KATRINA: A GRIM ONE YEAR FACT SHEET

PROGRESS REPORT - 1,833 lives lost. 270,000 homes destroyed. $55 billion
in insured damage. Up to $1.4 billion in American tax dollars wasted by
the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But even more staggering has
been the slow pace of recovery on the Gulf Coast.

Yesterday, as part of the White House's "public relations blitz," Bush
trumpeted in his weekly radio address that the federal government has
"committed $110 billion to the recovery effort." But those billions of
dollars have yet "to translate into billions in building."

In his Sept. 15 speech, Bush stated that his administration "will stay
as long as it takes, to help citizens rebuild their communities and
their lives" and promised to "get the work done quickly." But one year
after the storm, repopulation in New Orleans "has slowed to a trickle,
leaving the city with well under half its pre-storm population of
460,000." Lacking the resources to return to the city are many
African-Americans who formed the working-class backbone of the city. The
Houston Chronicle notes, "Vast sections of New Orleans are still devoid
of life, populated by endless rows of broken, empty houses waving For
Sale signs like flags of surrender." Many New Orleans property owners
may lose their former homes. The one year anniversary of Katrina is the
deadline when property owners "must have gutted the buildings or shown
some signs they intend to rebuild when they can. If they don't, the city
can take it as a given they do not intend to return."

The average selling price for homes in areas that weren't affected by
flooding has risen 25 percent. Rental rates have risen 40 percent,
disproportionately affecting black and low-income families. In Biloxi,
MS, 70 percent of renters affected by the storm are black, according to
an NAACP study, and another report by the Leadership Conference on Civil
Rights noted that almost "100 percent of public housing families in New
Orleans are African-American." Approximately 112,000 low-income homes
were damaged, but only a fraction of federal housing assistance has been
earmarked for rental units.

More than 81,000 regional businesses were affected by the storm,
resulting in the loss of 450,000 jobs. . . Bush touted the government's
$110 billion commitment to Katrina recovery, . . . but in reality, just
$44 billion has been spent. Approximately 60 percent of the businesses
in New Orleans have still not reopened. According to a report by the
Democratic members of the House Small Business Committee, "80 percent of
small businesses on the Gulf Coast have not yet received loans promised
by the federal government."

A White House "Fact Sheet" released in advance of Katrina's one year
anniversary notes that FEMA has provided $5.6 billion to repair and
replace damaged public infrastructure. But Gulf Coast Recovery
Coordinator Donald E. Powell has admitted that nearly a third of the
trash in New Orleans has yet to be picked up. Sixty percent of New
Orleans homes still lack electricity and just 66 percent of public
schools have reopened. Only 17 percent of the city's buses are
operational, causing severe problems for the many residents who don't
own cars.

"Look at what we're getting in terms of services," said Janet Howard, of
the Bureau of Governmental Research, a nonprofit group in New Orleans.
"It's basically a nonfunctioning city." Crime has risen again in New
Orleans -- the homicide rate is nearly 10 times the national average --
but only seven of 13 courtrooms have reopened and judges have a backlog
of nearly 7,000 cases. A recent report by the Department of Justice
found that in New Orleans, "justice is simply unavailable." But where
the federal, state, and local governments have been absent, citizen
activism has surged in the wake of the storm, "chipping away at some of
this city's unhealthy institutions." Many schools -- formerly in "the
control of a corrupt district office" -- are now being managed by
parents and community activists as charter schools, and newcomers are
pushing for reform and tighter ethics in the City Council.

Health care is an increasing problem in the post-Katrina Gulf Coast. The
Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals estimated that "New Orleans
has lost half of its physicians and suffers from a shortage of 1,000
nurses." Forty-four percent of adult caregivers now lack health coverage
and "34 percent of children in FEMA-subsidized communities have at least
one chronic health condition that requires treatment, but half of the
affected children no longer have a medical provider." Even though the
population of New Orleans is at less than half of its pre-storm
population, the suicide rate has tripled and there is no capacity to
deal with mental health and substance abuse problems. The people of New
Orleans are also suffering from a lack of hospitals and the inability to
receive immediate care from emergency rooms.

A June Government Accountability Office report found that between $600
million and $1.4 billion in taxpayer dollars has been wasted on
"improper and potentially fraudulent individual assistance payments."
Payments went to Katrina evacuees to pay for items such as Dom Perignon
champagne, New Orleans Saints season tickets, and adult-oriented
entertainment. A recent report by the House Committee on Government
Reform found that 19 Katrina contracts -- worth $8.75 billion --
"experienced significant overcharges, wasteful spending, or
mismanagement."

The head of the Army Corps of Engineers recently expressed skepticism
that the New Orleans levees could withstand a hurricane with a heavy
storm surge this year. In order for the levees to withstand a Category 5
hurricane and for residents of New Orleans to finally feel safe, another
$30 billion will need to be spent. Unfortunately, as the New Orleans
Times-Picayune notes, the federal government's "commitment to the
long-term protection of South Louisiana is still uncomfortably murky."

LINKS TO FACTS
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=
1331575&ct=2902751