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<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley08182009.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley08182009.html<br><br>
</a></font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000">August 18,
2009<br><br>
</font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000"><b>
Katrina Pain Index -
2009</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>By BILL
QUIGLEY & DAVIDA FINGER<br><br>
</font><font size=3>0. Number of renters in Louisiana who have received
financial assistance from the $10 billion federal post-Katrina rebuilding
program Road Home Community Development Block Grant compared to 116,708
homeowners.<br><br>
0. Number of hospitals in New Orleans providing in-patient mental health
care as of September 2009 despite post-Katrina increases in suicides and
mental health problems. <br><br>
1. Rank of New Orleans among U.S. cities in murders per capita for
2008. <br><br>
1. Rank of New Orleans among U.S. cities in percentage of vacant
residences. <br><br>
2. Number of Katrina cottages completed in Louisiana as of
beginning of 2009 hurricane season under $74 million dollar federal
program. <br><br>
33. Percent of 134,000 FEMA trailers in which Katrina and Rita
storm survivors were housed after the storms which are estimated by
federal government to have had formaldehyde problems. <br><br>
35. Percent of child care facilities re-opened in New Orleans since
Hurricane Katrina. <br><br>
35. Percent increase of demand in 2009 at emergency food programs
in New Orleans and surrounding parishes, an increase pinned on the
swelling ranks of under-employed and rising food, housing, and fuel
costs. <br><br>
50. Ranking of Louisiana among states for overall healthcare.
<br><br>
52. Percent increase in rents in New Orleans since Katrina.
<br><br>
52. Percent of federal rebuilding money allocated to New
Orleans that has actually been received. <br><br>
60. Percent of children in New Orleans public schools who attend
public charter schools. <br><br>
88: Percent of the 600 New Orleans residents who will displaced by
proposed new hospital complex who are minorities. <br><br>
160. Number of units which will be public housing eligible in the
new St. Bernard area after demolition and rebuilding. St. Bernard
was constructed with 1400 public housing apartments. Only a small
percentage of the 4000 families in public housing in New Orleans before
Katrina will be allowed to live in the new housing being constructed on
the site where their apartments were demolished.<br><br>
27,279. Number of Louisiana homeowners who have applied for federal
assistance in repair and rebuilding after Katrina who have been
determined eligible for assistance but who have still not received any
money. <br><br>
30,396. Number of children who have not returned to public school in New
Orleans since Katrina. This reduction leaves the New Orleans public
school population just over half of what it was pre-Katrina. <br><br>
63,799. Number of Medicaid recipients who have not returned to New
Orleans since Katrina. <br><br>
65,888. Unoccupied addresses in New Orleans. This is 31% of
the addresses in the City and nearly as many as Detroit, a city twice the
size of New Orleans. <br><br>
128,341: Number of Louisianians looking for work. <br><br>
143,193. Fewer people in New Orleans than before Katrina, according to
the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center estimate of 311,853, the
most recent population estimate in Orleans. <br><br>
9.5 Million. Dollar amount of federal Medicaid stimulus rejected
outright by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal which would have expanded
temporary Medicaid coverage for families who leave welfare and get a
job. <br><br>
98 million: Dollar amount of unemployment federal stimulus dollars
rejected by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal that was available to bolster
the unemployment compensation funds to assist 25,000 families in
Louisiana. <br><br>
900 Million: Dollar amount paid to ICF International, the company
that was hired by the State of Louisiana to distribute federal Road Home
rebuilding dollars. <br><br>
?. Current vulnerability to storm-related flooding. The
Army Corps of Engineers continues work to provide protection from a storm
surge that has a 1 percent chance of occurring any given year. However,
Katrina was a stronger storm than the system under construction is
designed to protect against. Because no updated indicators exist on
land loss, coastal restoration and mitigation of flood risk due to human
engineering, tracking recovery is, at best, challenging.<br><br>
<b>Davida Finger</b> is a social justice lawyer and clinical professor at
Loyola University New Orleans. <br>
<b>Bill Quigley</b> is a human rights lawyer on leave from Loyola now
serving as legal director at the Center for Constitutional Rights.
A version of this article with sources is available if you write to the
authors c/o
<a href="mailto:quigley77@gmail.com">quigley77@gmail.com.</a><br><br>
<br><br>
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