[NOW Actions] Bring Katrina Survivors Home

Support NOW's Work |	August 27, 2007	| Tell a Friend

Action Needed Background All NOW Actions		Bring Katrina Survivors Home On the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's death march across the Gulf Coast, each of us must call on Congress to end the human tragedy of displacement and long term homelessness faced by women and their families across the region. Join NOW in demanding that Congress help these low-income, struggling families return home to safe public housing in their communities. ACT NOW Thousands of people who lived in areas wiped out by the storm have become nomads or forced to survive in substandard, unhealthy temporary housing. They were devastated by the storm and ensuing flooding, and then forced to bear the ineptitude and callous disregard of the Bush administration. Action Needed: Ask your Senators to sponsor S. 1668, the Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act of 2007, sponsored by Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La.). The bill will "authorize funds to repair, rehabilitate, and replace lost or damaged affordable housing; continue temporary housing assistance to evacuees; and provide rental assistance so that families living in unhealthy FEMA trailers can move into safe and decent housing." The House has already passed its own version of the bill, H.R. 1227, led by Hon. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.). We need support in the Senate to pass S. 1668 so that we can help Katrina families return, rebuild and become whole again. ACT NOW Background: When Katrina hit, 53 percent of housing units in Orleans Parish were occupied by renters, and 56 percent of all rental units were flooded yet little assistance has been targeted to this population. Of almost 5,200 public housing units occupied before Katrina hit, only a little over 1,300 public housing units have been reopened As of April of this year, only 52 percent of hospitals in New Orleans were open; only 33 percent of child care centers were open; and only 45 percent of public schools were open. Source: Statement of Senators Dodd and Landrieu ACT NOW Resources: Fact sheet on S. 1668 from Senate Banking Committee (PDF) IWPR: Women in the Wake of the Storm (PDF)
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