property taxes that I have paid on it, on time since the purchase. My home is listed on my personal tax returns as my primary residence; the address was listed with city utilities, on my personal checking account and on personal bills in my and my wife's name. I received legal certification that the home was not in a flood zone and no flood insurance was necessary.

Our home was originally built in the 1940's. While it was a solid wooden structure, when we began the cosmetic sprucing up, we quickly discovered water damage, termite damage and an obsolete heating and air system. The growing list of repair needs led us to rethink moving everybody in and working on the house little by little as we have always done in our married life. Instead, we established living quarters in a single room for me to use during the renovation. My routine over the years has been to work on projects after business hours. I can run a table saw, insulate an air conditioning duct, weld, and drive a backhoe. I worked to keep costs down by doing things myself whenever possible as we discovered more and more wrong with the home. I worked there and slept there in the months before Katrina.

Most evenings and every weekend included my children and wife eating, playing and working in the house with me. However, because of construction dust and noise, Laura and the children stayed at my deceased grandmother's home in the Woodglen subdivision. We had patio furniture in the living room, the current season's clothing, basic cooking necessities, and beds in the Woodglen house. We did not own this house. Most of our clothing, children's toys and our larger furnishings were either in our home or in storage waiting to be moved there.