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<div style="display: block;" id="reader-header" class="header"> <a
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<h1 id="reader-title"><small>New Orleans Katrina Pain Index at
10: Who was left behind?</small></h1>
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<p><strong><em>by Bill Quigley<br>
<small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://sfbayview.com/2015/07/new-orleans-katrina-pain-index-at-10-who-was-left-behind/">http://sfbayview.com/2015/07/new-orleans-katrina-pain-index-at-10-who-was-left-behind/</a></small></small><br>
</em></strong></p>
<p>When <a
href="http://www.srh.noaa.gov/bmx/?n=event_katrina2005">Hurricane
Katrina</a> hit the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, the
nation saw tens of thousands of people left behind in
New Orleans. Ten years later, it looks like the same
people in New Orleans have been left behind again.<br>
</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_56905">
<p class="wp-caption-text">The tragic and infuriating
consequences of demolishing 4,000 perfectly livable
public housing apartments in developments with study
buildings and generous green space, looking like
college campuses, are reflected in statistics on the
increase in poverty, the unaffordability of current
housing for those who have returned and the failure of
half the former public housing residents to return
home at all.</p>
</div>
<p>The population of New Orleans is noticeably smaller and
noticeably whiter. While tens of billions poured into
Louisiana, the impact on poor and working people in New
Orleans has been minimal.</p>
<p>Many of the elderly and the poor, especially poor
families with children, never made it back to New
Orleans. The poverty rate for children who did made it
back remains at disturbingly high pre-Katrina levels,
especially for Black children.</p>
<p>Rents are high and taking a higher percentage of
people’s income. The pre-Katrina school system fired all
its teachers and professionals and turned itself into
the charter experiment capital of the U.S. even while
the number of children in public schools has dropped
dramatically.</p>
<p>Since Katrina, white incomes, which were over twice
that of Blacks, have risen three times as much as
Blacks. While not all the numbers below are bad, they do
illustrate who has been left behind in the 10 years
since Katrina hit.</p>
<h3><span>When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on
Aug. 29, 2005, the nation saw tens of thousands of
people left behind in New Orleans. Ten years later, it
looks like the same people in New Orleans have been
left behind again.</span></h3>
<p>33 – Rent in New Orleans is up 33 percent for
one-bedroom apartments and 41 percent for two-bedroom
apartments since Katrina hit. This is very tough because
in New Orleans, <a
href="http://www.datacenterresearch.org/data-resources/who-lives-in-new-orleans-now/">55
percent of residents rent</a>. The <a
href="http://nmhc.org/Content.aspx?id=4708">national
average is 35</a> percent.</p>
<p>In <a
href="http://www.huduser.org/portal/datasets/fmr/fmr/docsys.htnl&data=docs">2005</a>,
a one-bedroom was $578 and two was $676. In <a
href="http://www.hano.org/landlords/forms/2014%20Payment%20Standard-.PD">2015</a>,
it is $767 for one and $950 for two. CNN/Money recently
named New Orleans as one of the <a
href="http://www.bestofneworleans.com/gambit/new-orleans-one-of-the-worst-us-cities-for-renters/Content?oid=2609106">worst
cities in the U.S. for renters.</a></p>
<p>Before Katrina the <a
href="http://www.gnofairhousing.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Unsafe-Overpriced-Home-for-the-Holidays-FINAL.pd">average
renter</a> spent 19 percent of his income on rent. <a
href="http://www.datacenterresearch.org/">The Data
Center</a>, a terrific resource for information on the
region, reports 37 percent of renters in New Orleans now
spend <a
href="http://www.datacenterresearch.org/data-resources/who-lives-in-new-orleans-now/">more
than 50 percent</a> of their income to rent. Rental
apartments are mostly substandard as well with <a
href="http://www.gnofairhousing.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Unsafe-Overpriced-Home-for-the-Holidays-FINAL.pdf">78
percent, nearly 50,000 apartments</a>, in the city
needing major repairs.</p>
<p>38 – In <a
href="http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_622.html">2005,</a>
38 percent of the children in New Orleans lived in
poverty, 17 percentage points higher than the U.S. as a
whole. The most recent numbers show <a
href="http://www.nola.com/health/index.ssf/2015/02/thirty-nine_percent_of_new_orl.html">39
percent</a> of the children in New Orleans live in
poverty, still 17 percentage points higher than the
national average. 82 percent of these families have
someone working in the family so the <a
href="http://www.nola.com/health/index.ssf/2015/02/thirty-nine_percent_of_new_orl.html">primary
cause is low wages</a>.</p>
<p>44 – New Orleans now has <a
href="http://www.coweninstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CI_Policy_Brief_No1.pdf">44
school boards</a>. Prior to Katrina, nearly all the
public schools in New Orleans were overseen by the <a
href="http://www.coweninstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CI_Policy_Brief_No1.pdf">one
Orleans Parish School Board</a>. <a
href="http://www.coweninstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CI_Policy_Brief_No1.pdf">Ninety-one
percent</a> of the public schools in New Orleans are
now charter schools, the highest rate in the country.
Only <a
href="http://www.coweninstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/cowen.poll_.2015.pdf">32
percent of African Americans</a> believe the new
nearly all charter school system is better than the
public school system before the storm versus 44 percent
of whites, even though precious few whites attend the
public schools.</p>
<p>50 – <a
href="http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/news/12822531-125/post-katrina-progress-for-Black-new">Fifty
percent of the Black children</a> in New Orleans live
in poor households, a higher percentage than when
Katrina hit.</p>
<p>59 – New Orleans is now 59 percent African American, <a
href="http://www.datacenterresearch.org/data-resources/who-lives-in-new-orleans-now/">down
from 66.7</a> percent in 2000; 31 percent white, up
from 26 percent in 2000; and 5.5 percent Hispanic, up
from 3 percent in 2000.</p>
<p>67 – Prior to Katrina, <a
href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/gnocdc/reports/The+Data+Center_NOI10_Changing+Course+on+Incarceration.pd">New
Orleans incarcerated more of its citizens than any
city in the U.S.</a>, five times the national average.
Ongoing efforts by community members and local officials
have <a
href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/gnocdc/reports/The+Data+Center_NOI10_Changing+Course+on+Incarceration.pdf">reduced
the number of people held in the jail</a> by 67
percent.</p>
<p>73 – Seventy-three percent of New Orleans students <a
href="http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2014/07/new_orleans_high_school_exam_r.html">who
start high school graduate</a> on time.</p>
<p>3,221 – There are now 3,221 fewer low income public
housing apartments in New Orleans than when Katrina hit.
In 2005 there were <a
href="https://billquigley.wordpress.com/2015/06/08/locked-out-and-torn-down-public-housing-post-katrina-by-bill-quigley-and-sara-h-godchaux/">5,146
low income public housing apartments</a> in New
Orleans, plus thousands of other public housing
apartments scheduled for renewal or maintenance, nearly
100 percent African American.</p>
<p>The housing authority now reports having 1,925 public
housing apartments available for low income people on
the sites of the demolished complexes, less than half of
the number promised, and <a
href="http://www.hano.org/our_story/Agency%20Fact%20Sheet%20-%20Winter%202015.pdf">less
than half of those completed have rents set at rates
which are affordable to those who lived in public
housing before Katrina</a>, meaning the majority of
their public housing units now require higher incomes
from renters than the people who were living in public
housing prior to Katrina.</p>
<p>That is why <a
href="http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/katrina/12479401-186/katrina-scattered-new-orleans-entrenched">only
about half of the families who lived in the four
public housing developments which were demolished
after Katrina made it back to New Orleans at all by
2011</a>. And only 7 percent of those original
families were living in the new housing which replaced
their homes.</p>
<p>6,000 – There are 6,000 fewer people on Social Security
in Orleans Parish than before the storm. Orleans parish
had 26,654 people on Social Security, either old age or
disability, in <a
href="http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/ssi_sc/2004/la.pdf">2004</a>.
Orleans parish had 20,325 people on Social Security in
the <a
href="http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/ssi_sc/2013/la.pdf">latest
report</a>.</p>
<p>There are similar drops in the numbers of people on
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families in New Orleans.
There were just over 3,000 families receiving state
temporary assistance in New Orleans in <a
href="http://www.dss.state.la.us/assets/docs/searchable/OFS/Statistics/Stats04-05/FITAP/fy0405_FITAP_Part_Reg.pdf">May
2005</a>. As of <a
href="http://www.dcfs.louisiana.gov/assets/docs/searchable/OFS/Statistics/Stats14-">May
2015</a>, that number was down to 463.</p>
<p>7,500 – Over <a
href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/school_law/2015/05/justices_decline_to_hear_appea_1.html">7,500
public school teachers and paraprofessionals, mostly
African American</a>, were fired after Katrina when
Louisiana took over the New Orleans public school
system. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear their
appeal in May 2015.</p>
<p>9,000 – There are 9,000 fewer families receiving food
stamps than before. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP) is the old food stamps program. In <a
href="http://www.dcfs.louisiana.gov/assets/docs/searchable/OFS/Statistics/Stats14-15/SNAP/fy1415_FS_Part_Reg.pdf">May
2015</a>, Orleans Parish had just under 40,000
households receiving SNAP benefits. In <a
href="http://www.dss.state.la.us/assets/docs/searchable/OFS/Statistics/Stats04-05/FOODSTAMPS/fy0405_FS_Part_Reg.pdf">May
2005</a>, New Orleans had 49,000 households receiving
food stamps.</p>
<p>17,392 – There are <a
href="http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2014/11/new_orleans_public_school_enro.html">17,392
fewer children enrolled in public schools</a> in New
Orleans now than before Katrina. There were over 63,000
enrolled pre-Katrina and now there are 45,608.</p>
<p>35,451 – The median income for white families in New
Orleans is $60,553; that is $35,451 more than for Black
families, whose median income is $25,102. In the last 10
years the median income for Black families grew by 7
percent. At the same time, <a
href="http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/news/12822531-125/post-katrina-progress-for-Black-new">the
median income for white families grew three times as
fast, by 22 percent</a>.</p>
<p>In 2005, the median income for Black households was
$23,394, while the median for white households was
$49,262. By 2013, the median income for Black households
had grown only slightly, to $25,102. But the median for
white households had jumped to $60, 553.</p>
<p>44,516 – The <a
href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/gnocdc/reports/The+Data+Center_NOI10_Latinos+in+New+Orleans.pdf">New
Orleans metro area</a> (Jefferson, Orleans,
Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, St.
John the Baptist, and St. Tammany parishes) has 44,516
more Hispanic residents in 2013 than in 2000. The total
is now 103,061, just over 8 percent of the metro
population according to <a
href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/gnocdc/reports/The+Data+Center_NOI10_Latinos+in+New+Orleans.pdf">The
Data Center</a>.</p>
<p>71,000 – Seventy one thousand fewer people live in New
Orleans now than before the storm. In <a
href="http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/03/census_estimate_shows_strong_p.html">2005</a>,
New Orleans had a population of 455,000 and in <a
href="http://www.datacenterresearch.org/data-resources/population-by-parish/">2014</a>
its population was 384,000.</p>
<p>99,650 – There are <a
href="http://www.datacenterresearch.org/data-resources/who-lives-in-new-orleans-now/">99,650
fewer African Americans living in New Orleans</a> now
than in 2000, compared to 11,000 fewer whites.</p>
<p>71,000,000,000 – <a
href="http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/katrina/12479369-186/the-cost-of-recovery-after">Seventy
one billion dollars</a> was received by the state of
Louisiana for Katrina repairs, rehabilitation and
rebuilding. One look at this index and you see who did
NOT get the money.</p>
<h3><span>Seventy one billion dollars was received by the
state of Louisiana for Katrina repairs, rehabilitation
and rebuilding. One look at this index and you see who
did NOT get the money.</span></h3>
<p><em>Bill Quigley teaches law at Loyola University New
Orleans. You can reach him at </em><a
href="mailto:quigley77@gmail.com"><em><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:quigley77@gmail.com">quigley77@gmail.com</a></em></a><em>.
</em></p>
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