Posted on Mon, May. 12, 2008
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Coastians still lack housing
Insurance, rent increases hit hard
By MICHAEL NEWSOM
mmnewsom@sunherald.com
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Locals say the thousands of volunteers expected to pour into the area to build single-family homes this week are sorely needed, because, though it has been almost three years since Hurricane Katrina, housing is still a major issue.
About 33 months ago, Katrina and its record storm surge pummeled the area like no other storm before it. But the curious who live in areas of the country where Katrina has fallen off the radar like to ask if the Gulf Coast is back to normal. Locals know better. The volunteers with the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project, a Habitat for Humanity effort, will see that first-hand as they lend their muscle and sweat on building many new homes.
As the June 1 deadline for residents to vacate FEMA trailer parks approaches, many are looking to find more permanent homes, but find few affordable options. After five months of searching for a rental house, Tamecca Carter, 37, succeeded and began moving out of her trailer in a north Biloxi FEMA park last week. Carter is moving back to hard-hit east Biloxi, which still faces a long recovery. She'll live on the same street she lived on before the storm.
"Even though there's not much over there, it's still good to be back in the old neighborhood," Carter said.
Carter will pay $900 monthly, which is roughly double the rent she paid before the storm, and she isn't sure how long she can afford the new place on the salary she earns doing laundry at a local hotel. She supports a 16-year-old son and a disabled mother and she'll depend on the FEMA rental assistance, which will expire in March unless the program is extended.
FEMA will pay renters up to 120 percent of the fair market rate for a rental unit. For example, a family of four in Biloxi would receive $1,057 per month for a three-bedroom unit.
Mississippi has undertaken a massive housing program that aims to deliver more than 21,000 affordable units, which representatives from Gov. Haley Barbour's office maintain will meet the need based on current data. But housing advocates, including the South Mississippi-based Steps Coalition, said the state's plan only meets about half of the need. Many of those units haven't been built yet.
For thousands of South Mississippians, volunteer labor might be their only hope, because housing and insurance costs remain substantially higher than before Katrina. Carter volunteers might not understand that a major roadblock for South Mississippi is still high insurance costs, which make it hard for most to afford a home and drive up rents.
MISSISSIPPI BEYOND KATRINA, SUN HERALD ARCHIVES, FEMA
