[House Hearing, 109 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
HOUSING OPTIONS IN THE AFTERMATH
OF HURRICANES KATRINA AND RITA
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
HOUSING AND COMMUNITY OPPORTUNITY
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JANUARY 13, 2006
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Financial Services
Serial No. 109-69
_____
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
27-792 WASHINGTON : 2006
_________________________________________________________________
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HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES
MICHAEL G. OXLEY, Ohio, Chairman
JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa BARNEY FRANK, Massachusetts
RICHARD H. BAKER, Louisiana PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania
DEBORAH PRYCE, Ohio MAXINE WATERS, California
SPENCER BACHUS, Alabama CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York
MICHAEL N. CASTLE, Delaware LUIS V. GUTIERREZ, Illinois
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California NYDIA M. VELAZQUEZ, New York
FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma MELVIN L. WATT, North Carolina
ROBERT W. NEY, Ohio GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York
SUE W. KELLY, New York, Vice Chair DARLENE HOOLEY, Oregon
RON PAUL, Texas JULIA CARSON, Indiana
PAUL E. GILLMOR, Ohio BRAD SHERMAN, California
JIM RYUN, Kansas GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
STEVEN C. LaTOURETTE, Ohio BARBARA LEE, California
DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois DENNIS MOORE, Kansas
WALTER B. JONES, Jr., North MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts
Carolina HAROLD E. FORD, Jr., Tennessee
JUDY BIGGERT, Illinois RUBEN HINOJOSA, Texas
CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York
VITO FOSSELLA, New York WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri
GARY G. MILLER, California STEVE ISRAEL, New York
PATRICK J. TIBERI, Ohio CAROLYN McCARTHY, New York
MARK R. KENNEDY, Minnesota JOE BACA, California
TOM FEENEY, Florida JIM MATHESON, Utah
JEB HENSARLING, Texas STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts
SCOTT GARRETT, New Jersey BRAD MILLER, North Carolina
GINNY BROWN-WAITE, Florida DAVID SCOTT, Georgia
J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina ARTUR DAVIS, Alabama
KATHERINE HARRIS, Florida AL GREEN, Texas
RICK RENZI, Arizona EMANUEL CLEAVER, Missouri
JIM GERLACH, Pennsylvania MELISSA L. BEAN, Illinois
STEVAN PEARCE, New Mexico DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Florida
RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas GWEN MOORE, Wisconsin,
TOM PRICE, Georgia
MICHAEL G. FITZPATRICK, BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont
Pennsylvania
GEOFF DAVIS, Kentucky
PATRICK T. McHENRY, North Carolina
JOHN CAMPBELL, California
Robert U. Foster, III, Staff Director
Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity
ROBERT W. NEY, Ohio, Chairman
GARY G. MILLER, California, Vice MAXINE WATERS, California
Chairman NYDIA M. VELAZQUEZ, New York
RICHARD H. BAKER, Louisiana JULIA CARSON, Indiana
WALTER B. JONES, Jr., North BARBARA LEE, California
Carolina MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts
CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont
PATRICK J. TIBERI, Ohio STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts
GINNY BROWN-WAITE, Florida BRAD MILLER, North Carolina
KATHERINE HARRIS, Florida DAVID SCOTT, Georgia
RICK RENZI, Arizona ARTUR DAVIS, Alabama
STEVAN, PEARCE, New Mexico EMANUEL CLEAVER, Missouri
RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas AL GREEN, Texas
MICHAEL G. FITZPATRICK, BARNEY FRANK, Massachusetts
Pennsylvania
GEOFF DAVIS, Kentucky
JOHN CAMPBELL, California
MICHAEL G. OXLEY, Ohio
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on:
January 13, 2006............................................. 1
Appendix:
January 13, 2006............................................. 91
WITNESSES
Friday, January 13, 2006
Jefferson, Hon. William J., U.S. Representative from the State of
Louisiana...................................................... 13
Boyer, Elise, Resident (currently residing in hotel)............. 52
Gable, Dr. Willie, Jr., Executive Vice Chairman, National Baptist
Convention, USA, Inc........................................... 73
Gray, Darrius, President, Greater New Orleans Hotel & Lodging
Association.................................................... 59
Kelly, James R., Chief Executive Officer, Catholic Charities
Archdiocese of New Orleans..................................... 66
Kegel, Martha J., Executive Director, UNITY for the Homeless..... 67
Lewis, Muriel, National Association of Katrina Evacuees.......... 63
Mercadel, Kevin, Neighborhood Recovery Specialist, Preservation
Resource Center of New Orleans................................. 60
Nagin, Hon. C. Ray, Mayor, City of New Orleans................... 16
Noel, Randy, President, Reve, Inc................................ 74
Perry, James, Executive Director, Greater New Orleans Fair
Housing Action Center.......................................... 69
Schedler, Larry G., President, Larry G. Schedler & Associates,
Metairie, LA, testifying on behalf of the National Multi
Housing Council/National Apartment Association................. 64
Stewart, Pauline, Resident (currently residing in hotel)......... 51
St. Julien, Mtumishi, Executive Director, Finance Authority of
New Orleans.................................................... 34
Wells, Scott, Federal Coordinating Officer for DR-1603-LA,
Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland
Security....................................................... 38
Williams, Charles, H., Deputy Assistant Secretary, Multifamily
Housing, Department of Housing and Urban Development........... 36
APPENDIX
Prepared statements:
Ney, Hon. Robert W........................................... 92
Jefferson, Hon. William J.................................... 93
Lee, Hon. Sheila Jackson..................................... 100
Gable, Dr. Willie, Jr........................................ 108
Gray, Darrius................................................ 119
Kelly, James R............................................... 122
Kegel, Martha J.............................................. 125
Lewis, Muriel................................................ 129
Mercadel, Kevin.............................................. 131
Nagin, Hon. C. Ray........................................... 140
Noel, Randy.................................................. 143
Perry, James................................................. 153
Schedler, Larry G............................................ 164
Stewart, Pauline............................................. 169
St. Julien, Mtumishi......................................... 172
Wells, Scott................................................. 181
Additional Material Submitted for the Record
Lee, Hon. Barbara:
Louisiana Commission on HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C, "A Call to
Action".................................................... 191
National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness,
prepared statement......................................... 192
Melancon, Hon. Charlie:
Email regarding production of trailers....................... 197
Mercadel, Kevin:
"N.Y. Benefit Supports Restoration," article, New Orleans
Times-Picayune, January 13, 2006........................... 198
PRC Renovations, Faubourg Marengo Historic Neighborhood
Initiative, 600 Block of General Taylor Street............. 200
Perry, James:
National Fair Housing Alliance, Report on Housing
Discrimination Against Hurricane Katrina Survivors,
December 20, 2005.......................................... 201
HOUSING OPTIONS IN THE AFTERMATH
OF HURRICANES KATRINA AND RITA
----------
Friday, January 13, 2006
U.S. House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Housing and
Community Opportunity,
Committee on Financial Services,
Washington, D.C.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 2:10 p.m., in
the Board Room, Port of New Orleans Administration Building,
1350 Port of New Orleans Place, New Orleans, Louisiana, Hon.
Bob Ney [Chairman of the subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Ney, Waters, Lee, Green, Cleaver,
Watson, Melancon and Taylor.
Chairman Ney. The Housing Subcommittee meets this afternoon
to continue its discussion of the Federal Government's response
to the emergency housing needs of residents affected by
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
This is the first field hearing held in New Orleans since
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf shores late last
summer. And we will also be going tomorrow to Gulfport,
Mississippi, to also to have hearings down there.
I am going to limit my opening statements. The members here
of course are free to make opening statements. I would explain,
we are under the rules of the House and this is an official
House hearing and this is the Subcommittee on Housing and
Community Opportunity. We have a 5 minute rule, we call it,
where a witness will speak for 5 minutes. Members then will
have 5 minutes to ask questions and respond. We will try to
hold to the rule, but I do not want to cut you all off with a
bang of a gavel. So we will try to have some leeway obviously
because this is an important topic today.
Mike Oxley from Ohio chairs the full Committee on Financial
Services. And the ranking member is Barney Frank of
Massachusetts and I chair the subcommittee. And my name is Bob
Ney from Ohio and Maxine Waters is our ranking member from
California. And of course we have other members who are going
to introduce themselves today.
Again, I am going to limit it because I do want to get to
our panel and I think they have important things that we will
want to hear. I want to thank the mayor and also Congressman
Jefferson for hosting us in this historic city. This is not my
first visit here. Also, I would like to thank Chairman Richard
Baker and all the Members of the Louisiana and Mississippi
delegations who took the time also and have been working on
this issue. And of course I want to thank our subcommittee
ranking member, Maxine Waters, who has dedicated so much time
to this issue and I think was here on the ground pretty quick
after this happened. And I realize too our members have
traveled from the west coast and sometimes that is not easy to
be able to do that. I really appreciate them being here.
We have been at the forefront of this in Washington, D.C.,
since it began. We have had a committee that we formed for
disaster recovery. Members have been meeting constantly with
FEMA, with HUD, with groups of people that call us from across
the country, all trying to see how we can help in this
situation. So we have been at the forefront of it and we have
had three hearings, four briefings, and approximately 80
witnesses participating.
In addition, the committee has shepherded needed relief
legislation to the House floor in the recent months following
this disaster that will affect not only families in the
immediate hurricane-ravaged areas but those families forced to
suffer the aftermath due to flooding.
Now clearly there are many challenges ahead. Some are local
decisions; some are local, State; some are local, State, and
Federal. But they all involve human beings who have been in
such trauma in their lives as a result of what has happened
here.
There are still many that are without, of course, permanent
housing, jobs, and infrastructure. And this committee focuses
on the housing aspect. That is one reason we are here. And
also, about people that are living in hotels or on the cruise
ships and what is going to happen to them, what is the time
frame. These are the issues we have dealt with in Washington,
D.C. So I look forward to working with our chairman, Mike
Oxley, Congressman Richard Baker, Barney Frank, our ranking
member again of the committee, and Maxine Waters, and our
members. Also, would the staff on both sides of the aisle
please raise your hands, all the staff.
[Staff complies.]
Chairman Ney. These are wonderful people and they make the
system work. They work very, very hard, so I want to recognize
both sides of the aisle of the staff.
Let me just close by just saying we went today around the
affected area. Even though we have been dealing with this issue
in Washington, and trying to help, as everybody from any State
should--we are one country--until you see this--it is the most
unbelievable thing I have ever seen in my life and the shock
and the trauma of what has happened to people. And I just, I
would tell you the outpouring of so many of you and putting
your hearts and soul into helping these people is something
that shows the true spirit of the worth of the human beings
from around the country and people right here on the ground. I
have never seen anything like what I saw today. Our hearts go
out to the people here and also all that you see in the rest of
the Gulf affected areas.
I also wanted to introduce Mr. Sidney Williams, ambassador-
I should give him his title-and also spouse of Maxine Waters.
We are so happy to have Ambassador Williams here today. And
also, Minister Louis Farrakhan, we are very happy to have Mr.
Farrakhan here with us today. Thank you.
[Applause.]
Chairman Ney. And again I would also like to note, I would
like unanimous consent that Congressman Melancon and
Congressman Watson can participate in the hearings today.
Without objection, they will be able to participate. And I will
turn and thank again for your concern and all your dedication
to the people that have been so affected. Our ranking member,
Maxine Waters.
[The prepared statement of Hon. Robert W. Ney can be found
on page 92 in the appendix.]
Ms. Waters. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I would first like to thank the chairman of this committee
for pulling together this hearing and coming to New Orleans to
make sure we get a first hand view of the devastation that has
taken place here. The chairman is correct; I was here in New
Orleans about the fifth day following Katrina, where I
witnessed much of the devastation, having spent time at the
Louie Armstrong Airport that was being used as a staging ground
for those who were being plucked off of roof tops and off the
highways. And I saw something that I never thought I would see
in America at the Louie Armstrong Airport where people were
literally dying and did not know what was going to happen to
them.
Many of those people were put on airplanes and buses and
taken to places that they had no idea where they were going at
the time. And of course, since all of that, we have residents
of this great city who are living in various shelters across
this country and in the homes of relatives and friends,
supported by churches and community groups and organizations.
And I would just like to, number one, say to the people of
New Orleans that I have a great appreciation for what you have
suffered and what you have been through. And this committee,
this chairman and the members of this committee and
particularly those who are there today are dedicated to the
proposition that we can do better than what we are doing now;
that we can move this agenda faster, that we can create more
housing, we can get people back home, that we can help to
rebuild this city. And I believe that the chairman's vision for
putting together this hearing today is one that will help to
get us there.
I want to thank HUD for the tremendous job that they did in
providing us the tour today. It is one thing to see the
devastation on television. But it is absolutely another thing
to be close up and to see what happened to houses and
businesses and to see where the breaches absolutely took place.
It is a sight and a scene that I will never forget and I do not
think anyone who sees it can forget it. So thank you, City of
New Orleans, HUD, the mayor's office, all, for providing us
with that tour that we had this morning.
Let me just say that what we understand is that in the
region over 110,000 private homes are destroyed. More
specifically though, some 1.5 million people are displaced and
208,000 housing units were destroyed and 20,000 plus Louisiana
businesses were lost.
We have been busy in Washington, D.C., passing legislation
and I asked my staff to give me a review of all of the
legislation that has been passed. And I would just like to go
over that with you very quickly. HR 4146, the Hurricanes Rita
and Wilma Financial Services Relief Act of 2005; HR 4133, the
National Flood Insurance Program Enhanced Borrowing Authority
Act of 2005; HR 3909, the Hurricane Check Cash Relief Act of
2005; and HR 3505, the Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act
of 2005. And then, of course, we have the National Flood
Insurance Program and HR 4100, the Louisiana Recovery
Corporation Act sponsor.
In addition to that, about 62.3 billion, Mr. Chairman, I
believe was appropriated for the recovery. And one of the
things that we must do is to find out where that money has
gone, how much has been spent, what is left of that
appropriation. And what do we need to do to fight for
additional resources.
I do want to mention that November 3, 2005, the 42 House
members of the Congressional Black Caucus introduced HR 4197,
the Hurricane Katrina Recovery, Reclamation, Restoration,
Reconstruction and Reunion Act of 2005. This bill is designed
to provide for the comprehensive recovery of the Gulf Coast
region and for the reunion of families devastated by Hurricane
Katrina. HR 4197 emphasizes two critical objectives that CBC
and many others have considered most important since Hurricane
Katrina--the desire to see the Gulf Coast restored fully and
the desire to see the residents of the Gulf Coast reunited with
their family.
Title Four of the bill entitled Housing and Community
Rebuilding Provisions, a section which I helped to craft along
with Representative Barbara Lee, using the tools that were
available to me as ranking member of this subcommittee,
authorizes the additional Federal funds for the Hurricane
Katrina disaster area for the following purposes, in the
following amounts. Let me explain, in addition to the work that
the chairman was doing and the other bills that you heard me
allude to, the Congressional Black Caucus thought it was very
important for us to structure legislation and to put into that
legislation everything that we thought was needed. There are
many who will look at that legislation and say, "Oh my God,
that costs a fortune, that is much too comprehensive, it is
much too costly." But we thought it was our responsibility to
organize what essentially is a Rolls Royce piece of
legislation, to say this is what the people of the Gulf Coast
region deserve.
We negotiated with Chairman Ney here and others, along with
Mr. Baker, who I think will be here a little bit later today
who had also proposed some legislation. And we were able to get
the agreement of Chairman Ney and Mr. Baker to incorporate in
the Baker Bill some of our concerns in addition to having our
own legislation.
This portion that I am going to cite to you is about
housing because this is the Subcommittee on Housing. And we
serve on this committee as one of the subcommittees of the
Financial Services Committee. And we wanted to pay special
attention to the housing needs and that is one of the reasons I
came to New Orleans very early, because I knew that the
displacement was going to be awesome and that we were going to
have to talk about not only how to house people in the
emergency-that is, with the shelters-but then the transitional
housing and all of the trailers you have heard so much about.
And then beyond that, what do we do for permanent housing and
how do we deal with the existing resources that we have in
Government, the CDBG and housing monies and Section 8 housing
vouchers and all of that? And what do we need to put on top of
that with new appropriations? So we put together the Public
Housing Capital Funds for $100 million, Hope 6 Community
Revitalization for 100 million. We increased the home funding
by $1 billion. The Community Development Block Grant, CDBG,
which we think is so important, and the chairman insisted on,
we put another one billion dollars into that legislation.
In the CDBG, Section 1089, loan guarantee funds, we kicked
up $10 million; the Youth Bill Program, $200 million; HUD
Demonstration Act Funds, 4.5 million; funding for 300,000
additional tenant-based renting assistance Section 8 vouchers,
$10 million for fair housing enforcement and $10 million that
Barbara Lee insisted on for housing counseling for families in
temporary shelters.
Now I will not go into much more of this, except to say
this was our Rolls Royce budget that is being advanced by the
Congressional Black Caucus. As we look at what has been done,
what has been spent, how much has not been spent, we can
further decide how to be advocates for these additional
resources, even given the budget deficit that we are confronted
with in Washington, D.C.
In closing, let me just say this; I believe that more
attention by the Federal Government must be given to the entire
Gulf Coast region. That despite the fact that we have had any
number Members of Congress, both from the Senate side and the
House side, kind ride through and ride over, this is really the
first official hearing that has been held, thanks to
Congressman Ney, thanks to the Congressional Black Caucus,
thanks to Bill Jefferson, and to the other representatives of
this area. And I do believe that not only should we be on the
ground today, but that we should be on the ground giving
oversight in the best way that we possibly can to the
implementation of the funds that have been allocated to make
sure we can move this agenda. It is a huge agenda and a lot
that has to be done.
I am not going to go into everything that I am happy with.
But we all know that--and we want to find out here today about
why more trailers have not been put on the ground. We have some
confusion about whether or not the authorization has been given
to put these trailers on the ground, whether or not they are
being manufactured fast enough and whether or not FEMA is doing
its job to get the trailers here. And whether or not the local
government is doing its job to do the authorization and the
placement and the infrastructure that is needed in order to put
these trailers down until we can get permanent housing and move
on that agenda.
We are absolutely focused on the fact that people are in
hotels and these dates are being given. Before we left
Washington, D.C., the Congressional Black Caucus met with the
Acting Director of FEMA. That is when the date was first given
of December. And we said oh, no, we do not intend to see
anybody put out of hotels and in the street in December. The
date was moved to February and now I understand it has moved to
March. But we really do not care what date they give; we do not
intend to see anybody put out on the street at any time until
we need to work out how we are going to move people from
temporary living to transitional living to permanent housing.
[Applause.]
Ms. Waters. Again, we have a lot of questions about
contracts--who got the contracts, whether or not they were no
bid, whether on not they have rebid, who is getting
opportunities to be involved in the procurement and the
contracting. And we may not be able to get into all of that
today.
But again, Mr. Chairman, I thank you for starting this up
close oversight that we must do. And with that, I know that I
have talked over my time and I have no time to yield back. But
Mr. Chairman, I will pretend like I am yielding back time so
that you can give it to someone else.
Thank you very much.
Chairman Ney. We will note that yield back of the time.
Ms. Waters. Okay.
Chairman Ney. I do have, without objection, statements that
will be entered into the record. American Hotel and Lodging
Association, Rural Housing Service and a statement by
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee. And I would also note--
although I would like to applaud personally for many of the
things the ranking member said--in the House hearings we do not
usually express either happiness or sadness or booing or
applauding. It is okay that you applauded. I just thought I
would tell you the protocol of the day.
So I move on to the gentlelady from California, Ms. Lee.
Ms. Lee. Thank you very much. I want to also thank you,
Chairman Ney, for your leadership and our ranking member,
Waters, for her vigilance, leadership and really for both of
you in terms of your leadership to make sure that the response
from our committee and the Congress is a bipartisan response,
and that it is a response that makes sense, that is inclusive
of New Orleans in terms of the appropriate response that the
Congress must engage in.
Also, let me thank the HUD officials who provided this
visit today, this unbelievable visit of the devastation that
has taken place. To the City of New Orleans, the State of
Louisiana, to Congressman Baker, to Congressman Jefferson, to
the mayor, let me say to you, the people of New Orleans, I want
to just commend you first of all for your indomitable spirit
and your resilience and for your determination, and I mean,
your real determination to rebuild this great city. And that is
what this is about. And that is what I think the Congress must
make sure happens in terms of our support for those efforts.
Mr. Chairman, ranking member, we all know that basically
people want to come home. They want the electricity restored;
they want their trash picked up, their roofs repaired, the mold
in their homes removed, food on their tables and a way to earn
a living. Also, the people of the Katrina region, the people of
New Orleans, deserve to benefit from the reconstruction jobs
that are taking place and they must be close to home to benefit
from those jobs.
There are hundreds of thousands of people who want to
return home, but either fear that their home no longer exists
or will be demolished. We have got to ensure that that does not
happen.
Since day one, of course, many of us have been concerned
about the issues of eminent domain and the fact that there are
those who could profit or would profit or try to profit off of
this tragedy. And we are determined, from a Federal level, from
the Congressional level, to not let that happen. So let me say
I am convinced that our legislative efforts must be about
helping to rebuild and restore homes and communities, but with
equitable development strategies in the rebuilding of this
great city.
Today, I hope to hear from FEMA and HUD in terms of some of
the questions that were quite frankly left unanswered in
Washington, D.C., during our hearings. I want to find out how
FEMA and HUD are working together for this immediate temporary
housing and how they are working to make the transition back
into more permanent housing as easy as possible.
I also want to know, and this again may not be directly
related to housing, but we have to have a coordinated effort
with FEMA and HUD as it relates to the needs of those people
living with HIV and AIDS and what steps are being taken to
ensure that there is a continuity of care with these
individuals, especially as it relates to their housing needs.
Also let me just say, Mr. Chairman, and to our Ranking
Member and the Committee, that I had the privilege quite
frankly to visit Houston. It was an awesome experience to visit
those displaced by Katrina right after the devastation of this
hurricane. And the trauma that exists, as you well know,
warrants some attention in terms of mental health needs, in
terms of counseling, in terms of support services as we look at
housing needs. And so, I see our housing strategies as being
inclusive or at least requiring an inclusive approach to make
sure that those who need the mental health services and the
HIV/AIDS services receive those types of services as we help
them return home.
Finally, let me just say one of the issues that I have been
very concerned with, with Congresswoman Waters and others on
the committee, is the issue of the homeless. What is happening
to those individuals who were homeless prior to Katrina. Where
are they? How are they being integrated into the overall
recovery efforts of this great city? I would like to include,
Mr. Chairman, and let me just ask unanimous consent to include
into the record, statements from the National Policy and
Advocacy Coalition. And also, for the homeless and the Call to
Action, I would like to have their reports entered into the
record.
Chairman Ney. Without objection.
Ms. Lee. Thank you very much.
Again, I just want to say to you that this moment should
really galvanize us the way 9-11 did. We should be recommitted
to helping New Orleans rebuild in terms of what the American
dream should really be about. And we should take this moment to
address the lack of economic opportunities and the economic
disparities that became so glaring and that the world was--that
the world saw as a result of this human tragedy.
Thank you again, Mr. Chairman; thank you, Ranking Member
Waters.
[Applause.]
Chairman Ney. Thank the gentlelady.
The gentleman from Texas, Mr. Green.
Mr. Green. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to say to
you, Mr. Chairman, I greatly appreciate your bringing these
hearings here. Friends, this chairman has been at every one of
our meetings that we have had on this topic. And I am honored
to have the opportunity to serve with him.
I want to thank the ranking member. She clearly is the
Congress person for the people of this country.
[Applause.]
Mr. Green. I want to give a special thank you to her
because she helped us to secure $7.7 million to fight
discrimination in housing at a time when we need to fight
discrimination in housing because it is still taking place. The
Katrina victims are being discriminated against based upon
color, based upon race, and Madam Chair--Madam Ranking Member,
I thank you for helping us to get that money to fight that
discrimination. Thank you.
[Applause.]
Mr. Green. I too had an opportunity to see the devastation
that has taken place in this city. And we lost more than
buildings, because that is what you see with the camera's eye.
When you go inside those homes and you see the way all of the
furniture, all of the pictures on the walls--and the chairman
pointed out today that there was a picture of the Last Supper--
it looks as though you just walked into the twilight zone.
Everything there, but in turmoil, and the people are gone. They
lost their memories, their memorabilia, the little things that
you can never ever replace with money. I just cannot tell you
how important it was for us to have the opportunity to go
through the homes.
So Mr. Chairman, I want to--and Madam Ranking Member--I
want to say this about a couple of things that I deem to be of
paramount importance. One, we must rebuild the levee system and
it ought to be to a category five standard.
[Applause.]
Mr. Green. We have been equivocating; we have caused a lot
of consternation. It is time for us to be definitive and let
people know that we are committed to this city and the State
and the Gulf Coast. Business people are going to have some
concerns as long as we have the levees built to less than a
category five. If we really want businesses to relocate without
hesitation or reservation or equivocation, rebuild the levees
and let us do it to a category five standard. I hope that we
can get that kind of commitment from our Government.
I think, Mr. Chairman, Madam Ranking Member, that we must
allow the people from New Orleans to elect their
representatives.
[Applause.]
Mr. Green. If they live in Houston, Texas, they ought to be
able to select their representatives. People who live in the
United States who are from Mexico--and I do not begrudge them--
are going to elect representatives in Mexico. There is no
reasons why we should allow politics to prevent the people who
were born and reared and who are residents of this city from
electing the people of their choice. Because, I submit to you
if they do not get the opportunity to do it, we may have a
different look when it comes to the representation in New
Orleans. I want to see them have a chance to vote.
[Applause.]
Mr. Green. And finally, I was born in Charity Hospital. And
I want you to know that I am convinced that New Orleans will
come back. The question that I grapple with, the thing that
keeps me up at night, is who will come back to New Orleans?
Will people who did not own property, who have a rich history
in this city that they are proud of--will they have the
opportunity to return? I am committed to making sure not only
those who are well off and wealthy, but also I am committed to
having the least, the last, and the lost return to this city as
their home.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman.
[Applause.]
Chairman Ney. I thank the gentlemen.
The gentleman, Mr. Cleaver, from Missouri.
Mr. Cleaver. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, not only for your
leadership in holding this important subcommittee hearing, but
for your steadfast support for the spending of Federal dollars
to improve the quality of life for people during the pre- and
post-Gulf Coast tragedy.
And to our ranking member, Maxine Waters, thank you for
doing what you always do, doing what needs to be done, and then
telling it like it is. Thank you.
To my friend over the years and colleague now, Congressman
William Jefferson, thank you for hosting us along with the
mayor.
I served as the mayor of Kansas City for 8 years in the
1990s. It is the most difficult job in America; you are on
center stage. People in the United States Senate, they can go
to Washington. Members of Congress, they can go. And mayors,
they have to go to the grocery store, to the pharmacy, and that
is where the people are.
Like a snowflake that melts under the noonday sun, the
attention of America is melting away from the devastation in
the Gulf Coast region. I have said over and over again that we
suffer from attention deficit disorder as a Nation. We are
probably about a 12-week Nation; it is usually about 12 weeks,
sometimes it is 12 weeks and 2 days, but the truth of the
matter is in about 12 weeks, 2 days, and a couple of hours, we
will forget just about anything. And so, we have moved on now
to the Super Bowl and the Grammy's. We are now looking for
Desperate Housewives. We are not into giving attention here.
And so, that is why I hope those of you here can appreciate the
Members who are here, particularly our leadership.
I just want to say one thing and then move on to my
colleague. The issue that we have to deal with, I am not sure I
realized this until we went through the city today, is an issue
of will. What is the will of the nation? It will cost a
truckload of money to bring back the Crescent City, to bring
back the Big Easy--a truckload of money. Almost as much money
as the oil companies made in the last quarter.
[Applause.]
Mr. Green. And they had record profits and so it is going
to take almost that much money and I think if we have the will,
we can do pretty much what we want to do. This is the most
powerful Nation on the planet and I do not think we ought to
sit around as Members of Congress, nor you as citizens, to
accept anything less than bringing this city back. We are
unequal in terms of the economy and in terms of our industrial
capacity. And if we are not able to turn around one city,
friends, we are sending a statement. We are talking about how
we make ourselves look bad by criticizing the Government, but
we are making a horrible statement that the world will be able
to see and hear, that we will not take care of our own. Our
attention is gone and maybe this hearing will bring our
attention back. The whole world is looking at America and
America is looking at TV.
[Applause.]
Mr. Green. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Ney. I thank the gentleman.
The gentlelady from California, Ms. Watson.
Ms. Watson. I am not going to take much time because I am a
visiting Member who is committed to seeing that the birthplace
of her grandmother, who was in a convent, the Order of the Holy
Family for 13 years, is restored.
I want to specifically thank Mayor Nagin for coming to Los
Angeles. But for your leadership and I think your show of
compassion and passion alerted this country to the challenge
that we have.
I want to thank Bill Jefferson, probably one of the
strongest and most profound Members of Congress, who suffered
greatly, we were in your district. It brought tears to our
eyes; it broke our hearts. Thank you for coming today.
But more so, Chairman Ney, for agreeing--and we were
talking along the way and I truly feel that he sincerely feels
your pain. And of course, there is Maxine Waters. It has all
been said; she is the spokesperson for all of us, the
underprivileged in this country and we appreciate that.
But most of all, for all of you who have come and Minister
Farrakhan for saying that you came to listen and to learn.
Thank you for taking the time to hear the plight.
And we have this panel and we were invited along, so we
could hear from you in your own words as to what your needs
definitely are. And Chairman Ney, I think it ought to be
mandatory for every member of every fiscal committee to come
down here and view first hand the devastation on the Gulf Coast
and to start focusing, as has been said, on the challenge that
faces America now that the covers have been pulled off of
poverty. And it just happens to be that poverty looks like us.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and ranking member.
Chairman Ney. I thank the gentlelady.
And welcome to the committee, Congressman Melancon, who of
course is from here in Louisiana.
Mr. Melancon. Thank you, chairman. I appreciate, as all the
other Members, you taking the time and I appreciate all the
members of the committee that has taken the time to come from
other States to view New Orleans and the region. This is the
region and New Orleans is the hub.
Mr. Chairman, there have been requests and attempts by
Louisiana delegation for a number of years to get shares of
outer continental shelf revenues from royalties offshore, as
the inland States do on Federal land.
The people that you see here are not looking for a helping
hand. They just want--I mean not looking for a hand out, they
are looking for a helping hand. They do not want to go begging.
If we had a share of what is rightfully Louisiana's for the
energy that we produce for this country and have produced for
all these years, we would not have to be asking every day and
begging every day for monies to help folks in New Orleans, St.
Bernard, Plaquemines, and Mississippi and Alabama and now Texas
and for that matter, Florida. But if we had that revenue,
Louisiana could bond itself for the most part out of the
situation we are in. That is a long time request in terms of
achieving, getting this city, this region back on its feet and
as productive as it was once for the country.
I found out during one of the bills that were on the floor
for debate, as I discussed monies with some of the other
Members for Louisiana because of the disaster, the other
thing--and this is the other point, and I made these to the
President yesterday and asked him to get involved. If in fact
the Congress will pass a WRDA bill, which is the Water Resource
Development Act, which it has not done in 6 years. It is not
the House's problem; it is the Senate's problem. But if in fact
all Members of Congress would get involved, we could start with
that offshore royalty money and with the WRDA bill which would
give us authorizations we do not presently have, build the
levees that we need to a category five, do the coastal
restoration that is needed to protect those levees, and rebuild
this city and this region to its once glorious presence that it
did have.
Those two items, if accomplished, would keep these people
and people like Bill Jefferson and Gene Taylor and I from
having to come and grovel and beg, because sometimes that is
what it feels like.
I thank you again, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Waters; you
have taken the time and we in Louisiana and this region really
do appreciate it. I understand that the Katrina Committee will
be coming here hopefully in the next week and as expressed by
Congressman Watson, I would like to be able to put every Member
of Congress on the ground in this region. There has been
discussions about the bus tours and I have mixed emotions, but
I truly believe that if every person from this country, for
that matter from other countries who have reached out to help
us would come here see the devastation, understand the
devastation, and speak to their Members of Congress, our job
would be a whole lot easier.
So I thank you again for being with us in New Orleans and
taking the time out of what I know is all of your busy
schedules.
Chairman Ney. Thank you.
Congressman Taylor, who also will be with us tomorrow in
his home State of Mississippi. Thank you.
Mr. Taylor. Thank you, Chairman Ney. I want to thank all of
my colleagues, many of whom came from clear across the country
to be here. I hope that you will stick around for tomorrow.
What you will discover is the flood hit New Orleans, the
hurricane hit Mississippi. And whether it was the flood waters
or a hurricane that destroyed your house, at the end of the
day, losing your house is losing your house.
I would hope for a couple of things that you come away with
from this--this was an equal opportunity storm, particularly in
the case of Mississippi. The richest guy in town and the
poorest guy in town both lost their house. You will see the
shameful job the insurance industry has done of fulfilling its
obligations.
[Applause.]
[Lights blink.]
Mr. Taylor. And you will also see how powerful those folks
are.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Taylor. But, you know, for decades collecting premiums
and then when it comes time, finding every excuse not to pay on
those claims.
You will see that FEMA, although it has done a formidable
job, still 120 days after the storm in the case of south
Mississippi, there are 5000 families waiting on a FEMA trailer.
Good news is that 30,000 families have gotten those trailers.
But still you would think that the greatest Nation on earth
could do better than that. The trailers really were not
designed, since this is housing and these are weekend trailers
that people will be living in for 18 months. And one of the
things that we need to be changing as a Nation is that they
ought to be all electric. The heat is propane tanks; for a
healthy guy like Charlie, no big deal to change them out every
3 days. But if you happen to be a senior citizen, you happen to
be disabled, that becomes a major obstacle and we need to
change that. Either the Administration needs to change that or
we need to change that.
But you are absolutely going to be taken aback even further
tomorrow at the level of devastation in south Mississippi. We
still cannot get a count, but it is a safe guess that somewhere
between 40,000 and 50,00 homes are gone. And that in my home
county, two-thirds of the people have either lost their home
entirely or it is uninhabitable.
So, again, we are glad that you are here. We want as many
of our colleagues as possible. I do, on behalf of the people of
Mississippi, want to thank you for what has already been done.
And I think all of us would fail if we did not mention that to
date something in the neighborhood of $80 billion has been
appropriated. But there is still a heck of a lot of work that
needs to be done. And we cannot have enough of our colleagues
come down here and see the devastation as we ask you for
additional help.
So thank you for being here.
Chairman Ney. And with that, we will move on to our panel
and the first panel, we have our colleague of course, the
Honorable Congressman William Jefferson. And we have the mayor
of the City of New Orleans. Mayor, welcome also. And Mr. St.
Julien, executive director of Finance Authority of New Orleans.
Mr. Hank Williams, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Multi-Family
Housing, Department of Housing and Urban Development. And Mr.
Scott Wells, Federal Coordinating Officer, Federal Emergency
Management Agency, FEMA, Department of Homeland Security.
And let me just say, mayor, thank you for having us in one
of the most wonderful cities, I have thought for years, in the
world. And I want to give special mention to Congressman
Jefferson. I want to thank you for helping us in arranging this
and all the work and effort that you put into it. We will begin
with our colleague, Congressman Jefferson.
STATEMENT OF HONORABLE WILLIAM JEFFERSON, MEMBER OF CONGRESS
FROM THE STATE OF LOUISIANA
Mr. Jefferson. Thank you, Chairman Ney and Ranking Member
Waters. To both of you, I implored you to come to our city, to
our region, and you were wonderful in your response to it. And
we thank you very much for providing the leadership that
brought this committee here today.
Distinguished members of the Subcommittee on Housing and
Community Opportunity and distinguished colleagues and friends,
I wish to welcome you to my home district, to my home city, and
to thank you for inviting me to testify today. I want to thank
our mayor for joining us too. He has a wonderful attendance
record in Washington now. He is there almost as much as we are.
We appreciate his help and his commitment.
It is extremely important that you have convened this
hearing today at the site of the most devastating natural
disaster in perhaps the entire history of the United States.
Additionally, your visit is timely as our local and State
governments are grappling with the very issues that your
Committee will have to respond to over the coming months and
years.
I also appreciate the opportunity to--I appreciate the
commitment that you have already shown, as my colleagues have
said, to rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf Coast that this
committee has consistently shown in the months since the
monster storms Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, since these storms
altered the lives of all of us.
The question must not be whether New Orleans will emerge
from these disasters, but rather how it will return. Absolutely
critical to this recovery is the manner in which the housing
crisis is addressed and how quickly and easily the displaced
can find their way home again. In this spirit, I express my
deep gratitude to this committee for having taken the time to
tour the devastated areas of our city. Seeing it, one must
agree, is quite different from hearing about it or reading
about it. Every home, every neighborhood represents not just a
tragic loss of property, but a tragic disruption in the lives
of a vibrant people and a vibrant city. The people in the city
are not just important to our region but to our entire country.
As we think about how to deal with the problem of
rebuilding the housing infrastructure and the communities in
our city, it is important to note what truly happened here. But
for the failure of our levee system, the flooding that has so
devastated our housing stock, would not have occurred or would
have been minimal. The losses that your committee bore witness
to today in your tour would not have occurred. Because of the
failures of our levees, more than 228,000 occupied housing
units, representing more than 45 percent of the total housing
stock in the metropolitan New Orleans area, sustained flood
waters. This total includes 120,000 owner occupied units and
108,000 units occupied by renters, representing 39 and 56
percent of those respective stocks. By some reports, 108,000 of
these households had over 4 feet of flood water in them for
weeks, representing 50 percent of all New Orleans households.
I just came back from a trip to the Netherlands with our
two U.S. Senators, our Governor, and a host of city and parish
leaders throughout this region. The Netherlands has a thriving
economy and important stocks of housing in areas that are more
than 20 feet below sea level, often more than twice as much
below sea level as any area of our city and of our region. Of
the $485 billion economy of the Netherlands, more than 70
percent is derived from areas ranging from 15 to 27 feet below
sea level. Without recovering and utilizing this area after
suffering devastating flooding, the Netherlands would not boast
the great culture and economic power that it does today as a
nation of the world's second largest port and one of Europe's
most coveted tourist destinations.
So as we contemplate building back communities in New
Orleans, the question is not whether we can build sustainable
communities in every neighborhood of our city, but whether we
will make the choice to do so. It is a matter of the vision we
have for the City of New Orleans. Do we envision the City of
New Orleans as again one of the major cities of our country
with its distinct, vibrant, and historic neighborhoods fully
restored and enhanced, as a leading port city of our country in
tonnage. as a most interesting and creative cultural mecca of
our Nation? If we begin with this vision rather than a short-
term view of the challenges that we face in achieving it, there
is little doubt that the technology exists to secure this
vision for our people and our Nation, if we but have the
political will to make the right political choices. In a $12
trillion economy and a $2.2 trillion annual budget, we can find
a way to make the right choice.
As we move forward, we must determine how to rebuild our
housing stock and our communities scientifically,
systematically, and democratically. We have a commitment in
hand to build our levee system to standards not existing
heretofore and a pledge to build a system of barrier island
protection and wetland protection and canal protection to
secure us against these ferocious storms. We are, therefore,
prepared to confront this most extraordinary urban housing
crisis that our country has ever witnessed.
In doing so, we must move forward aggressively and
creatively to resettle those displaced by the deluge in safe
comfortable homes in economically integrated neighborhoods or,
as a recent Brookings Institute report describes them,
neighborhoods of choice and connection. Such neighborhoods may
represent the best hope to solve many of the city's urban
ailments. They reject the concentrated poverty, residential
segregation and economic isolation that characterized too much
of our city previously. They also represent a vision of a city
rich in economically integrated neighborhoods, attractive to
all classes of people, with schools on a path to excellence
traversed by a notably better transportation system and paths
to great economic opportunities.
All of this begins with getting our people a realistic plan
to be housed, both temporarily and in the long term. In this,
government at every level must take decisive action. The
displaced citizens must do their part and exert their best
efforts to assist in this process. But I do not believe that
where government has not asked the question of where schools
will start up and where hospitals will be stood up, and
infrastructure like streets and lights put in place, that
citizen groups can be expected to make plans to rebuild
communities all by themselves.
In the real world where people live who have been displaced
from their homes and who have lost their property there, a
world where insurance companies have not paid them for their
losses, where they have run out of money and where even getting
a contractor or an electrical inspector is a daunting if not an
impossible task, it does not appear reasonable to expect these
citizens to organize themselves and plan for their community
survival and the restoration of their homes in a few months.
[Applause.]
Mr. Jefferson. The committee and the Congress have already
done a great many things to relieve the housing crisis. But it
continues to be a crisis nonetheless. The effect of some of our
efforts will be felt immediately--improvement to FEMA's
temporary housing program and the 1-year deferment provided by
HUD for FHA-secured loans, for example. Other efforts will
yield results in the coming months and years. The extraordinary
increase in low income housing tax credits that we just passed
and enhancement of mortgage revenue bonds as a driver below
market for displaced people, for example, will also be helpful.
Next, we must continue the work that this committee has
already begun by ensuring the passage of the Louisiana Recovery
Corporation Act in short order. The bill introduced by
Congressman Baker and supported by our Louisiana delegation and
improved upon by members of this very committee brings a
thoughtful and critical tool for the recovery of our
homeowners. We must also provide immediate and meaningful
mortgage relief to those displaced by the hurricane. The
financial services industry has gone to great lengths to
accommodate the victims of these storms, but their efforts are
not uniform and not always helpful. I recognize, as I believe
everyone does, that mortgage lenders are in the business to
make money and situations such as we confront today are not
entirely helpful to the bottom line. Moreover, mortgages are
securitized by entities like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac,
Countrywide, and others and these mortgage-backed securities
are sold to bond holders throughout the world. Accordingly,
when the lender is confronted with the decision as to how best
to handle an individual mortgage, he or she cannot do so in a
vacuum because there will be significant downstream effects to
any decision he or she makes.
For that reason, we should consider following approaches we
used in our student loan programs. When students graduate from
college or graduate from school and take those first few steps
towards independence, we have long recognized that burdening
those wobbly initial steps with a mountain of education debt is
not likely to improve the student's chances for success.
Therefore, most student loan programs offer borrowers an
automatic deferment for 1 year. That 1 year gives borrowers the
breathing room they need to find a job, secure a home, and
brighten their path to success.
Same can be said for thousands who have been uprooted from
their homes and now confront the potentially unbearable burden
of financing two homes. Without immediate uniform relief that
preserves the assets of the victims of the hurricanes and keeps
the lenders whole, we will likely see a wave of bankruptcies
and foreclosures which will have a lasting and potential
devastating effect on the families of the Gulf Coast and its
recovering economy.
Mindful of that, I would ask the committee to consider an
automatic 1 year deferment of their mortgage obligations for
homeowners living in the core disaster area with Federal
financing of the debt service that mortgage lenders will lose
during that year. The precise mechanism for financing, I would
leave for the wisdom of those of you on this panel and others
with greater expertise in this area. However, I believe it is
absolutely critical that homeowners receive immediate relief,
again to give them the certainty and breathing room that they
need to recover from the devastating effects of the hurricanes
and return to the home for which they have worked so hard.
In addition, we must finish the work of the GSE reform
bill, including the creation of its trust fund to finance
affordable housing and other housing initiatives for low-and
moderate-income families. While that program is designed to be
national in scope over the long term, I am grateful that the
resources of that trust fund are to be targeted through the
aegis of this committee to the housing crisis in the GO zone
during the first 1 or 2 years of the program. I am hopeful that
the Senate would join in the House's in action and move this
important trust fund and its $700 million for our area forward.
We must also use our community development block grant
resources more creatively and much more broadly to support
communities in order to rebuild this vital housing. And we must
make the greatest use of HUD properties to rehabilitate them
for use to repopulate our city, both on a temporary and a long
term basis.
At the end of the day, our objective must be that everyone
who has been displaced through this tragic set of events called
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita has both a realistic right and the
realistic opportunity to return to their homes and pick up
their lives. I believe it is the responsibility of our
Government to ensure this chance for them. The devastation
wrought by these storms is at once a terrible challenge out of
which we must wring a tremendous opportunity. Our commitment
must be that those who have suffered so much have not done so
in vain.
Tasked by a great and serious obligation, the Nation has
the opportunity to help a great but shattered community
rebuild. Not just to recover, but become more survivable, more
sustainable, and more equitable and more prosperous all at
once.
I look forward to working hand in hand with you and all of
our colleagues in Congress to achieve these daunting but fully
obtainable goals. And again, I want to thank this committee.
Chairman Ney. Thank the gentleman from Louisiana.
[Applause.]
Mayor Nagin, thank you.
[The statement of Hon. William J. Jefferson can be found on
page 93 in the appendix.]
STATEMENT OF HONORABLE C. RAY NAGIN, MAYOR, CITY OF NEW ORLEANS
Mayor Nagin. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Congresswoman
Maxine Waters, members of the committee, let me thank you for
being here in New Orleans. Let me just do a time check--how
much time do I have to spend with you today?
Chairman Ney. We try to do 5 minutes; it will beep and not
to make a difference but for the Member. We have some leeway
and for the Mayor, we have some leeway if you go over.
Mayor Nagin. Well, since you have my comments in writing,
if you do not mind, I would like to go off script for a minute
if I could. I will try and keep to your 5 minute limit.
Chairman Ney. Take your time, mayor.
Mayor Nagin. I stand before you as the mayor of the great
City of New Orleans. I stand before you as the mayor of a city
that was totally devastated by Hurricane Katrina. I stand
before you as the mayor of a city where its residents were
scattered throughout the United States and spread through 44
different States in the United States. Most of our citizens
received one way tickets out of New Orleans. I also stand
before you as the mayor of the City of New Orleans that has not
been allowed to communicate with his citizens because I cannot
get the list of where our citizens are because supposedly there
are Federal privacy laws that prohibit that from happening.
I am standing here or sitting here before you while I watch
the devastation of Katrina upfront and personal. I watched
people suffer. I watched people in the waters after the event.
I watched bodies float in this great city. And I also watched a
very lethargic response to this crisis. And I watched a great
struggle between the Federal Government and the State
government as it related to who had final authority and who had
the power while people were suffering and dying in our city.
And I must tell you, I sit here very frustrated today. I am
frustrated because my city is without revenue streams. We have
no money coming in or very little money. I have been put in a
position to fly back and forth between Baton Rouge and
Washington, D.C., to beg and grovel for money. And I do not
appreciate it because I am looking at my city and I am looking
at the debris that still needs to be picked up. And I am
watching this incredible game with these contractors.
It starts out at $43 a cubic yard to pick up debris. They
subcontract that down two or three times and when we make any
noise about locals being able to participate in this process,
guess what? We get a couple of them to get involved. But when
it starts out at $43 cubic yard, it is all legal, it is
subcontracted down to $33 to $15 and the local firm ends up at
maybe $7 a cubic yard. And no one up the food chain does any
work or does very little work. And yet and still, I have to
grovel and beg for resources to stand my city up. And I am
getting tired. I am getting tired of constantly being beat up.
I am interacting with my citizens and they want answers. And
they want to know what can be done. So it is not that they want
a hand out. They just want to come home.
And the biggest challenge we have right now besides the
despair and the hopelessness is that I do not have housing for
my citizens because 80 percent of this city went under water,
80 percent--61 square miles. There has never been a city to
experience this. If this would have happened in D.C., it would
have covered D.C. and went over to Maryland. This is serious
business.
And I am telling you right now there is a request of 21,000
individual trailer sites in my city right now. There is another
8000 trailer sites, group sites that we kind of approved, that
we have gone through this dance with this not-in-my-backyard
stuff that we are going to work through as a community. And we
still have 7000 sites that we have not been able to identify.
So there is 36,000 families that need trailers in the City of
New Orleans right now. And I have 1300 trailers installed for
individual people and 551 for group sites. Now let me repeat
those numbers; I have 36,000 people that have requested
trailers, temporary trailers, to live in in the City of New
Orleans. And I have less than 2000 ready to go.
Ladies and gentlemen of this committee, it is time for
action. It is time for us to do something special for this
great city that contributes so much to this Nation. We have
done just about everything that we have been asked to do. We
begged for levees. We started out with hurricane five
protection; we now think we might have hurricane three
protection. But we are not sure about that because $1.4 billion
was moved recently away from that protection. We have $11.5
billion that have been appropriated for CDBG money.
Ms. Waters. That is right.
Mayor Nagin. To come down and help us with housing--it is
going to flow through the State. And there is no formula, zero
formula, right now that that money is going to be targeted to
the most devastated areas in this State. So I stand here as the
mayor of the City of New Orleans very concerned about that
because I think politics is going to come into play with the
spending of this money. And I think this money is going to end
up being spread out all over the State of Louisiana. And my
citizens are not going to get their fair share.
[Applause.]
Mayor Nagin. I hate to do this, but time is of the essence.
This past holiday season, I watched during the event two of my
police officers commit suicide. One, I spoke to the night
before he actually pulled the trigger. Thanksgiving, I know of
at least five suicides that happened in the City of New
Orleans. Christmas, I am not sure what happened, but we will
get those reports very soon.
This is serious, serious business. And I am not trying to
discount the efforts of this committee, but if there is some
way, then this Nation, this Congress, this President needs to
pull out all stops right now because the people of New Orleans
are getting tired and they are ready to come home. And they are
frustrated and they are peeved off. And if we do not do
something soon, I do not know what is going to happen.
So I implore you, I beg you, I get on my knees, I am
puckering up.
[Laughter.]
Mayor Nagin. Help us. And help us today. Help the City of
New Orleans. This city will come back with a little help. We do
not need $250 billion. But we need our fair share. And then, we
will spend this money appropriately. Now we may make some
mistakes, but everybody makes mistakes. But this is a great
city. It is the city where jazz was born. It is a city that has
elegance and wildness at the same time, that makes us the
unique city that we are. And we are Americans and as Americans
we deserve to be supported in our time of need.
Thank you, so much ladies and gentlemen.
[Applause.]
[The statement of Hon. C. Ray Nagin can be found on page
140 in the appendix.]
Chairman Ney. Let me just say a couple of things. What we
are going to do--we normally go down the witness table. What I
thought we would do due to the mayor's schedule and the
Congressman's schedule, we can ask questions now, if we have
some, and then we will go on to the testimony.
I want to mention the GSE bill the Congressman Jefferson
talked about. That bill, we worked on that with Congresswoman
Maxine Waters before Katrina happened. And then after Katrina
happened, the bill got support. Of course, the bill is about a
few other things, but the trust fund is important because it is
helping some of the poorest of the poor. And then, it was
supported--Chairman Baker, Chairman Oxley, and Barney Frank the
ranking member and staff did a lot of good work. That bill is
pending in the Senate. If you want to do something, pick up the
phone or write a letter if you can to the United States
Senators, if you know any of them or if you do not know any of
them, just write a letter. That bill is pending in the Senate.
We hope that the Senate and the House can get that bill signed.
I wanted to mention it. It is a very--I think very, very
important bill.
Another observation and then I am going to ask a question,
the issue that we have had up in Ohio where I live, we have
people from this city who are in Newark where my daughter goes
to school and in Columbus, Ohio, and other areas. And do not
get me wrong, you know, everybody is bending over backwards to
help those individuals and help with jobs and, you know,
clothing and different things they need. But I think--and that
is one of the reasons we are here; some of the things you
talked about are going to be global in the Congress with, you
know, the dollars. And we have individuals, but we have some
direct jurisdiction over housing. And I have been asking some
questions about the housing issues. And again, we are willing
to help in Ohio. We are willing to help in any State. But if
you say to somebody, here is your choice, you can go to
Columbus, Ohio, or you can go to Seattle or you can go to
Philadelphia and that is your choice, then you do not have a
choice. And so, there is a lot of people that want to be here
and they have relatives here. So I think that just the idea
that scattering people across the Nation is going to cure it,
it is not going to cure it psychologically. It is not going to
cure it for those families. It is not going to cure it here for
this city. So I have always been worried if we do not move
faster--and we can always do better and do more--then we are
going to have that situation. And people are going to be lost
for their families. If you asked me to move out of my area and
move to New York City, I do not want to do that if something
happened. I would do it if I had to. But so there were not a
lot of options for people.
What I am going to do at this point in time--I just wanted
to make some of those comments. I have some other questions,
but I am going to defer to our ranking member for questions.
Ms. Water. I thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I would
like to say to Bill Jefferson, thank you for helping to
organize us to be here today and for the work that you have
been doing to try to focus this Congress on the needs of this
area. I do appreciate that.
And to the mayor, I thank you because you have traveled to
Washington; you have been there; you have answered questions.
You have done a magnificent job of making yourself available.
And even today I know that you had to take some extraordinary
steps in order to be here.
Mr. Mayor, there are some things that I am determined that
I am going to get some answers to today. And in order to do
that I have to beg the indulgence of my chairman to allow me to
deal with these three issues that I am kind of getting double
talk about.
First, the trailers, Mr. Wells, you represent FEMA here
today, is that right?
Mr. Wells. Yes, ma'am.
Ms. Waters. Well, I hope you came with information because
I do not want you to answer me that you do not know, you are
not the right one. So I have asked my staff to get your boss on
the line while I am talking to you because I want to get some
answers about the trailers.
[Applause.]
Ms. Water. I am told by policy that you have enough
trailers, that the manufacturing is such that you are
manufacturing an adequate amount of trailers, that you have
trailers on the ground that are stored that can be used here in
New Orleans and other places in the Gulf. And I am told that
all they need is the authority to put these trailers in place
where the mayor and others will allow them.
[Microphone feedback noise.]
Ms. Waters. I do not know what is going on here.
Chairman Ney. Could we get a little bit of help on the
mics, if we could.
Ms. Waters. Now I want to know from you--I want to know
from you--give me an assessment of how many trailers are being
manufactured, how many are in the pipeline, how many do you
have sitting waiting to be sited and whether or not the
trailers that the mayor needs are available. And I want to know
whether or not you have problems with authorization, that you
do not have the authorization to put the trailers down. And
after you give me that assessment, I am coming back to the
mayor to find out whether or not this is an authorization
problem also. Tell us what you know about trailers.
Mr. Wells. Okay, thank you very much. First thing I want to
say, there is not just one problem, Congressman Waters; there
is many different problems. Let us talk about production, the
manufacturers. We are told that the manufacturers can produce
travel trailers at a rate of 550 per day. That is not a
limiting factor for us. We have several thousand in storage in
Louisiana. They flow in by rail into New Orleans every day.
They flow into our storage sites every day. The manufacturing
part is not a problem.
Ms. Waters. You have trailers?
Mr. Wells. We have trailers.
Ms. Waters. Do you know how many you have that are in
storage now?
Mr. Wells. We have--
Ms. Waters. Totally.
Mr. Wells. I do not know totally, but in the State of
Louisiana within our storage sites probably around 2500. But we
have never been limited by travel trailers. That has not been a
limiting factor.
Ms. Waters. Okay, so if you have 2500 in storage here, do
you have other trailers that are in other locations that can be
brought to Louisiana?
Mr. Wells. Oh, yes, they come in all the time.
Ms. Waters. How many trailers do you need, Mr. Mayor?
Mayor Nagin. 36,000 total.
Ms. Waters. How many trailers, if you had all of the
infrastructure, that is, the ability to hook up with the
electricity and the water, sewage all of that, how many
trailers could you have in Louisiana for the mayor of those
that he just mentioned, those 30,000 or so?
Mr. Wells. We are doing--we are putting 500 families in
travel trailers, mobile homes per day; that is an average. That
is the average.
Ms. Waters. The mayor says he cannot get the trailers he
needs. Mr. Mayor?
Mayor Nagin. Yes, ma'am.
Ms. Waters. Why can you not get the trailers you need? Do
you not have the production? Do you not have the ability to
provide the infrastructure or are you not giving the
authorization? What is the truth here?
Mayor Nagin. Well, you know, there are two separate issues.
The first one is on the 21,000 trailers, the individual sites
where a homeowner wants a trailer on their particular property.
You know, in fairness to Scott and to FEMA, we have had some
issues with permitting and electrical inspectors and Entergy
has filed for bankruptcy, which created a problem also with
their inspectors. We have since streamlined a lot of those
processes. So from that standpoint, you know, everything is in
place for us to move very quickly to accommodate those. I have
approved 8000 units to go on group sites, which we have had a
little bit of controversy about, but we have worked that out.
There is still 7000 sites that we need to identify that we have
not identified. That leaves us with a total of 29,000 that we
could take tomorrow if we had the capacity to put them in.
Ms. Waters. Let us be very, very clear. The 21,000
individual sites, these are sites where homeowners say put a
trailer here on my land or you have a business or someone
offering you space.
Mayor Nagin. Right.
Ms. Waters. Where they say you can use this.
Mayor Nagin. Right.
Ms. Waters. And what you are telling me is you have some
inspection problems and some other kind of problems that does
not allow you to be able to fulfill those requests, is that
right?
Mayor Nagin. We have solved most if not all of those
issues.
Ms. Waters. When can you get the 21,000 done if those have
been solved, if those problems have been solved?
Mayor Nagin. It is just a matter of the availability of the
trailer.
Ms. Waters. The trailers are available, is that right?
Mr. Wells. I said the travel trailers are not a limiting
factor. What is the limiting factor? What I think you are
trying to get to is the limiting factor is a host of things.
One of them is within New Orleans, the infrastructure. With--
Ms. Waters. No, no, no, the mayor said that if he gets the
trailer, he could put 21,000 on the ground, hooked up, whatever
is needed for 21,000 people now. Do you have the trailers?
Mr. Wells. Madam, we do not have--it is not--the limiting
factor is many things. I am going to repeat it. You cannot take
21--what you are asking, Madam, is you cannot take nine women,
put them in one room and make a baby in one month. You cannot
do that. Cannot do that.
[Audience response.]
Mr. Wells. You cannot do that. You have to follow a process
of getting electricity--
Chairman Ney. If you could suspend, please.
Ms. Waters. Hold on, hold on, hold on.
Chairman Ney. Please. May I please remind the audience that
we are here to resolve some important issues. And I understand
your feelings, but if we could please have some order, it will
help resolve that.
Ms. Waters. Let us back up. Let us not talk about 21,000
trailers. Let us talk about one trailer. What do you need in
order to fulfill a request for one trailer of these 21,000 that
the mayor needs and is ready to accept?
Mr. Wells. We need the trailer.
Ms. Waters. You got the trailer. You are manufacturing them
at 550 per day. You have the trailer. Now what do you need?
Mr. Wells. We go and do a site assessment to make sure that
the site is feasible and then if the site is feasible then a
team goes out.
Ms. Waters. How many site assessments of these 21,000 that
the mayor is ready to put down have you done?
Mr. Wells. I do not know about New Orleans; I can give you
on statewide site assessments.
Ms. Waters. No, I just want to know about New Orleans now.
Mr. Wells. I do not have that broken out.
Ms. Waters. Do you have problems doing site assessments? Do
you have enough people to do site assessments?
Mr. Wells. Site assessment is not a limiting factor.
Ms. Waters. Okay, so that is not a problem. What is your
next problem? And how many of the 21,000 can you have done in 7
days, in the next seven days? How many of these 21,000 that the
mayor is ready to authorize can you do? How long does it take
you to do a site assessment?
Mr. Wells. Not long at all to do a site assessment.
Ms. Waters. So that is not a problem. You can do the site
assessments for the 21,000. What is your next problem?
Mr. Wells. Contractors. Getting the--that is probably the
biggest limiting factor is crews to do the installation.
Ms. Waters. Who does the installations?
Mr. Wells. We have three contractors.
Ms. Waters. Who are these contractors?
Mr. Wells. Fluour, Shaw, and C.M. Hill.
Ms. Waters. Let us stop right now. You are telling me that
the no-bid contractors that we were all concerned about because
they we're well-connected and they got their contracts without
a bid cannot do the work; is that what you are telling me?
[Applause.]
Mr. Wells. No, ma'am. What I am telling you, I think one of
them was a bid. I think the Fluour was a bid contract.
Ms. Waters. Whether it was a bid or no bid, they cannot get
this work done?
Mr. Wells. Not as fast as needed, that is exactly what I am
telling you.
Ms. Waters. Well, let us stop right here. We have got the
trailers and we have the authorizations, Mr. Jefferson. We have
got FEMA, who can do the assessments and now we have
contractors, whether it is bid or no bid with contractors, who
cannot get these trailers hooked up and ready for use. Then
what should FEMA do in order to expedite getting these trailers
on the ground so that people can move into them. Do not forget
that FEMA has set a deadline date and they keep setting
deadline dates by which people must get out of these hotels. If
you can set a deadline date and the deadline date does not
match up to your ability to put the trailers on the ground,
something is wrong here. Now what do you do--what then do you
do to solve an obvious problem?
[Applause.]
Ms. Waters. What do you do to expedite getting these
trailers done by the crews that are supposed to--or expanding
the crews. I understand we have still got money, in this 62 or
80 billion, whatever this number is. What are you supposed to
be doing to get it done?
Mr. Wells. I will tell you exactly what we are doing. We
are doing different things. It is not all about travel
trailers; it is not all about mobile homes. It is also about
getting money into the pockets of the people who had losses. We
are putting out almost, almost a $1 million an hour 24 hours a
day 7 days a week for individuals and families to help them
recover and make up for their losses. That is one thing that we
are doing. A large part--
Ms. Waters. What does that have to do with what I am asking
you about?
Mr. Wells. A large part of that is for rental assistance to
where individuals and families can go and rent.
Ms. Waters. Well, that is what you are supposed to be
doing. Now that is going to end at some point.
Mr. Wells. No, ma'am.
Ms. Waters. Well, even if it does not, but you want the
people out of the hotels, is that right?
Mr. Wells. Yes, ma'am.
Ms. Waters. Where are they supposed to go, sir?
Mr. Wells. We want to give people viable options.
Ms. Waters. No, they just want a trailer.
Mr. Wells. That is one of the viable options.
Ms. Waters. That is okay. If people had viable options that
they could exercise, they would be doing it. I have heard all
of this talk about people putting together their own plans, et
cetera. We have a lot of people in hotels, in relatives' homes
across the country who want to come home, but would like a nice
trailer to come to. Now given all, whatever the other things
that you must do, all I want to talk to you now about is
trailers.
Mr. Wells. Okay.
Ms. Waters. I want the trailers that are being manufactured
that somebody is making a lot of money on. I want the trailers
that are in storage that somebody is making a lot of money on
to store. I want them where the mayor wants to put them so that
people can live in them. What then do you do about getting more
crews, about getting you contractors to do a faster job, hiring
more people, putting more people on line. What are you doing to
get those trailers operable?
Mr. Wells. Yes, ma'am. We have been working with the
contractors. They have gone up from about 30 travel trailers a
day to 500. They are continuing to ramp up; they are continuing
to make progress. They are not making as much progress as you
want, as we want.
Ms. Waters. No, no, no, no, not as much progress as I want,
but as much progress as the people who have been displaced
would like to have.
Mr. Wells. Exactly.
[Applause.]
Ms. Waters. Again, you cannot keep, you have to take this
heat today. You are here.
Mr. Wells. I can--
Ms. Waters. Do not take it personally, but you are here to
answer this. You keep setting dates by which these people have
to be out of these hotels. You keep talking about people making
plans. But you cannot match the dates that you are putting out
there. You cannot match those dates in assisting people to have
this housing. And I want to tell you, FEMA kind of led me to
believe they were not getting authorizations, Mr. mayor. That
is why it is so important to get this cleared up today.
Now you say that your contractors are doing a better job,
but it is not good enough, Mr. Wells. They are not being able
to get these trailers operating fast enough to get people out
of these hotels and into a trailer to have a decent place to
live even by your deadline date. What then is the answer? What
is Mr. Pauleson or whoever has that responsibility in FEMA,
what are you going to do to rectify this situation? Did anybody
tell you before you came here?
Mr. Wells. We have tried other things, too, a new
initiative where we are working with New Orleans, GNO, Inc. in
New Orleans.
Ms. Waters. What is GNO, Inc.?
Mr. Wells. Greater New Orleans, Inc. and others in the
State to where FEMA can lease an entire apartment complex from
an owner and put eligible applicants into that complex. That is
a relatively new initiative that we kicked off about 3 weeks
ago to supplement the travel trailer, mobile home program that
we have.
Ms. Waters. So you cannot get the travel trailers up fast
enough. And now you are looking at some other alternatives by
which you can lease whole complexes?
Mr. Wells. Yes.
Ms. Waters. To place people.
Mr. Wells. Yes.
Ms. Waters. But you have not gotten that done yet.
Mr. Wells. We are working on it, yes, ma'am.
Ms. Waters. Now let me ask this; we have a lot of people
who are unemployed. We have a lot of people who would like to
come home and have a job. One of the reasons I am interested in
these travel trailers getting up is not only to have a better
quality of life, but so that people can have some jobs, so that
they can earn some money, so that they can help put their lives
back together.
One of the things that I am hearing is that they do not
have enough workers in the restaurants. I was in a restaurant
last night that normally has 500 workers, employees and they
were working managing three restaurants with less than 200
employees. And there was one third the number on the floor last
night they are supposed to have. This is never going to happen
until we get the people back. So what then do we do, because I
want the crews.
We cannot wait until Fluour and Shaw and the rest of them
find a way by which to do what we contracted with them to do.
We need to expand that--and this business about leasing, that
is okay too. If you are going to lease, but you cannot lease
and say that you are going to do it for 6 months and if we have
not done the trailers, people are going to have to get out of
the places that we leased. The reason that I like the idea of
trailers is that you are not going to have to any deadline
dates by which you are going to kick people out on the street
and hopefully that would be the transition until we can get
people into permanent housing.
Mr. Taylor. Will the gentlewoman yield?
Ms. Waters. Yes.
Mr. Taylor. The gentlewoman from California needs to know
that a deadline has been set for occupancy of the trailers and
it is 18 months from the day of the event. So if you do not get
you trailer for 12 months, then you only get to live in it for
6 months. That is the rule. Now the rule can change, but that
is the rule as of this moment.
Ms. Waters. Mr. Taylor, when we get back to Washington,
with the help of our chairman, we are going to introduce
whatever legislation that is needed to repeal that. I do not
think it is even in law; it must be a regulation of some kind
developed by FEMA. So we will take care of that. We are not
going to have a deadline date on the trailers. Okay, members of
this committee? Mr. Taylor, we are not going to have a deadline
date on the trailers.
[Applause.]
Mr. Wells. It is a statute, but the statute does allow for
an extension.
Ms. Waters. Well, we need to repeal that, Mr. Chairman.
There should be no deadline date on the trailers.
Well what you are telling me is that you do not have any
answers.
Mr. Wells. No, ma'am, that is not what I am telling you.
Ms. Waters. Yes, you are.
Mr. Wells. No, ma'am. What I am telling you is that we are
doing everything as fast as we can with what we have got and we
are putting 500 families into homes, travel trailers every day.
We are putting about a $1 million every hour into individuals'
and families' pockets.
Ms. Waters. That is not good enough.
Mr. Wells. I know it is not good enough.
Ms. Waters. Let me tell you; we spend a $1 billion a week
in Iraq.
[Applause.]
Chairman Ney. I just want to say that we have got to have
some decorum in the audience because this will take time away
from listening and from answers, so if we could please have
your indulgence. Keep your enthusiasm, but let us have your
indulgence to try not to have any display.
Ms. Waters. We can go on with this, but now it is very
clear to me. At least we have cleared up, Mr. Mayor, it is not
your lack of authorization. It is your inability to have enough
crews by which to do the completion work to make those trailers
work. And you are slow in being able to use the alternative
that you have attempted to describe, of leasing the apartment
complexes--that is clear to me.
Mr. Wells. There is more to that; it is not that simple.
This not a simple issue. This is not a simple problem. Part of
it is the authorization. We put--let me give you one example.
We put travel trailers into a travel trailer park we have. And
a councilman took them out. He took them out. That is true;
that happened.
Ms. Waters. Just a minute.
Mr. Wells. Yes, ma'am.
Ms. Waters. You are going to tell me that a city councilman
took his truck and backed up and pulled out trailers out of a
park? Is that what you are telling me?
Mr. Wells. I did--not exactly. I am saying he said we had
to--
Ms. Waters. I do not care what he said. What did he do?
Mr. Wells. We took.
Ms. Waters. Why did you take them out?
Mr. Wells. Because the city councilman said.
Ms. Waters. The city councilman does not have the ability
to make you pull out trailers from a trailer park. Why did you
do it?
Mr. Wells. We are supporting the local officials.
Ms. Waters. Oh, wait just a minute. Mr. Mayor, I know you
have land use authority. If the trailers were there in the
first place, somebody authorized them to be there. I suspect it
was the mayor and the mayor's office who authorized them to be
there. Since when or how, maybe there was a vote that was taken
in the city council. And maybe there was a vote that overrode
the mayor. But if there was a vote that overrode the mayor,
with some kind of law it would have had to be signed by the
mayor or vetoed. How then did a city councilman make you come
and take out trailers that you had put down.
Mr. Wells. He did not make us. We work with the mayor, the
parish presidents, city councilmen because this is their domain
and we do not set up group sites unless we get their approval.
That is a problem too because we do have people who do not want
travel trailer parks.
Ms. Waters. We know that. We know we have people that do
not want trailers. Mr. Mayor, how did it happen that there was
authorizations for trailers to be put down and FEMA went and
took them out because some city councilman did not want them.
Mayor Nagin. You know, the city council did express
concerns about some trailer sites. And there was a period of
time when there was a veto and an override of a veto and then
basically we cleared it up by basically saying as long as the
city is in a state of emergency that I have full authority on
designating these trailers sites. So we went through a period
of time when that was not clear to FEMA. It was always clear to
me. But obviously, it was not clear.
Ms. Waters. So am I to understand that FEMA is not going to
go back and take out trailers once you authorize them?
Mayor Nagin. You are going to have to ask them that. But
let me just point out something to you. I approved 8000 travel
trailer sites. And we went through this process and got to an
understanding on those. But there are still 21,000 requests for
individual sites on individuals' homes that if we put some
focus on that, I think that we can make some serious progress.
Ms. Waters. He does not have the crews to get them done.
You do not have the crews to get them in those 21,000 sites, is
that right?
Mr. Wells. In what time frame are we talking about?
Ms. Waters. Yesterday.
Mr. Wells. No, I do not. I cannot do it by yesterday.
Ms. Waters. How long will it take you to do it?
Mr. Wells. Right now, I can promise you 500 a day because
that is what we can do.
Ms. Waters. Okay, how do we increase that from 500 to 1000
a day? I know we are not going another 5 months with this
business. How--how do we increase the number of people who are
involved in putting these trailers in, the crews that you need?
How do you do that?
Mr. Wells. We do that by working with the contractors and
giving them quotas and working with them and helping work
through the problems. One example is they came back and they
said they had a problem because Entergy was in bankruptcy and
they did not have enough crews and they were prohibited from
working on weekends. They were prohibited from working overtime
and they did not have enough crews for the electrical part that
Entergy is supposed to do. So the Federal Government spent $20
million to get a contractor to do the part that Entergy is
supposed to. And then Entergy then came back and said we have
got to inspect the stuff that we asked you guys to do. And that
created another delay.
Ms. Waters. So what you are telling me is that--is it
Entergy.
Mr. Wells. Entergy, yes, ma'am.
Ms. Waters. Was supposed to do the electrical work, is that
right?
Mayor Nagin. Inspections.
Ms. Waters. Inspections. They went bankrupt, is that right?
Mayor Nagin. That is correct.
Ms. Waters. And you contracted with someone to come in and
do the inspection work that Entergy was supposed to do, is that
right?
Mr. Wells. Not exactly. We actually did some of the work
that they were supposed to do, running the power from the
street all the way to the house or to the travel trailer.
Ms. Waters. Okay, so you did the work, whoever did the
work. And then, Entergy came back and told you that they had to
do the inspections. Because if they did not do the inspections
what was going to happen?
Mr. Wells. Put the meters in, we wanted to put the meters
in and they said, no we have to put the meters in. We said, we
can put the meters in and so, it was a matter of them putting
the meters in, running the last part and doing the inspection.
Ms. Waters. Excuse me, Mr. Mayor, why then could not FEMA
who claimed it had to pick up where Entergy dropped the ball,
why could not they just complete the work? Who cares what
Entergy thinks at this point? What happens if they do not do
the inspections and they did put in the boxes and they did do
the inspections, what happens?
Mayor Nagin. I am not that close to it. You know, I would
think you would have to get meters from Entergy, right, Scott?
Mr. Wells. You do, but they wanted to do the meters
themselves and we said, just let us do the meters because you
do not have enough folks. And you cannot, you know, you cannot
work overtime and on weekends.
Ms. Waters. Excuse me, the meters. Where do you get the
meters from if you were going to put them in?
Mr. Wells. I got them from Entergy.
Ms. Waters. Is there anyplace else you can get them other
than Entergy?
Mr. Wells. I think it is a matter of protocol.
Ms. Waters. I do not care about protocol. Where else could
you get the meters?
Mr. Wells. I do not think that is the issue, ma'am.
Ms. Waters. Well, I am asking you. Do you know whether or
not you could have gotten the boxes someplace else?
Mr. Wells. What I know is that Entergy, for whatever
reason, did not do what they normally do for their part for the
electrical part. Without electricity, you cannot put travel
trailers in; that is what I know. What I know is we did a work
around by doing--by obligating $20 million to try to do that
part. We put the $20 million, we put the contractor out and it
still did not work because of Entergy not allowing us to do the
full part that we thought we were going to be able to do. That
is the part I know, and those travel trailers never got
electricity.
Ms. Waters. Excuse me, Mr. Mayor, how is it that Entergy
can stop you from doing what needed to be done to get those
trailers hooked up to electricity? How would they stop you?
They put a gun to your head?
Mr. Wells. We can put--the travel trailers are there,
ma'am. They are sitting there; the travels trailers are there;
they just do not have electricity.
Ms. Waters. What do we need to do to put the electricity
in?
Mr. Wells. We need Entergy to do their part.
Ms. Waters. What if Entergy does not do it; would you wait
forever if they decided that they could not do it? Is there
another way to do it?
Mr. Wells. We talked to the mayor; we talked to the
Governor; we had a meeting. We got fixes in place; that is
being fixed.
Ms. Waters. No, I asked a question. If Entergy never really
cooperated with you, what would be the alternative? Would you
wait forever and just sit there and say it cannot be done if
they did not do it? Is there another way by which to get it
done?
Mr. Wells. I do not know of another way, no.
Ms. Waters. Why is that, sir? Why is it that nothing can be
done? Let me tell you why I am asking. I am asking because as I
understand it, in New York with 9-11, they brought people in
from all over the world to do what needed to be done in order
to get that city up and running.
[Applause.]
Ms. Waters. They had people who even came and went
underground and underwater and did mapping. They had that
electricity back up. I want to tell you what is shameful. It is
shameful for us to be here today and to go through communities
that do not have basic electricity. Do you know what one of the
big issues is with Iraq? Getting that electricity up and that
energy going. I cannot imagine why it cannot be done here in
New Orleans. Now FEMA, tell me if Entergy did not cooperate
with you, could not do, would not do, would you sit here
forever and not get it done?
Mr. Wells. No, ma'am, we are not sitting here forever. That
is why we got the $20 million. That is why we went to see the
Governor and the Mayor. We put fixes in. This is a progressive
thing; as we see problems, we fix the problems. We do not sit
around and say oh, we cannot do that.
Ms. Waters. But you are talking about it is going to take
you 6 months to put in the mayor's 21,000 trailers. But you are
saying that people have to be out of their hotels by March. And
you are also saying that you do not have the leases done on the
alternative sites, leased sites that you are talking about. So
you know that there is a date certain again that you are trying
to get to. But you cannot tell me that you are going to have
these 21,000 trailers up for another 6 months maybe because of
Entergy and your contractors who are not able to do it fast
enough; but you do not have any other alternative. Is that what
you are telling me?
Mr. Wells. No, ma'am. What I am telling you is that we do
have alternatives. We have several hundred brand new travel
trailers, mobile homes, brand new, ready for occupancy in other
parts of the State and we cannot get people in them. They are
available. They are new. The keys are ready to go. Ready to
move in. It is just not where people want to go.
Ms. Waters. Well, let us not go there. Let us go down to
this 21,000 the mayor has got authorized. Before we do that
because we have not even talked about Mr. Taylor, who talked to
you and thanked you for what you have done. But he talked about
how many other people are waiting. We have not even gotten to
Mississippi yet. But while we are here in New Orleans, tell me
how you are going to get 21,000 trailers that have been
authorized by the mayor in in the next 30 days. Thirty days,
just tell me that.
Mr. Wells. Twenty one thousand in 30 days, that is just not
going to happen. Based on the capacity we have now in New
Orleans, that is not going to happen. We do have brand new
trailers, mobile homes ready for people to move in. They are
just not in New Orleans. People are not--I think it is very
important, and you have come here to learn. I think it is a
very important message to get out. Two things, one that FEMA is
committed that anybody that had losses and is eligible for FEMA
assistance is going to have a viable option for housing. They
are going to have money in their pockets to rent an apartment
or a home or they will have a travel trailer or mobile home.
They may not get their first option. They may not get an
apartment or mobile home or travel trailer in the New Orleans
area for several months because the infrastructure is just not
there.
Ms. Waters. Mr. Chairman, I am going yield back my time.
But let me tell you this, Mr. Wells. I do not want you to take
this personally. First of all, I just do not believe you. I do
not believe you because, number one, what you have not shared
with this committee is the notion that each of those
individuals in hotels that have been threatened with a deadline
date have to come up with a plan. We have not talked about the
plan at all. And this plan is a plan by which they must submit
to FEMA that they had thought through where they are going, how
they are going, how long it is going to be, et cetera, et
cetera.
Now let me tell you, Mr. Wells, and I will tell Mr.
Pauleson this. It does not make good sense to me because I saw
a woman on television about 70 years old who does not know what
the hell you are talking about when you talk about a plan. And
you do not have anybody there to assist her in putting together
this so-called plan. She does not have an alternative; that is
number one.
Number two, I do not care what Fluour's problem is. I do
not care what Shaw's problem is. I do not care what these big
contractors who have got no bid or bid contracts--I do not care
what their problems are. The fact of the matter is we need them
to deliver. I am not here to tell the people of New Orleans or
Mississippi to be patient. And I do not want to get anybody in
trouble. But I am not George W. Bush to come here to try to
make people feel good about the position that they found
themselves in. I am here to try and find out what is wrong with
this system, why we cannot have electricity, why we cannot have
trailers, why we cannot move people out of hotels. I am here
because there are hotels telling people they want them out by
Mardi Gras time. I am here to find out why FEMA cannot do
better and even though you think FEMA is doing the best job
that it can do, it is not good enough, sir.
And I want you to know and I do not want you to take this
personally, FEMA does not have the best reputation in the
world. Your response was slow here. People were in that dome
and outside of that convention center with America watching
begging for help with signs that said please help me, I am
drowning. You did not even know they were there. So you do not
have a good reputation. And we do not believe you when you say
that nothing else can be done. We are here to say that it has
to be done. And I do not care about Entergy or anybody else. We
have to find the people wherever they are to come in here and
get the work done. It is not fair to ask the people to continue
to wait.
[Applause.]
Ms. Waters. So Mr. Chairman, you have been more than
generous with your time. I think at least we have unveiled
something here. We have unveiled something here about some of
the misinformation that we are getting about the ability to get
these trailers on the ground, Mr. Taylor. And we are going to
hear some of the same thing I guess about Mississippi.
So with that, I am going to back off of Mr. Wells for a
while. I am going to Mr. Pauleson. But Mr. Chairman, what we
have got to do is we have to get people on the ground here
inside FEMA and these contractors, these contractors, moving
this agenda. It is unacceptable what we have heard from you
here today.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Ney. We are going to move on, but I want to make
one comment. You have got to understand too in Washington since
this started, we have been on this issue because the trailers
seemed the way the people could remain here versus being
scattered across the country. But in D.C., it has been quoted,
I think it has been quoted, that thousands of these could be
produced with the drop of a hat. That is what we have been
told. And FEMA--in fact FEMA asked for an unusual amount of
these trailers and then was criticized by some people, what do
you want all those trailers for? It was like 100,000 of them, I
think, they requested when this started if I remember
correctly.
Ms. Waters. They did.
Chairman Ney. I want to know what happened with those.
Ms. Waters. And I still want him to reiterate how many are
sitting in storage somewhere. And where are these storage
places? How many trailers are completed and sitting up there
that you would draw on for this 550 per day that you can put
up?
Mr. Wells. Well, it is a just-in-time thing. They come from
the manufacturers every day. Within the State of Louisiana we
have 2000 or 3000, about 2500. But they come in every day.
Again, that is not a limiting factor for us. We are never for
want of a travel trailer.
Ms. Waters. Okay.
Mr. Wells. That is not keeping us--we never say oh, there
is not one there, so we are at work stoppage. That is not
causing work stoppage.
Mr. Jefferson. What does he need to get this production up
from 500 a day to some other number? What is required to do
that?
Mr. Wells. We need I guess two things. And the first thing
that we need is more contractor capability and we do need to
get the group sites, approval for more group sites. It takes
awhile to get these group sites up. An individual site--
Chairman Ney. Who approves--two questions. Entergy, just
for my edification, that is a private company, correct,
Entergy?
Mr. Wells. It has some relationship with the city; maybe
the mayor can elaborate on that.
Chairman Ney. Oh, it is; is it a muni?
Ms. Waters. It is private.
Chairman Ney. It is not a muni; it is a private utility.
Then you just made the statement and I interrupted myself and I
forget exactly how you said it. Site approvals. What is that?
Is that a problem within here? What is the site approval
problem you have got?
Mr. Wells. For individual sites, it is not an issue because
if an owner calls up and they are trying--
Chairman Ney. I saw some today.
Mr. Wells. But for group sites where we have to put renters
in the group sites, the local officials have to approve that.
Chairman Ney. Would you call that a mobile home park?
Mr. Wells. Yes. A mobile home park, travel trailer park.
Chairman Ney. Okay.
Mr. Wells. Yes, sir.
Ms. Waters. Mr. Chairman, that is not the problem because
it does not matter whether it is an individual site or a group
site, you cannot get them done.
Mr. Wells. Ms.--
Ms. Waters. You cannot get them up because Entergy and the
contractors cannot do the work that you need to be done, you
need to have done in order to get them up. Now as I understand
it, these contracts that you have, you have an escape clause in
the contract with Fluour, is that right? You can get out of
these contracts any time you want. Do you have an escape clause
if they are not performing to the capacity?
Mr. Wells. I am sure there are provisions for that, yes,
ma'am.
Ms. Waters. I beg your pardon. You have escape clauses.
Does anybody know this stuff. Who has--who knows what the
contracts entail here? Have you seen a contract?
Mr. Wells. I have not read the contract, no, ma'am.
Ms. Waters. So you do not know about whether or not there
is an escape clause?
Mr. Wells. I know that we can get out of the contract. I
mean the limit--the agreement for the contract, they have
already met that.
Ms. Waters. Let me ask you something. If you hired 100 new
small businesses and gave them X number of trailers to put up,
could you not get that done?
Mr. Wells. We have tried things like that.
Ms. Waters. Ah, come on.
Mr. Wells. I will give you two examples. We went with two
parishes. We went with St. Bernard Parish and with the parish
president; we gave him 50 travel trailers and he is hiring
people to install those. So that is an option. That is an
option for parish presidents, the mayor, anybody. We will give
them travel trailers and they can hire people to install them.
We are doing that.
Ms. Waters. Wait just a minute. If you give them the travel
trailers, do you give them the FEMA money that comes along with
it?
Mr. Wells. Here is how it works.
Chairman Ney. We are going to have to move on.
Mr. Wells. We give them the travel trailers. They would
hire somebody to haul and install and then submit the bills to
us under public assistance. And we could reimburse them.
Ms. Waters. No, let me--I am going to leave this alone. Mr.
Taylor, Mr. Melancon, we need to take a look at this. We need
to take a look at it because--if they have the ability to hire
people to do this work, you are talking about a city with no
money and you are asking them to go out and contract with no
revenue streams and wait for you to reimburse them. I would not
trust FEMA to reimburse me once I made a contract. That money
needs to flow, Mr. Melancon, ahead of time so that they have
the money in the bank by which to pay local small businesses to
get this work done, and I am going to leave that with you.
Mr. Melancon. If I could, Mr. Chairman. Most of the small
contractors that are doing the work are calling and complaining
because they are not getting paid fast enough.
Mr. Taylor. Mr. Chairman, if I may.
Chairman Ney. And I would note we have a second panel, and
out of due respect to them we have got to move on.
Go ahead.
Mr. Taylor. To this point, what you are going to find
tomorrow in Mississippi is that since the storm, about 95
percent of the work in my Congressional office has been exactly
to this point. To Ms. Waters' point, Ms. Waters, please.
Ms. Waters. Yes.
Mr. Taylor. Okay, since, for whatever reason, the gentleman
did not answer the question, it takes three things to set up a
travel trailer.
Ms. Waters. Okay.
Mr. Taylor. You have to send a crew out to identify where
the sewer line was.
Ms. Waters. Okay.
Mr. Taylor. You have to have running water.
Ms. Waters. Okay.
Mr. Taylor. And you have to have electricity.
Ms. Waters. Okay.
Mr. Taylor. You or I could probably go and find some
healthy eighth graders and in a matter of hours train them to
do the water and the sewer, PVC pipe--no I am serious. PVC pipe
is very easy; hooking a water hose is very easy. The technical
part is the electricity.
Ms. Waters. Okay.
Mr. Taylor. In that you can either burn up the trailer and
the occupants or kill the person hooking it up. That does
require a skill.
Ms. Waters. Okay.
Mr. Taylor. Now what I have been frustrated about in
Mississippi is just the opposite. In Mississippi, why I am
frustrated is you are sending out one crew to erect a temporary
power pole for the electricity to go to the trailer. But the
power company is also sending out another crew to go from the
street line to the power pole. And what I have been begging
FEMA to do is to combine that. Just send one crew out and
whoever is going to run it from the street line to that power
pole is also the same company that is going to run it to
trailer. There is no reason to send--to duplicate that effort.
There is always one more reason why something does not get
done. And one of the things I would hope this task force would
look at is in the future give FEMA the authority to just get
one person to this and get it done. It is going to require some
tweaking of State laws and municipal codes.
Now the second thing you are going to discover and you are
real close to getting there yourself. The folks who got these
contracts are not paid by the trailer. They are on cost-plus
contracts. They are paid for every mistake. And they are paid a
percentage on top of their mistakes. They will haul the trailer
to the site, determine that it is not right, bring it back to
the staging yard, they get paid. They will send a crew out
tomorrow to do the same thing, haul it back to the site, they
get paid. They get paid for all of their mistakes. No one else
in America gets paid for making mistakes.
So again, maybe the gentleman was not at liberty to say it.
I will tell you we need to take a very serious look at these
contracts. Because in the case of Mississippi our contractor
was Bechtel. I called a member of the Bechtel family and tell
them what shabby work they were doing in Mississippi and they
do a lot of work for the Department of Defense. If they are
doing work this bad in my backyard, what are they doing in
Iraq?
So, again, I did not want to monopolize this, but I would
hope the chairman would make a few minutes to take you to a
site where we parked a trailer in Mississippi tomorrow morning
so I can walk you all through this. Because I am glad that you
are addressing it. It has to be addressed because this is not
the last natural catastrophe that is ever going to hit this
Nation. We need to get these folks; we need to get my folks.
And for the next time that it happens, we have got to do a heck
of a lot better.
Thank you, very much.
Ms. Waters. Thank you.
Chairman Ney. Mr. St. Julien. And then Mr. Williams.
STATEMENT OF MTUMISHI ST. JULIEN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FINANCE
AUTHORITY OF NEW ORLEANS
Mr. St. Julien. Thank you very much. I am Mtumishi St.
Julien of the Finance Authority of New Orleans.
As co-chair of the housing committee of the Bring Back New
Orleans Commission, we hosted a mortgage bankers summit and we
used it as an opportunity to bring together the entire industry
of large mortgage bankers, the GSE, all the major services, and
so forth to come and discuss what we will really need to make
sure that the funds are spent properly and how to get the
financial industry back into this.
I have a whole list of things and I ask that this committee
allow me to put this in the record.
Chairman Ney. Without objection.
Mr. St. Julien. Plus, they added the minutes of the
mortgage banking summit so that you can have that. I will be
willing to discuss this in more detail with your respective
staffs. They have a whole list of what the financial industry
calls esoteric issues which will help. For example, Congress
increased the home improvement from $20,000 to $150,000.
Wonderful, great, we need that. The problem is that home
improvement in the Section 143 of the Internal Revenue Code is
primarily a second mortgage product. Well, FHA does not have
insurance for single family products. So again, what happens is
the lender is a little discouraged from using that and we need
that.
That is just an example of the list of things that we can
have, we can discuss.
On the issue--and ranking member, I just wanted to make a
comment; we are a governmental agency. We have a unit of 236
units as a governmental agency. The Stafford Act allows us to
get public assistance from FEMA. We set up the Willows as a
501(c)(25), which under the Internal Revenue Code is an
instrumentality of Government. But somebody made a decision
that we needed to be treated just like 501(c)(3)s, which has a
different standard in the Stafford Act.
So when the issue comes up whether FEMA can come in,
removing the reimbursable basis, they have the power to come in
and help us deliver 236 units almost immediately if they would
just come in and help us. We have essential employees that need
housing. We have police; we have firemen; we have teachers; we
have other people who need housing--that is an alternative.
Another alternative to this discussion about FEMA is if the
trailers, other than the cost of probably the labor time, the
contract is $75,000 a trailer. We have thousands of units that
had relatively minor damage that FEMA can come in and use that
$75,000 to help fix that unit under the condition that the
owner will give them a lease to get our people back in the
city. Our people want to come back in the city. It is important
that we get them back in the city because New Orleans has made
and continues to make great contributions to this country. Not
only with oil and gas, oil and gas does not come up from the
ground by itself. It is the people who bring this to this
country. The culture that people all over the world love and it
is our people, it is really poor people that have developed a
lot of this culture.
I was blessed during the holidays to spend Christmas and
Kwanza in Ghana in talking to people there. There were a few
chiefs who said that they had tears in their eyes looking at
CNN at what happened. They envy this concept of the American
dream that they see in America, that people want houses, that
we have a financial institution that can help deliver houses.
But now they are starting to wonder whether this issue of this
value that we broadcast all around the country of the American
dream is really a value or is it merely propaganda. They are
waiting and they are looking.
Congress has a long history of taking leadership in
housing. When this country was in trouble during the Great
Depression, it was Congress who stood up. It was Congress who
thought out of the box, came up with this idea of this
insurance company that could help people buy homes. So they
created FHA in 1934. It was Congress, when this country had
liquidity problems throughout the banks, and they said okay, we
will collateralize this. So they created Fannie Mae, Freddie
Mac, Ginnie Mae to solve that particular problem. Now Congress
can continue that legacy and you have a bill before you from
one of your Members, Congressman Baker, which we support that
bill.
Why we support HR 4100 is because our people followed this
American dream. They were told as poor people that if you buy a
house, if you pay your mortgage on time, you can do like the
19th century immigrants did and pass this on to generations.
This is part of the American dream; this is what you have to do
to be there. They have done that, but because of no fault of
their own, primarily a man-made disaster, they lost everything.
To make this American dream real again, not only to us, to let
our people know that this is a real value in this country, but
to tell the people all over the world that this is a real value
and not just propaganda, we need to help make our people whole.
We think that Congressman Baker is on the right track. HR 4100
is very, very important to be able to give our people some of
the equity that they need so they can have those choices and
rebuild. They want to come home. They will come home. They need
to come home.
Thank you so much.
Chairman Ney. Thank you.
[Applause.]
Chairman Ney. We will move on to Mr. Williams. I just want
to note again, we passed that piece of legislation out of our
committee and so we need to get it to the floor of the House
and then over to the other body.
Mr. St. Julien. Thank you so much.
Chairman Ney. Mr. Williams. And we are going to have to
move to the 5-minute rule. I will let you know when your time
is expired and the members, we will have to try to hold to it
because we have got another panel and I want to make sure we
get that panel in.
[The statement of Mtumishi St. Julien can be found on page
172 in the appendix.]
STATEMENT OF CHARLES H. WILLIAMS, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY,
MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING, DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN
DEVELOPMENT
Mr. Williams. Mr. Chairman and ranking member and members
of the committee, I am Hank Williams with the Department of
Housing and Urban Development. It is a privilege to talk with
you today, especially as we are going to be able to address
some of the concerns that Representative Jefferson brought up
earlier. We think that is a very important part because the
Department is very focused on the importance of housing as it
impacts the recovery in this area.
I ask that you accept the department's written statement,
which contains a lot more detail, as part of the record.
Chairman Ney. Without objection.
Mr. Williams. The Katrina, Rita, and Wilma disasters
thoroughly tested all us as far as our abilities to handle
disasters, and the President has directed Federal agencies to
adapt to the extraordinary challenges presented by the most
extensive natural disaster in this Nation's history. Responding
to the President's direction, Secretary Jackson mobilized the
resource of HUD and I would like to describe just a few of the
many efforts undertaken to help people recover and rebuild from
the devastation caused by these hurricanes.
Mr. Cleaver. Mr. Williams, we cannot hear you.
Mr. Williams. HUD worked with FEMA in the early days of the
disaster to get housing assistance to those who had been
displaced and uprooted by these hurricanes. This partnership
along with other partnerships with USDA, VA, HHS, and others
demonstrated the dedication to providing the housing
assistance. Some of the best examples of those joint efforts
were the Katrina Disaster Housing Assistance Program.
Everything in the Federal Government needs an acronym and that
is called KDHAP. KDHAP and the Joint Housing Solution Center,
which we call JHSC, were established to address housing issues
specifically.
It was also provided--HUD also provided hundreds of staff
members to staff the disaster recovery centers throughout the
Gulf Coast area and also to participate in other disaster
relief efforts. The program offices at HUD were aided in the
recovery process as well--have aided in the recovery process as
well.
Administered by the Office of Community Planning and
Development, the Community Development Block Grants (CDBG)
Program is a very, very powerful rebuilding tool. As you know,
the President recommended funding for CDBG to assist local
communities with their planning and the recovery and
rehabilitation process. The Congress and the President approved
$11.5 billion in additional CDBG funding as well as almost $400
million for public housing authorities to assist in the
recovery and housing efforts.
In addition, Community Planning and Development issued
waivers of more than 40 requirements within the existing grant
programs for the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama
in an effort to increase the flexibility to use their current
resources for the disaster relief. For an example, CPD issued a
series of waivers in the home program that included self-
certification of income, elimination of matching requirements,
and greater flexibility to help these very low income families
receive tenant-based rental assistance and to rehabilitate and
buy their homes.
Office of Housing took the lead and was the original and
first one to implement a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures. And
this was in all the disaster relief, disaster declared areas
for both Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Then on November 22,
Secretary Jackson and Commissioner Montgomery extended that
foreclosure moratorium for an additional 90 days to February 28
of 2006, for all those counties that were in the declared
disaster areas. This extended foreclosure relief will provide
mortgage companies additional time in which to confirm the
homeowners' intention and ability to repair their home and then
to resume mortgage payments and to retain home ownership.
In December, the department took an additional step which
was to provide a retention opportunity for those homeowners
with FHA-insured mortgages that worked or lived in the
presidentially declared disaster areas. Under this initiative,
HUD will advance to these homeowners up to 12 months of monthly
payments so that they will be able to forego payments during
this period of time when they are trying to re-establish their
homes and to find employment. This was an unprecedented step,
one that was taken for the first time and was a very creative
process that the HUD went through to try to determine what our
resources were to be able to do this. And this can help up to
20,000 families that are seriously impacted by the hurricanes.
Chairman Ney. Time's expired. If you would like to
summarize--time's expired, if you would like to summarize.
Mr. Williams. Sure. In addition, there are several other
programs that were very extensively thought through and
evaluated to be able to provide the resources that would help
in this particular disaster. And the HUD staff worked very
diligently to be sure that these programs not only matched up
with the need but were delivered expeditiously.
Chairman Ney. Thank you.
Mr. Williams. Thank you.
Chairman Ney. Mr. Wells, I think you already--
Mr. Wells. I want my 5 minutes.
Chairman Ney. There you go; you have got your 5 minutes. I
am not going to arm wrestle you.
STATEMENT OF SCOTT WELLS, FEDERAL COORDINATING OFFICER FOR DR-
1063-LA, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF
HOMELAND SECURITY
Mr. Wells. I want Ranking Member Waters here too. Is she
here? Thank you, and thank you for coming. It is very important
to come see this and connect emotionally. We see this every
day.
We are trying to do the best that we can. But it was a
catastrophe; it was a big disaster. There is no infrastructure
in St. Bernard Parish. There is virtually no infrastructure in
New Orleans. It is tough. I wish we could have had a more
thoughtful approach because it is not one problem--it is not
the contract; it is not Entergy; it is not the city; it is not
the parish; it is not FEMA.
It is a big disaster with many problems. We are doing
better than we have ever done in doing what we are doing in
helping these communities recover in travel trailers and mobile
homes. We are doing the best we can. We are stretching
everything we can. We have gotten better. We will get better.
All that being said, we know this is not enough. We are
going on 5 months. We realize people are not getting on with
their lives because they do not have a permanent type of
housing.
The difference between the discussion we had today, at
least my part, in what the Federal Government, what FEMA does
and what some of the expectations are, there is a divergence.
Our focus, our commitment, is to get anybody that is eligible
that had losses from Katrina or Rita to give them some viable
options. The Stafford Act allows us to do that.
We do that by basically two ways. Give people money so they
can rent an apartment, a house, a condominium, or something,
rental assistance up to 18 months and that can be extended or
give them some direct housing in the way of mobile home or
travel trailers. We are doing that. Most everybody has gotten
money.
The last thing that I want to say is, and this is very
important, we have people who are not--who want to have their
first option. They want to come back to New Orleans. They want
to come back to St. Bernard. They want to come home. I want to
go home too. I have got a home to go to. But I am not going
back to my home until these folks get their home. But everybody
is not going to get their first option right away. There is a
cold hard fact in that people that lived in this area will not
be able to come back for months or maybe years because there is
not the housing stock to do that.
That does not mean they do not have a viable option. They
do. They will have rental assistance. We have mobile homes and
travel trailers in other parts of the State. So we are not
leaving people homeless. There is an option. There is a bed; it
is equipped; there is electricity; there is water. It just may
not be where they want it. It may not be their first option,
but we are not turning anybody away. There are places for them
to go. That is our commitment.
Thank you very much.
Chairman Ney. I appreciate your time.
Questions? The gentlelady from California.
[The statement of Scott Wells can be found on page 181 in
the appendix.]
Ms. Lee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I would like first of all
to go back to a couple of issues that the mayor raised and just
see if Mr. Williams or Mr. Wells or Mr. St. Julien could answer
or clarify those issues.
First of all, the mayor indicated that he still does not
know where a lot of the residents of New Orleans are. And he
cited, and he mentioned this to us in Washington, D.C., some
issues around privacy. And as one who cares about and values
our privacy laws, I mean, and who is very much against the
domestic spying that is taking place now and the surveillance
and wire tapping, I share and understand the reasons for
privacy. However, I also know that oftentimes agencies play a
lot of games with our privacy laws.
And this morning, on the tour we asked about, first of all,
how many residents were unaccounted for and we heard that there
could be up to 3000. And secondly, hearing now from the mayor
with regard to still not knowing where people are, I am
wondering--but yet we heard that HUD may know where public
housing residents are, 95 percent of them. I am wondering why
the mayor does not have this information and what the privacy
rules are as you see them that is prohibiting the mayor from
receiving the information that he needs and that everyone needs
so that families can be contacted, individuals, and assisted in
their return home.
Mr. Williams. Let me respond from HUD. We do have a good
understanding of where most, 95 percent, of the public housing
residents are. And that represents about 9600 families within
the metropolitan area. But we can also provide contact
information and if there were materials that the mayor wanted
to provide to those individuals, it is our understanding that
we can provide that to them. So we can work with the mayor's
office to provide that information to them.
Ms. Lee. But, Mr. Williams, I guess then I am wondering why
that has not happened. What is going on in terms of--is it lack
of communication? Is it--what is the deal?
Mr. Williams. Let me refer to Dr. Moon here is with our
local housing authority here. Oh, she is gone. Maybe Milan
Osadeck can help us a little bit with that too.
Mr. Osadeck. Madam Congresswoman, I am not aware of any
request from the city to the Department requesting information
on individual residents. At this point in time, we do have the
last known address of those families that had registered for
FEMA assistance. We are using those addresses to send post
cards, to try to contact these families, to try to get them
assistance through the KDHAP program.
Ms. Lee. Well, you heard the mayor earlier saying that he
could not get those lists. So I guess could this committee make
a request that those lists be forwarded to the mayor, just out
of courtesy, if nothing else? I mean he needs them.
Chairman Ney. If the gentlelady will yield. Is there
anything to prevent the mayor from acquiring the list from you?
Mr. Osadeck. I am not an expert on privacy laws, Mr.
Chairman, but I can certainly, when I go back to Washington,
find that out.
Ms. Waters. Do not find it out. Tell them.
Chairman Ney. You can give us the list is what you are
saying.
Ms. Lee. Can we get the list, this committee?
Chairman Ney. Are we allowed to have the list?
Mr. Osadeck. I do not know the answer to that.
Chairman Ney. Okay.
Ms. Lee. We are not allowed.
Chairman Ney. We will find out.
Ms. Lee. Mr. St. Julien.
Mr. St. Julien. Madam Lee, may I make a suggestion? I mean,
this issue, there is some Privacy Act problems involving this.
But it is very simple that FEMA ought to have responsibility to
send a notice to everyone asking them for their permission to
be able to provide that information to the officials so that
they can get official information. If people had that option to
get that official information about what is happening in their
city, most of them will probably say yes. And at that point we
will be able to do that.
Ms. Lee. Let me ask FEMA, have you done that? And also,
does the Governor have that information? Do we have that
information? Does HUD have that information?
Ms. Waters. The Governor has the information. You gave it
to the Governor.
Mr. Wells. I think we have already provided the
information, one. That issue came up on voting and there was a
bad disk and the disk was corrected. I think that information
has already been provided. So I think that has already
happened.
Ms. Lee. But where did the information go. Who was the
recipient?
Mr. Wells. I do not know, whoever asked for it. Some of the
State agencies, yes. So they got the information. There is only
four criteria that you have to meet. You meet the four
criteria, then we provide the information. We are not trying to
withhold it.
Mr. Melancon. It is the secretary of state; the secretary
of state is in charge of that.
Ms. Lee. The secretary of state has it?
Mr. Melancon. I think that he has gotten it now.
Mr. Wells. I think that is who has it; it is a state
agency.
Chairman Ney. Can we just suspend for a second?
Ms. Pratt. The secretary of state--I am Councilwoman Renee
Gill Pratt from New Orleans. The secretary of state and the
attorney general was going to sue FEMA in order to get the list
so that they can then notify our citizens about the upcoming
election and then FEMA turned over the list to the secretary of
state. And at that time, that is the only person who could use
the list. However, elected officials asked could we also get
that list, and they are supposed to go back and ask could they
get that list, because our constituents call us every day
asking us what is going on. But we have no way of notifying and
telling the others what is exactly happening in their own city.
So they have to give the authorization so that all can have it.
Ms. Lee. So FEMA should notify the secretary of state to
release that information to whomever is requesting it?
Ms. Pratt. Yes.
Mr. Wells. No. The secretary of state requested it and we
gave it to him. Somebody asked it to us; we gave it to who
requested it. That is what we have done.
Chairman Ney. So if we requested it, we can have it?
Mr. Wells. Yes.
Chairman Ney. Okay, then we will request it.
Mr. Melancon. It took awhile to clear it.
Ms. Lee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Ney. Mr. Green.
Mr. Green. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I must tell you that I marvel at how we can
put a man on the moon, but we cannot put a trailer on a lot--
21,000 trailers in 30 days is not impossible for the richest
country in the world. For some other countries, it could be
impossible, but for this country, that is entirely doable. And
I would hope that we would rethink our position on that and try
to help this mayor and this city with those trailers in 30
days.
Mr. Wells, I know that you have broad shoulders, and I
appreciate you very much. But I just want to share this with
you because you are a fellow human being. The comment about the
nine women in the room was not well thought through; it really
was not. I do not think you meant to offend anyone. But that
comment was not well received and I think that if you get a
chance, you might want to let people know that you would not
say it that way if you had another chance to say it.
Mr. Wells. Let me just say, I apologize. That was not the
intent to--
Mr. Green. Thank you. I think you ought to salute him for
his apology. I think you should.
[Applause.]
Mr. Wells. It was certainly not to meant to offend anybody.
Mr. Green. I understand. I do believe you.
Now we do have some contradictions that we have to
confront. We want to rent apartment complexes, but we do not
want to pay rent. And what I am saying to you is you gave us a
clear indication, you made it conspicuously clear that you
wanted to rent apartments--you want to lease apartment
complexes, you want to do that. But we do not want to pay the
rent at hotels. I call it rent. When I go to a hotel room, if I
do not pay, then I have to leave. But we do not want to pay. We
have had Federal judges to intercede and say that evacuees
could stay longer than deadlines that had been imposed by FEMA.
So FEMA is at a point now where you need to move from
deadlines to life lines. People need to be given the
opportunity to stay in place until there is another place to
stay. It really is not rocket science. People have nowhere to
go. And we cannot just terminate lease arrangements and expect
people who are living in strange areas, many without
transportation, many with children, some single parents, to
just find a place to live. We have to be a little bit more
compassionate than that.
I can speak of Houston, Texas, specifically. There was an
arrangement made with FEMA to allow the City of Houston to
lease property with landlords and pay the landlord and get
reimbursement from FEMA. That was the arrangement. Now not you,
but FEMA has tried to find all kinds of clever ways to avoid
that agreement. We actually had a person that appeared before
our committee in Congress who said that while they wanted to
terminate those leases, they did not want people to stay there
for 12 months because they were 12-month leases. And by the
way, many of those landlords would not have leased but for a
12-month lease. He said that we are going to terminate those
leases, but we are still honoring our agreement. The question
was, how are you honoring your agreement if you are terminating
the lease. He said, because we will pay any penalties that we
have to pay. So that means we are honoring our agreement
because we will pay the penalties. That is clever, but that is
not helping people. You were not the person who said that, but
I sat in the hearing when it was said.
We sat in a hearing when Congresswoman Waters brought this
same question up about this list. This is not the first time.
And by the way, the person who was in Congress on that day, he
left a few pounds lighter, too. I do not know whether he still
has certain parts of his anatomy. But be that as it may, we
keep repeating ourselves and making the same request.
I really did not have a question for you. But I have a
final comment and that is this, the City of New Orleans cannot
resolve this by itself. This State cannot. The Federal
Government cannot. But together, we can do this. This is not a
big deal for the city, the State, and the Federal Government.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
Chairman Ney. Mr. Cleaver.
Mr. Cleaver. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Really one question,
I guess, to Mr. St. Julien and to Mr. Williams. We had a chance
to go to the Desire, the Hope 6 project. And I am familiar with
Hope 6 and I spent part of my childhood in public housing. But
Desire is one of the most beautiful projects I have ever seen.
And I guess if we had 11.5 million more that came into the
city, CDBG, what is the--do you have an idea what the annual
CDBG allocation is?
Mr. Williams. I beg your pardon.
Mr. Cleaver. The annual. The 11.5 was on top of what the
city receives annually.
Mr. Williams. Eleven and one half billion is for the gulf
coast and the allocation of that 11.5 billion would be based on
the plans that the cities and the States present to HUD to
utilize those CDBG funds.
Mr. Cleaver. That will be competitive funding?
Mr. Williams. Well, I do not think it is competitive. We
have got a person who--I am sorry, did not get the microphone.
We have a lady here who is with our CDBG department, our
Community Development Department. Would it be okay if I asked
her to answer that question.
Mr. Cleaver. Absolutely.
Ms. Farias. My name is Anna Maria Farias; I am the Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Grants. And, yes, the $11.5 billion
that Congress passed and the President signed on December 30,
Secretary Jackson made it very clear shortly after we got back
in January that we were to work very closely with the Governors
of all five affected States so that they could start working on
the waivers and their plans so that this $11.5 billion can be
used once funds are allocated to the State of Louisiana through
the Governor for low- and moderate-low income people.
Mr. Cleaver. Okay.
Ms. Farias. And also in addition you asked, New Orleans
does get a certain amount, $70 million of CDBG, and it is up to
the City of New Orleans to decide how they are going to use
that money.
Mr. Cleaver. Yes, thank you.
Okay, the way CDBG normally works is that only certain
class cities would go through the Governor in terms of
competitive bidding. The major cities in this country do not
get that allocation from the Governor. And I guess perhaps I am
asking this inarticulately, but is New Orleans going to have to
go out and compete with other Gulf Coast areas for a portion of
the 11.5?
Ms. Farias. New Orleans will have to go through the
Governor of Louisiana to get a portion of the money because
that is the way the supplemental bill--the Governor of
Louisiana the money portion goes to the Governor. The Governor
has appointed a Louisiana Recovery Authority and then the city
administration.
Mr. Cleaver. Yes, thank you. That was a mistake then. That
was a big mistake. And I am familiar with CDBG, very familiar
with it. It was intentionally designed to make sure that the
larger areas ended up with an allocation based on disparity;
you know the whole deal. And one of the reasons--is this going
to be the Governor or is it going to be the Louisiana General
Assembly?
Ms. Farias. The monies are allocated to the Governor, but
what the Governor has to do is they submit a plan to HUD, but
they have to allow minimal participation to the citizens. And
that means all the citizens of Louisiana, which of course
includes the City of New Orleans.
Mr. Cleaver. CDBG requires a public hearing.
Ms. Farias. You have to have a public hearing.
Mr. Cleaver. That is right; you have to have a public
hearing. So we are going to have a statewide public hearing?
Ms. Farias. The way the appropriation resolution was
signed, that is the way it goes, sir. That is the way it was.
The money goes to all five Governors of the five States.
Mr. Cleaver. Do you see the problem? I mean, I know you
cannot answer that question.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Cleaver. Mr. Williams, we are going to have a
statewide--the CDBG regulations requires a hearing; you have to
have it annually. And so with $11.5 billion going to Baton
Rouge, we still have to have the public hearing except it is
going to be a statewide hearing?
Mr. Williams. The individual plans that are submitted are
reviewed by HUD. And so HUD has oversight on those CDBG grants
that are provided. So I know Secretary Jackson has expressed a
very strong desire to be sure that there is equity in the
allocation of those funds. And so the department will do those
things that are necessary to oversee the equity within the
distribution of the funds. The statute itself does limit
allocations of funds to a certain percentage maximum to any one
particular State. I believe it is 54 percent to any one
particular State. So it does have some limitation within the
statute itself. But also HUD has oversight and participation
with the communities in being sure the funds are used
appropriately and distributed appropriately.
Mr. Cleaver. Mr. St. Julien.
Chairman Ney. Time has expired, but if you would like to
quickly answer.
Mr. St. Julien. We need help; this is just an observation
that you have, maybe not only because we have to do a statewide
hearing for something that affects a large city like New
Orleans, but we have a unique situation. Our people are spread
out all over this country.
Mr. Cleaver. That is the point.
Mr. St. Julien. We spend a lot of money to get Iraqis who
live in this country the right to vote for--in the last
election in Iraq. And who were in Detroit and several other
places and we need some mechanism and we need some funding to
make sure we have public hearings in Houston, in Baton Rouge,
in Memphis, in Atlanta so our people can participate and also
participate in the vote.
Mr. Cleaver. Mr. Chairman, I know my time is expired. I am
a little familiar with this, maybe more than a little familiar
with it. And it may have been our problem; it may have been our
error. I can tell you right now as a former mayor having done
these hearings for 20 years, this is a mess of major
proportions and I think Mr. Williams and the kind lady in the
back, they cannot agree with that because they might lose their
jobs. But I know they can tell you it is a mess. And talk to
them back in the back. It is a mess. It is going to be a mess.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I am sorry I went over.
Chairman Ney. Gentlelady from California, Ms. Watson.
Ms. Watson. Thank you. I am sitting here and very
diligently trying to pinpoint what the problem is. The first
problem is beyond anything that you can do. And that is when we
moved the Emergency Management Agency under Homeland Security.
It just gives more levels to go through. And I heard you say,
Mr. Wells, that it was protocol.
The Emergency Management Agency should be just that. It
should be able to move on a dime. It is not happening. The kind
of devastation we saw today leaves you with the thought, what
emergency has been addressed out here. We still saw trees
uprooted and they are on roofs of houses and the houses are
ready to collapse. And we saw rubbish in the streets; it has
not been moved. There is nothing emergency about it yet.
I heard very clearly--and you just happen to be the one
that is here, Mr. Wells, very little you can do about this. But
if I can pin down the stumbling block, that is with the
contractors that did not go out to a competitive bid process. I
heard you say one of the agencies, a private utility agency is
bankrupt? How in the world can you get a Government contract
and be bankrupt. Something is wrong in that and I wish there
was someone here representing that entity. Can someone explain
that to me?
Mr. Wells. No, ma'am. They did not get a governmental
contract. We gave--because they were bankrupt and did not do
the things that needed to be done, FEMA hired a contractor to
do Entergy's work that they normally do. So FEMA went into a
contract with another company.
Ms. Watson. Can you get rid of the contractors you have
now? Apparently they are not delivering. And can you go out to
a competitive bid in 30 days and find those that can deliver? I
hear the mayor asking for 21,000 trailer units. That ought to
be addressed. If the three companies that you mentioned cannot
do the job, you need to contract with those who can. And you
need to do it within the time span that you have given those
who are staying in hotels and you are paying the rent--you need
to do it so they can move out of those hotels, move on their
property, rental property or leased property while you are
trying to restore those neighborhoods. I think that can be done
now.
If you get the message from this committee hearing, I would
go back immediately and say let us go to contract. Let us get
people that can do the job and let us get the 21,000 units up.
That would be a step one.
Then you can look at other options too. If you can
negotiate to get the apartments, that would be even better. If
we can hook up all the areas that are without electricity and
sewage disposal in the next few weeks, that would be a
tremendous step towards returning the communities. Then if you
could decide on who is going to take the rubbish away and where
you are going to dump it, that would be another step that will
really show progress. I was disappointed when I heard the
President say there is progress and we went in the lower 9th
ward and I do not see it. I am just here one day. But I do not
see the progress. And I am wondering where the Emergency
Management Agency is.
But I think that you have indicated to us what the problems
are. You have so much bureaucracy, you know, on top of what you
do that you cannot get anything done in a timely fashion.
So one of the problems would be for us to do oversight and
remove the Emergency Management Agency from Homeland Security.
We cannot secure the land if we cannot secure the people on the
land. And we are spending billions of dollars 10 and 11
thousand miles away trying to secure people in Iraq and we
cannot even help the Americans that are crying for just a place
to stay outside of a hotel. So if we can solve the problem of
the contractors and get them to deliver what we are paying them
for--and you need to find out, I am sure there are people in
this crowd here that can help hook up a trailer. We were sent
up a letter from Jira Business Services, Incorporated to a Mr.
Best. And they were going for a contract, but they were stalled
and stymied, so that inside-boy trading does not work when you
are really addressing this kind of emergency. We have got to
put a new face on this. America has to become concerned about
Americans as well.
Chairman Ney. Time has expired.
Ms. Watson. So if you can take my suggestion that we find
new contractors, get rid of those that cannot do the work. You
know, just break that contract and go with those that can.
Thank you, I yield back my time.
Chairman Ney. The gentleman from Louisiana, Congressman
Melancon.
Mr. Melancon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate it.
You know, we are questioning probably the wrong people. The
problem is coming from the top. I sit on the Katrina Committee
and not very long ago we put on record a letter about trailers
and about the program. And it went as far up and was seen by
the Vice President that basically said that the trailer idea is
worse than originally thought. Per the data provided, the last
batch of trailers that we are now purchasing will be coming off
the production line in approximately 3.5 years. And Mr.
Chairman, if I can enter that into the record, if you do not
mind.
Chairman Ney. Without objection.
Mr. Melancon. FEMA was dismantled, in the sense that it is
underfunded, understaffed, and incapable, not because Mr. Wells
does not try to do his job. There was requested of the
leadership that there be an independent Katrina Commission,
just like the 9-11 Commission, to find out what really are the
problems and to address them. It would not take care of the
needs of Chalmette and Belle Chasse and Venice and New Orleans.
But at least it might prevent us in the future from having a
disaster that is worse than the disaster that we have already
suffered.
I would hope--and Chairman Ney, again, I thank you for your
interest and your concern. We have got committees scattered all
over the House and the Senate and one hand does not know what
the other hand is doing because the information is not all
readily available. And the only thing that I would like to ask
is that the leader of the House and the leader of the Senate
join with the minority leaders and ask for an independent
commission and that the President, as I requested yesterday,
use whatever executive powers and authorities he has to waive
those rules and regulations that hamper people like Mr. Wells
and the people from HUD from getting the job done
expeditiously.
It is going to be a long toil; I think we all know that.
And there is nothing that we can say here today that is going
to make it easier on any of us. But I know the people of
Louisiana and I have all the faith in the world of their
resilience. We can get this State and this Gulf Coast back up
to what it used to be. It is going to take time and, again, we
are not asking for a handout, only a hand up.
So Mr. Chairman, thank you for everything that you have
done to bring us to New Orleans and to Biloxi to try to open
this door so that these people can see in and understand what
the real problems are.
And I yield back my time.
Chairman Ney. I thank the gentleman. Mr. Taylor.
Mr. Taylor. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
A couple of things, Mr. Williams. My question to you is
based on your written testimony on pages five and six. You are
talking about a program to advance mortgage payments to people
for up to 12 months, you know, while they may have been out of
work in order to try to rebuild their houses and stay in their
houses. My question is, is that solely for FHA guaranteed
loans?
Mr. Williams. We only have the ability to do it on those
that are FHA insured.
Mr. Taylor. Do you have any idea out of all the mortgages
out there, what percentage of them would be FHA?
Mr. Williams. The Gulf Coast area, it is about 20 percent.
Mr. Taylor. Okay. Mr. Wells, a couple of observations based
on what I have seen in Mississippi, you all are just getting
started here. But please do not repeat the same mistakes.
We have about 30,000 trailers out in Mississippi. We have
over 20,000 quality complaints. I have been to your staging
area in Purvis where we actually as a Nation take control of
these trailers, the manufacturer delivers them as far as
Purvis, Mississippi. Once they come in that yard, they become
Government property. At the Purvis yard, a FEMA rep will walk
in and turn on the 12 volt lights. He will turn on the gas and
hook it up to a pressure gauge. But he does not check the
plumbing; he does not check the microwave, for example put a
cup in the to see if the microwave is working and warms it up.
He does not listen to see if the refrigerator is working. He
does not turn on the air conditioner to see if it is working.
So what he is not checking on this approximately $19,000
purchase by our Nation is pretty alarming because once it
crosses that yard, if the refrigerator goes out, the air
conditioner goes out, et cetera, et cetera, it becomes the
Government's responsibility to pay for it. We have to send--
instead of doing it all in one place where you can have your
crews in one place, we have got to send crews all over south
Mississippi to fix it. So the person getting the trailer is
disappointed and angry. A great expense to the Nation to fix
these things. We need to do a better job upon delivery of
making sure we are getting a quality product.
Second thing, snuck on the Bechtel lot, I was told that I
could go any time I wanted. I went, did not ask permission, and
found 50 trailers where they had taken the thermostat out of
this one to fix that one. They had taken the microwave out of
this one to fix another one, taken the air conditioner out of
this one, leaving a hole in the roof so every time it rained,
water came in and ruined the trailer, pulled the window out of
this one to fix that one. And again, do the quick math, 50
trailers, approximately $20,000 apiece, that is a million
dollars worth of junk instead of 50 homes for people. And I
have not had an adequate answer as to who is going to pay for
that. But the citizens should not pay for that mistake that is
being made on Bechtel's leased property.
[Applause.]
Mr. Taylor. Okay? And again, I say all these things because
this is not the last natural disaster. We are getting close to
being there in Mississippi, but we are all United States
Congress people; we are all responsible to the citizens. We do
not want to see that money wasted; we do not want to see those
resources wasted. And we want to make sure if we are going to
help people, let us do it in a timely manner and let us do it
quickly.
Third thing, and this in the form of a question. I am not
going to name names. But there were 50 that had be
cannibalized, so that is 50 that were ruined in order to fix a
few. But there were about 250 that had been returned and if you
walk up on the front they take and mark what was wrong with
them. And about 90 percent of them by my count were one
manufacturer, without naming names. My question is--and I think
that we are buying four of five different manufacturers--is
anyone at FEMA telling anyone up the line quit buying this junk
or get those guys to straighten up their act? Because that is
250 trailers that people could be occupying tonight that,
because of quality defects, are sitting in the yard over on
Menge Avenue. Unfortunately the committee does not have time to
see Menge Avenue, Pass Christian, Mississippi.
So, again, since you are just at the initial stages, what
steps are you all going to take here so that that mistake is
not repeated? And what steps are being taken throughout the
FEMA organization to keep these mistakes from being made again?
Because we do not want to keep making the mistakes every single
time we have a natural disaster in this country. You all need
to do better. The Nation needs to do better and if this
committee needs to pass legislation, tell us. We have got to do
better than you all did in Mississippi.
I am grateful for the 30,000 trailers that have been
delivered; it could have been done a lot quicker. But my point
is if you pay anyone by the hour, it is just natural that they
are going to work slower. If you pay them a percentage above
their mistakes and for the mistakes, they are going to continue
to make mistakes and you are going to keep paying. That
contractor needs to be paid by the job. A successful delivery
of a working trailer, because it is amazing how fast people can
work when you pay them piece work. And we know that from the
debris removal, because yes, it was too expensive, but they
were paid by the cubic yard, so they got out there and hustled
and picked up all the debris that they could because every time
they showed up with a yard of debris they got paid for it.
Chairman Ney. Time has expired.
Mr. Taylor. The same attitude we ought to be taking with
the trailers.
Chairman Ney. I just--I have not asked questions because I
wanted to yield to other members. I will be very quick because
I know we have got a very patient second panel. How many
trailers have you put in Louisiana total, how many trailers?
Mr. Wells. Around 26-27,000 travel trailers and mobile
homes.
Chairman Ney. 26,000, okay, have been placed or on the
ground in Louisiana?
Mr. Wells. That is families moved in.
Chairman Ney. Families moved in, okay. How many are here
then in New Orleans of the 26? If you can follow up.
Mr. Wells. I can give you a general idea.
Chairman Ney. A general idea and then later on if we can
get the information by parish?
Mr. Wells. We have it by parish. It is probably around 1800
for Orleans. I think for Plaquemines it is probably around 1400
and probably around 900-1000 for St. Bernard, the three hardest
hit parishes.
Chairman Ney. One thing I might suggest, committee members,
we do not have to do it formal because it would take forever
and a day, but maybe GAO, we could call informally in a sense,
not a 9-year study, but could do a quick 2 or 3 days to find
out, you know, what is the short circuit of how many were
ordered and how many--because I know again, the Department at
one time wanted a lot of them, and how you get them on the
ground. In other words, study--not a study--a GAO opinion how
to make this work, how to make 21,000 work in a month. How to--
maybe--I am just throwing that out there.
Mr. Wells. Okay, chairman, I have got--
Chairman Ney. Somebody has got to make it work somehow.
Mr. Wells. Okay, Plaquemines, this is occupied 1113; St.
Bernard occupied, 1315 and in Orleans, 2196.
Chairman Ney. Okay. And what is the projected need in New
Orleans, how many more?
Mr. Wells. We met with the Governor--there are different
ways of looking at this. He had 8000 sites; we are talking
about like group sites already identified that they are
somewhere from breaking ground to somewhere in the process of
establishing group sites for 8000 units. In addition to that,
there are about 7000 more group sites that the mayor needed to
find space for.
Chairman Ney. Okay, I have a quick question on the housing
complex we went to today, Lafitte, I believe it was, Lafitte--
for anyone that wants to answer it. When we were in there and
again, you have to be here. We have seen it on TV; we worked
with this issue--you have to be here to see it and I wish
everybody involved with the votes would come down here.
But we were in there today and the mold just went up the
walls and things like that. It was built in the 1940s; I did
not know that. I thought it was the 1960s, but it was built in
the 1940s. Who decides--because so many families are affected,
I think 890 some families are in Lafitte. Who makes the
decision to say okay, this is how much it is going to cost to
redo it, clean it up, redo it and this is how many months it
will take or this is how much it cost to rip it all down, build
new and this is how many months it will take? Who makes that
decision?
Mr. Williams. Mr. Chairman, we are glad you are here too
because it is hard to kind of understand what that is without
being here. Mr. Osadeck is the expert on the public housing and
if you do not mind, I could ask him to answer your question.
Chairman Ney. We saw Hope 6 today, and I supported the
ranking member and other members, both sides. Ranking Member
Barney Frank and Mr. Oxley were active in it. We all supported
keeping Hope 6 alive. You know, we went reverse with the
recommendation and we kept Hope 6 alive. The Hope 6 site I saw
today, I do not know how on earth you could do anything but rip
it down. I mean, but with this apartment or with these units
there is a second floor. So I think it is an important question
because the sooner that decision is made the quicker the people
can get back into the public housing.
Mr. Osadeck. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The housing
authority--you met Dr. Moon today.
Chairman Ney. Yes.
Mr. Osadeck. Who was on the bus, as well Dr. Jarvis, are in
charge of doing that assessment. They have hired outside
contractors as well as staff who are able to come back to New
Orleans to assist in both the clean up and the assessment. As
you can imagine, there is a lot that goes into deciding whether
or not to try to rehab these units or to request the department
to tear them down and either start over again with new units,
do some sort of mixed finance, mixed income redevelopment, or
request of the Department vouchers for replacing the units
lost.
Chairman Ney. Also on these housing units for people that
need housing assistance, is it automatic that wherever the
units were before, housing complexes, is that what will be back
there again? Or is that something that is going to be a
dispute? I am not talking necessarily just about HUD, but also
locally or in this State or is that an automatic, that where it
was it will be again?
Mr. Osadeck. I can only speak for public housing. Where the
housing authority actually owns the real estate, there are no
incumbrance to putting units back on that site. The local codes
would be the only thing that would need to be complied with at
that point--densities, heights, those sorts of local code
issues. And you may also know that the housing authority has
actually begun to allow some people back into the public
housing units. I think the guiding principle here is that units
have to be safe, decent, sanitary.
Chairman Ney. Not into Lafitte.
Mr. Osadeck. Well, you saw today. Those things are clean on
the outside. That site has been cleaned by the authority to the
extent that it could and those units were secured so that
nobody can break in and hurt themselves or steal or any other
thing that can go on there. You have seen how those have been
secured while the assessment goes on as to what should happen
with them.
Chairman Ney. Also on sites where you would build public
housing, is anybody looking at the levels of toxic materials so
that it is cleaned up for people, that it would be safe for
kids and families?
Mr. Osadeck. Indeed, chairman, that will be one of the
things that the housing authority and the department will have
to be very careful to ensure that before allowing people back
into these units, they are indeed safe.
Chairman Ney. And I am going to close with this because we
have got the second panel. I also want to note that some
members may have additional questions for this panel and they
might want to submit it in writing. As usual House procedure,
without objection, the hearing record will remain open for 30
days from this hearing for members to submit written questions
to these witnesses and to place responses in the record.
I just want to end with, first of all, thank all of you for
being here. Again this is the first panel; we have a second
one, but our committee members too for being here. I mean, it
is important. Before we came here, there are a lot of people
that have watched this, one of the worst situations in the
history of the country and so it is very, very important that
we react. And it is tough with something of this catastrophic
nature and people going in every direction. But the big goal is
to work together.
I have to say one thing. I wrote a letter to the Army
Corps. What I want to say is this. I mean, somebody has to make
a decision on that levee and what it is going to rebuilt to and
that has to be--I do not know if it has been done. It is not
your jurisdiction. But I am just saying, I say this everywhere,
it has got to be done. Because as we are trying to help and
there is precedents that have been set with this situation. We
have had floods where I live and precedents set and that is
okay, because there are some catastrophe things. But if that
levee is not decided, here it is, it is a level five, I can
tell you if this happens again and that levee is not sustained,
you will get people arguing whether frankly people should be
helped or not and that is an argument we do not need in this
country. So I am hoping, I do not know, Congress, whatever we
can do, or the Administration, somebody has got to make that
decision and I think it is an important one.
But I thank all of you for your time; thank you.
And we will call the second panel. Second panel--Ms. Elise
Boyer, Dr. Willie Gable, Mr. Darrius Gray, Ms. Martha Kegel,
James Kelly, Muriel Lewis, Kevin Mercadel, I am sorry if I am
not pronouncing these right, Randy Noel, James Perry, Larry
Schedler, and Ms. Pauline Stewart. And we will take a quick 5
minute recess.
[Recess.]
Chairman Ney. The Committee will come to order. We have the
second panel and I want to--the committee will come to order,
if the members could please come to the table.
[Pause.]
Chairman Ney. Okay, the committee will come to order. And I
want to thank you again, the second panel, for having the
patience. We are going to start with Pauline Stewart, who is a
resident, currently residing in a hotel. Ms. Stewart, thank you
for coming today and I am sorry for what has happened to you
and so many people down in the Gulf States here.
STATEMENT OF PAULINE STEWART, RESIDENT (CURRENTLY RESIDING IN A
HOTEL)
Ms. Stewart. Thank you for having me.
Chairman Ney. If somebody could push the microphone a
little closer.
Ms. Stewart. My address in New Orleans is 5700 Louis Prima
Court; that would be Orleans Parish, the 9th Ward, New Orleans
East.
My problem with FEMA that I am here to address today, is
their rental program. I have had FEMA refer in a 2-day period
during the month of December five apartments; one in Metairie,
one in Kenner, three in Baton Rouge. I am presently staying in
a hotel in Baton Rouge. Each referral needed credit check, a
criminal background check, and income in the amount of three,
three and a half times, and four times the amount of the
monthly rent. As Katrina victims, most Katrina victims not only
lost their homes, they also lost their jobs. Most are on
unemployment. They have no income by which to qualify for an
apartment.
In addition, FEMA will not tell you how long they will pay
rent. So you cannot tell a landlord how long you will be able
to sign a lease. I have addressed this question as far as I can
get it, all the way up to Congress, my Representative, my
Congressional Representative. I have no answer as to why the
FEMA rental program in Louisiana is ineffective.
We have also approached FEMA for trailers and I have been
told that because my family only has two, two members, we can
only qualify for a travel trailer.
Chairman Ney. I am sorry. What two, who is the second
person in the family?
Ms. Stewart. My daughter evacuated me out of New Orleans.
Okay, so she is with me temporarily.
Chairman Ney. Okay, thank you.
Ms. Stewart. Okay, and I could request a mobile home, but
the odds were that I would not get one. And I cannot request
where I would like this travel trailer. It could be as far as
Shreveport. I am here today because I want to move back home.
And I cannot move back home if I am living in Shreveport. I
cannot rebuild my home if I am living anywhere in north
Louisiana. I told FEMA that I need to be as close to New
Orleans as possible and that may not happen.
Now after FEMA could not provide me with answers or help or
assistance with their rental program, I went to HUD. And HUD
has advised me multiple times, because I have called them
multiple times, because I have been given so many numbers--I
have called them multiple times and each time I was advised
that if I was not on a HUD program on the date of Katrina, I
was not eligible to participate in any of their programs now.
And asking further why that was so, I was told that HUD did not
request additional disaster monies, because they were working
off their existing budget.
So that is where I am now, okay. I am waiting; I have to
apply for an extension to stay in the hotel until maybe
February 7th or February 13th. I would prefer an apartment as
opposed to a travel trailer and I do not know what is going to
happen. I have lost total control of my situation because I
have to rely upon FEMA.
At some point in time, yes, apartments are very scarce but
within 2 days that young lady that was hired by FEMA did refer
five apartments to me. Apartments are there; FEMA has hired
people to find them. They may not be in the greatest of
quantity, but they are existing.
And that is all I have to say, so if you all have
questions, I would be happy to answer any that I can.
Chairman Ney. Ms. Boyer. Thank you.
[The statement of Pauline Stewart can be found on page 169
in the appendix.]
STATEMENT OF ELISE BOYER, RESIDENT (RESIDING IN HOTEL)
Ms. Boyer. I am a victim of Katrina and Rita. I do live in
New Orleans and I am still in New Orleans. I had to leave New
Orleans the day of the storm to go to Florida. Went to Florida,
my home is here, so I had to travel back from Florida here. I
have been living in a hotel ever since then and that has been
about 4 months. The hotel is fine; it is some place for you to
lay your head; you are not in the street. But stipulations, you
have to--first it was every 7 days you have to go and apply for
an extension. Now, it is every 3 days you have to go and apply
for an extension. Add to that, you have to have a code in order
for you to get an extension. So that means if your code is not
in, your hotel room is rented. That is where we are now.
So my house I could not live in it. I had six feet of
water; we cleaned out all the water and all the junk and
everything that was in it. I had to have my house rewired. Did
that. After that, there is no one in the neighborhood; there is
no gas; nobody is in the neighborhood but me. I go and check
the neighborhood out and check the house and see how everything
is. They have been breaking in, because the doors are open. You
cannot lock them because of the Corps of Engineers or whatever
broke the locks on the doors and they left them like that; they
left them open. So you have to buy locks; you have to watch
your houses.
The hotel is fine, but it is no place like home. And I
really want to go home. I am home, but I am not in my house. I
live in the Broadmoor area--devastation. Everybody's house is
washed away; it is a disaster. We have no neighbors;
everybody's gone. They come back, gut their house out, and they
go back. So that is where we are, trying to get in my house,
but Entergy has not, the gas is not ready. We still have water
in the gas. So we do not know when that is going to happen.
So I am hoping and praying that our extensions will be long
enough for us to live where we can get our houses repaired and
get back in them before they throw us out in the streets.
I thank you all and that is all I have to say. If you have
any questions, I will be willing to answer them.
Chairman Ney. Thank you, and I want to thank you as I did
Ms. Stewart.
I am sorry for what has happened to you and so many people
down here. Our thoughts are with you. Our hearts are with you.
But we are here with you now to hopefully do as much as we can
do to make sure you have some type of place to live here at
home.
I thought what we would do, because both witnesses have to
travel back to Baton Rouge, so I know we normally go, you know,
5 minutes each. Why do we not see if we have any questions of
either of the witnesses and then we will go on to everybody
else.
One question I had, how do you get notification about when
you would have to leave? I mean, I am sure you viewed in the
newspapers that there was a certain deadline. Did you get any
physical notification?
Ms. Stewart. The official notification that I received came
from FEMA to the hotel. I am sorry; it was given to me by the
hotel, okay. And it was a notice that we had to be out; I think
this was December 15th, and there was of course that extension
that was granted at the last minute. And the attorneys that
were involved were out of New York that went to the judge to
get the extension.
So I called FEMA to get an update on what is going on
because now everything is different for everybody; the dates
are all different. So I have to explain my situation and what
category I fall in and that is the extension that would be
applicable to me. So we have to request authorization numbers
from FEMA before the end of this month, January, and they will
give you maybe a week extension with that authorization.
Chairman Ney. And that is the same experience, Ms. Boyer,
that you have too?
Ms. Boyer. We do not know how long the extension will be.
Chairman Ney. One other final question that I have and then
we will move on to members. Where you are living; what about
cooking? Do you have a kitchenette?
Ms. Boyer. No kitchen.
Chairman Ney. So you get your meals by eating out.
Ms. Boyer. Out of the truck. We have a Salvation Army
truck, Red Cross truck.
Chairman Ney. What about your evening, if I could just
probe a little farther. What about your evening meals, do you
have a hot evening meal?
Ms. Boyer. If you have the money, you have to buy it.
Chairman Ney. You have to buy it.
Ms. Boyer. Other than that, yeah. Other than that, you eat
sandwiches.
Chairman Ney. Look, everybody knows this. If you eat out
all the time--you cannot.
Ms. Boyer. You cannot, you do not have the money.
Everything is so high.
Chairman Ney. Unless you have an awful lot of money.
Ms. Boyer. Right.
Chairman Ney. Obviously you do what everybody does; you buy
groceries and you cook, you know, at home. So you would have to
pay out of your pocket unless you can get--is the Salvation
Army food free; is that okay?
Ms. Boyer. They give you free lunch.
Chairman Ney. I assumed they would. Otherwise though, but
three meals a day, is it the same situation.
Ms. Boyer. One meal.
Chairman Ney. Okay, you do not have, okay, let me ask you
this. Is there a mini refrigerator in there where you can have
milk or juice or snacks?
Ms. Boyer. We have an ice bucket and that is how you keep
your juice or water, you know. You cannot put too much in an
ice bucket, maybe one bottle.
Chairman Ney. And that is very difficult for both of you.
If you had children, I do not know what--or medicine that you
have to refrigerate. Okay, that is something that I have not
heard before.
Our ranking member.
Ms. Waters. Just quickly, I want to understand the re-
authorization process as you are describing it. You mentioned
that you have to do something every 3 days. What is that?
Ms. Boyer. You have to call FEMA. You have to go down and
register.
Ms. Waters. Go down where?
Ms. Boyer. In the hotel.
Ms. Waters. In the hotel and register at the desk?
Ms. Boyer. And register at the desk for your extension.
Ms. Waters. And what happens when you do that? Do you have
to answer questions or what?
Ms. Boyer. No, you can just tell them that you came for the
extension and sign up for the extension and you just stay there
until another extension comes and you have to go back. It used
to be 7 days now it is 3 days.
Ms. Waters. And you said something about if you did not do
something your room could be rented out? What is that
something?
Ms. Boyer. Yes, you have to get a code.
Ms. Waters. A code.
Ms. Boyer. This is something new that FEMA has put on us.
Ms. Waters. Now who gives you the code, the hotel?
Ms. Boyer. Yeah, FEMA issues the code and you have to give
this code to the hotel. That is for you to get another
extension. Now my extension will be until February 13th; you
have to go down 3 days before.
Ms. Waters. Before February 13th. And the last time that
you went to get your extension, did they ask you any particular
questions?
Ms. Boyer. No.
Ms. Waters. They did not. And as you understand it, when
you go back on February 13th, it should be basically the way it
has been in the past where they just reissue a code to you. Did
anybody talk to you about having a plan of any kind about how
you are going to deal with your life if you did not have access
to a hotel?
Ms. Boyer. No.
Ms. Waters. Thank you. Thank you. You mentioned--did
anybody tell you what the criteria was for getting a mobile
home as opposed to a travel trailer?
Ms. Stewart. It has to be more than two people. They gave
me as an example a family of five, they would put into a mobile
home.
Ms. Waters. Okay, and then what did you tell me about why
you have not got a travel trailer?
Ms. Stewart. I do not know the reason why I have not gotten
one.
Ms. Waters. You told them that you wanted one and they know
that you need one and nobody has said we have one in 10 days or
15 days or--
Ms. Stewart. No.
Ms. Waters. Thank you very much. I am sorry; Mr. Ney had to
step out for a moment.
Ms. Lee, I will just go to you.
Ms. Lee. Let me first say, thank you very much for being
here today and as I said earlier I just marvel at the spirit
and the determination and the resilience of the people of New
Orleans and just know that you will rebuild this great city.
But I know that we have a responsibility to help you in those
efforts.
Just a couple of things I would like to ask, and you heard
earlier FEMA and HUD, and I wanted to find out in terms of
those individuals who have been displaced and who are living
around the country, do any of you have an idea of how they are
doing? I mean, we have people in all our districts we know and
who we are helping; 90 percent of them, 95 percent of them want
to come home. But there is so much confusion and so much in
terms of lack of communication and lack of information with
regard to when, where, and how, and what is taking place here.
So I would just like to ask any of you if you know how--what
system is established to make sure that relatives, family
members, friends are in contact with those who are still here
in the region, so they can make this transition back as quickly
as possible?
And secondly, I just wanted to ask you about some of the
trauma again that has been associated with this disaster and
just how you see people faring in terms of their mental health
needs and what it is you think needs to be done within the
context of helping them come home with their housing, and so
anyone could respond to that. Mr. Kelly.
Mr. Kelly. I have spent a number of hours this week with
trauma counselors who worked in the tsunami, who have worked in
9-11, et cetera. What we are now talking about is the number of
suicides. The mayor made some reference to it, the mental
health of our people. If you go through trauma, if any of you
go through grief, what do you do? You go home and you curl up
in bed or you curl up with family. Our folks do not have any
place to go to deal with their trauma. We are going to have
post-traumatic stress syndrome like you have never seen before
in any nation.
For the majority of our people, their home is what they
have been striving for. Their home is gone; we are going to
have post-traumatic stress syndrome that affects rich and poor.
But I will tell you who is going to deal better with it, the
poor because they are stronger and because they have been
through lots more grief. But the number of suicides, the number
of elderly who have passed on way before they should have--just
open our obituary pages, elderly after elderly after elderly;
we are losing our elderly. We are also seeing our elderly age
faster than they have ever aged before.
We are going to see post-traumatic syndrome with children.
I know I have sat and played with children in shelters in Baton
Rouge who have spent 2 to 3 months of their lives, a 1-year-old
who spent 25 percent of his life in shelter. Do you not think
that is not going to affect these children.
There is a difference between grief and trauma is what I
have come to learn. Trauma lasts a long time.
Chairman Ney. Any questions for the two witnesses.
Ms. Watson. Yes.
Chairman Ney. I am sorry; Mr. Green is next.
Mr. Green. Thank you, Mr. Chairman; I will be brief. I
really appreciate having you up here before us today because
there are many people who actually think that you have the good
life. You are living in a hotel, maid service, room service;
they do not understand what your life is really like. So you
really have given me the ammunition that I need to speak on
your behalf.
But for clarity, I assume that you do not have maid service
in the room. Tell me if you would, Ms. Boyer, and I will just
let this be my only question. How are you managing with getting
your things cleaned and that sort of thing?
Ms. Boyer. Well, we have to go to the washeteria and that
is very expensive, a dollar and a half for about 45 minutes. To
dry your clothes, that is 75 cents. What do you get? About 15
minutes. It is very expensive living in a hotel.
Mr. Green. God bless you. Thank you very much.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Chairman Ney. Mr. Cleaver.
Mr. Cleaver. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I have no questions.
I appreciate very much you coming and I yield back the balance
of my time.
Chairman Ney. Ms. Watson.
Ms. Watson. Just for clarification as well. Ms. Stewart and
Ms. Boyer, every 3 days, is this the same with you, every 3
days you have to register? Is there anyone who intercedes for
you and lays out the procedures or do you have to initiate a
call to FEMA?
Ms. Stewart. The authorization code comes from FEMA.
Without that authorization code from FEMA, you are not going to
get your hotel.
Ms. Watson. Do you get through on the line your first
attempt?
Ms. Stewart. It is no problem reaching them. You know, that
situation is over; they have enough people now and people have
settled basically. The urgency is not there as it was before.
Ms. Watson. Now you mentioned that you wanted to get a
trailer and that you were not eligible for a certain kind of
trailer?
Ms. Stewart. The mobile home.
Ms. Watson. The mobile home. Only what kind of trailer?
Ms. Stewart. A travel trailer.
Ms. Watson. A travel trailer. And what is in a travel
trailer?
Ms. Stewart. It basically has the same thing as a mobile
home except it is quite small.
Ms. Watson. Quite small.
Ms. Stewart. It is a recreational type thing you go on
vacation with. You see people driving along the highway; they
are very small. I mean, it would be basically the equivalent of
being in a hotel room for another 4 to 6 months or a year.
Ms. Watson. I see. Ms. Boyer, you asked for a trailer on
your property?
Ms. Boyer. Yes, I did.
Ms. Watson. And what is the problem you are facing?
Ms. Boyer. They told me my driveway was too small, four
inches, my driveway. The trailer would be on my neighbor's
property four inches. I cannot recall how many feet my driveway
have, but my driveway is the length of my house. I have a
driveway on both sides and I also have a carport in the back.
No reason why my carport, my driveway will not hold a trailer
because I see trailers hanging off the sidewalks. I see
trailers on the sidewalk in front of houses. Mine would be in
the driveway. The house next to me is vacant. It is vacant
because those people have not come back, not even to take a
refrigerator out. I said to her, would you mind if it is over
there four inches? She said, you know I do not mind, put your
trailer up there. I have not heard anything. I was in Florida
when I applied for the trailer. I did not talk to anybody; they
talked to my daughter on the phone and told her my driveway was
too small; I would be four inches on my neighbor's property.
Ms. Watson. Thank you.
Mr. Kelly, you mentioned working with the children in the
shelter. How many--do you know how many children are still
disconnected from their families and in shelters?
Mr. Kelly. Most of the shelters, almost all the shelters
are closed. But it is just a different type of shelter. We put
families without jobs, without cars, without childcare in
trailer parks--it is just a different method of a shelter--or
we put them in hotels without any resources. It is just a
different type of shelter, in my mind.
Ms. Watson. Let me direct to the chairman and the ranking
member, is this session being recorded?
Chairman Ney. We have a transcriber.
Ms. Watson. Okay, I was wondering if we could take some of
these points and put them in a report directly to FEMA or any
other authority.
Chairman Ney. We have the transcriber.
Ms. Watson. All of the points that they are making. You
know, the property line, is that really relevant in an
emergency. These are the kinds of ridiculous things that make
this agency not one that addresses in an urgent way. And so I
would like to--ranking member, I would like to have these
pointed up in any report that comes out of this meeting, these
ridiculous regulations that are making it difficult for the
evacuees to at least come back to their property.
Chairman Ney. Without objection. When it is transcribed, we
will take the information and as a committee, we will send it
to FEMA.
Ms. Watson. Thank you. I yield back.
Chairman Ney. Any other questions of the two witnesses? And
we will move on. I have just got to say to both of you again it
is a terrible thing that has happened and I do not know how you
are doing it. You have also shed some light frankly that
nobody, and you might think that everybody talks to everybody,
but you shed some light that I have not thought of. I knew it;
it is not a condition that people want to be in. But all I ever
heard that people are getting traumatized because at first they
were going to be out in December and they are going to be out,
and that is one of the reasons that we are here. But nobody has
pointed out some of the other things. I mean, I can go on with
a ton of questions. Vacuum cleaners, is a vacuum cleaner
provided for you or do you have to go out and get your own
cleaning supplies. I mean, I can go on and on and on about
money that you obviously do not have. And I just--is there any
type of payment that FEMA gives or the Government, the United
States Government is giving?
Ms. Boyer. At the beginning they did.
Chairman Ney. They did. Okay, and when did that stop?
Ms. Boyer. Right after they gave it to us. The same, when
they gave me that money.
Chairman Ney. One time payment.
Ms. Boyer. They gave me $2000 the first time.
Chairman Ney. Okay, that $2000. Well I want to again thank
both of you and we will just start down here. Mr. Gray, we will
go right down the line.
STATEMENT OF DARRIUS GRAY, PRESIDENT, GREATER NEW ORLEANS HOTEL
& LODGING ASSOCIATION
Mr. Gray. Thank you. Would you be so kind and slide the mic
down; Thank you so much, appreciate it.
Good evening. Speaking on behalf of the American Hotel &
Lodging Association, I appreciate the opportunity to testify
before the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity
for the Committee on House Financial Services. The American
Hotel & Lodging Association is a 96-year-old dual membership
association of State and city partner lodging associations
throughout the United States with some 10,000 members
nationwide representing more than 1.3 million guest rooms.
American Hotel & Lodging Association and the lodging
industry understands the enormity of the unprecedented
devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Many of our
own employees were displaced; many of our businesses were
partially damaged; some completely destroyed. And our industry
faces a long road back to normalcy in the region which will
take years to recover from. American Hotel & Lodging
Association well understands the extraordinary demands placed
on FEMA due to these hurricanes and applauds its many
successes. However, improvements must be implemented if our
Nation is to better respond to future events.
Having said that, I want to bring to your attention the
involvement of the lodging industry in the months after the
tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and the past and present concerns
we have compiled on behalf of the industry. In the chaotic week
following the hurricane, American Hotel & Lodging Association
was asked by the Department of Homeland Security to secure
250,000 guest rooms in case they were needed for a proposed
housing plan in which the room blocks would be leased by the
Federal Emergency Management Agency for a period of no less
than 6 months but could extend as long as 18 months.
American Hotel & Lodging Association disseminated the
message to our members immediately and within periods of 6
weeks we had collected well over 190,000 guest rooms. The
tremendous response from hoteliers across the country is a
testament to the passion and generosity that our industry
showed toward this event. Over 4500 properties had applied to
participate, willing to lease large blocks of rooms, in some
cases the entire hotels to FEMA to house the hurricane
evacuees.
Available rooms were forwarded via e-mail in spreadsheets
by the American Hotel & Lodging Association to FEMA on a daily
basis beginning September 7, 2005, until the process was
finally discontinued on October 17, 2005, at the request of
FEMA, who informed the American Hotel & Lodging Association
that they were no longer needed or they were no longer in need
of the information.
While FEMA made clear that their policy was fluid and could
not guarantee that any of the rooms we had collected would be
used for the housing program, very little other information was
provided to us. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed
each day that they had received our list of available rooms,
but could not confirm what was happening to the list each day
and whether or not they were being reviewed by the staff of
FEMA.
As time went by and evacuees were placed into hotels from
shelters and other forms of temporary housing, no word came
from FEMA regarding when the housing program would end, who
would be dispatched to support the hotel properties, or what
would happen if evacuees had nowhere else to go when the
program terminated. This is a fact that even exists today. With
all the recent changes that have been recently enacted, this is
still a fact that we quite frankly do not know.
You have heard from the panel here that they have been
given this authorization code for February 7th; some, February
13th. But what about those applying for that March 1st deadline
that was recently passed? My understanding in reading the
documentation on that is that if your situation is undetermined
at that time, then you can stay as long as March 1st, but still
it is kind of vague and very ambiguous.
Today many evacuees remain in hotels with little incentive
to leave or nowhere to go, placing our members in extremely
precarious public relations positions. It is disconcerting that
most the information that we have passed on to our members
throughout the course of the housing program is taken from
newspapers and not received from FEMA itself. Given that the
industry has been so eager to help in this tragic situation, we
feel that more should be done by FEMA to foster communications,
alleviate fears, and facilitate the housing program that has
provided shelter and meals for so many people during this
difficult time. Although the scale of this natural disaster in
the Gulf was unprecedented, better preparation and
communication could have greatly facilitated the process of
finding housing for displaced residents.
The American Hotel & Lodging Association and its members
remain ready and willing to aid in this effort. We have
willingly responded to this tragedy and standby ready to help
prepare for future responses. It is our hope that through this
process of discussion, logistical mistakes can be avoided in
the future and we will be better able to work with this
Government agency for the common good of the people affected by
disasters such as this.
Chairman Ney. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Mercadel.
[The statement of Darrius Gray can be found on page 119 in
the appendix.]
STATEMENT OF KEVIN MERCADEL, NEIGHBORHOOD RECOVERY SPECIALIST,
PRESERVATION RESOURCE CENTER OF NEW ORLEANS
Mr. Mercadel. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I
thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
As we attempt to shift attention from clean up to
reconstruction in New Orleans and the Gulf region; PRC believes
that we must answer the question how and in what form the
rebuilding happens and how its historic fabric will be
protected for generations to come. If we get this response
wrong, Katrina could turn out to be not only a great natural
disaster, but we believe a great cultural disaster. It is one
Louisiana may not --
Chairman Ney. Can you push the mic a little bit closer,
sir. Thank you.
Mr. Mercadel. I am sorry.
Chairman Ney. That is good. Thank you.
Mr. Mercadel. My organization, the Preservation Resource
Center, established in 1974, has had an important impact on the
revitalization of historic districts in New Orleans through its
32-year history. Our membership is over 8000. We have had a
major impact on revitalization efforts in Lafayette Square, the
Warehouse District, Algiers Point, Algiers Riverview, Bywater,
Holy Cross, Esplanade Ridge, Lower Garden District, Irish
Channel, Faubourg Delachaise, Edgewood Park, Pontchartrain
Park, and many other neighborhoods in the city. These are the
homes of working people, low, moderate-income families,
majority African American.
In addition, we have had a long standing relationship with
the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Since Katrina,
PRC has been working hand in glove with the Trust. The Trust
has established a field office here in New Orleans, staffed it,
and the office operates out of the Preservation Resource Center
offices. So my remarks today are consistent with and supportive
of the Trust efforts to make the Gulf region whole again.
For more than 50 years, the Trust has been helping protect
the Nation's historic resources as a non-profit membership
organization of over 250,000 members. It is a leader in the
preservation movement that is trying to save the best of our
past for the future.
Now throughout the history of the PRC, now enhanced by the
experience of the Trust in the Mississippi River floods of
1993, the Northridge earthquake of 1994, and a number of other
natural disasters, we have learned that almost always the first
impulse of local officials is to tear down almost everything,
every damaged building in the name of public safety. We have
also learned that this first impulse is almost always wrong.
Obviously there will be historic buildings that will
necessarily be lost, but we should not lose more than we have
to. The Federal and State government's role is pivotal in
alleviating this urge to demolish and time is running out in
New Orleans. For example, officials in the city are pursuing
demolition requests and preliminary reports indicate that they
intend to demolish some 50,000 buildings. Already there has
been a hasty razing of the Naval Brigade Hall, a significant
landmark in the history of New Orleans jazz. It was torn down
September 26th without permits, without permission from the
city or the owners of the building.
In New Orleans alone, there are over 30 districts listed in
the National Register of Historic Places or as locally
designated historic districts. This represents more than one
half of the core of the city. It must be emphasized that when
we speak of historic neighborhoods in New Orleans, we are
talking in the main about modest shotgun singles, doubles,
Creole cottages, bungalows, arts and crafts houses and not
simply our more famous neighborhoods like the French Quarter
and the Garden District. Recovery efforts must acknowledge the
special character of the city. Failure to do so would only
compound the devastation that has already occurred.
Unquestionably, there is a complex set of issues existing, but
we believe there is a network of existing Federal, State, and
local laws that protect historic structures and cannot be
ignored in the rebuilding of the disaster area.
On behalf of the PRC and the Trust, I have personally been
involved almost daily since the middle of September doing
tours, windshield surveys, and house-by-house inspections in
just about every neighborhood in this city. We have worked with
and continue to work and coordinate our efforts with FEMA, the
State, the Historic Preservation Office, and the local HDLC,
the Historic District Landmarks Commission.
Since the beginning of October, PRC and the Trust has had
10 volunteer teams of architects, preservationists, engineers,
builders from around the country who have come in and worked
with us to distribute information about city permitting
processes, the notices of workshops that we conduct, as well as
circulate materials. We have a list currently of over 1000
volunteers from around the country of professionals willing to
come in and who will continue to maintain these teams as we go
forward. We have circulated about 3000 buckets of cleaning
supplies in the neighborhoods--bleach, sponges, so on and so
forth. We bought 13 generators and over 400 tarps that we are
distributing, primarily in the historic districts. The
generators have been given to neighborhood associations which
in turn loan them to homeowners that are working in their home
without power. The tarps are important because the Corps, while
they have this major roof project, does not talk hard roof--
slate, steel, asbestos tiles, which are primarily the types of
roofs that we have in the historic districts. We conduct weekly
workshops; attendance has been 40 to 75 people. We have invited
city officials, safety and permits experts about raising houses
and I mean r-a-i-s-e as opposed to r-a-z-e. We established--
Chairman Ney. Sir, your time has expired, but if you would
like to summarize.
Mr. Mercadel. Two projects that we feel are most important
moving forward. As I indicated, there is a tremendous effort to
demolish buildings. Simply because a building has been flooded
does not mean it needs to be destroyed. This week, we began
surveys of buildings. There are 200 buildings on the priority
list to be demolished in historic districts. We have been
inspecting them. We are going to share this information with
HDLC, FEMA, as well as the property owners. And we want to ask
that you in Congress ensure that the Section 106 regulations
and existing--we are not asking for new legislation, just
existing regulations--with respect to historic structures are
on it.
Our second initiative is a combination of a project called
Operation Come Back, which has existed since 1988, and the
Trust program called Home Again, where we have already
identified buildings that we are renovating. We are organizing
volunteers to gut them. We work on a neighbor block by block
basis. We have a two block area in the Holy Cross neighborhood
where we are re-renovating a property that we had just
completed renovating before the hurricane. We acquired two
other properties, blighted properties, on that block that we
already have donations of $40,000 worth of materials. The Trust
has identified a property down the street and the concept--and
this is in my written remarks--is a focus demonstration project
that shows we can save buildings.
If I might, I would like to add to my remarks and just show
you visually, this is a project that we did in the uptown
district. This is a project that was done 6 years ago. The
before pictures are houses that are in significantly worst
conditions than most of the houses in the city today. The
bottom shows what we can do with them. It is a project that is
small scale that can be duplicated over and over. We share this
information with most of the organizations in the city. And we
want to again thank you. I will be available for questions.
Chairman Ney. Ms. Lewis.
[The statement of Kevin Mercadel can be found on page 131
in the appendix.]
STATEMENT OF MURIEL LEWIS, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF KATRINA
EVACUEES
Ms. Lewis. Good afternoon. I am a member of the National
Association for Katrina Evacuees, which represents over 5000
relocated residents. We have chapters in over 35 States.
Some of us are in hotels, apartments, housing trailers,
living with relatives. Most of us want to relocate back to New
Orleans; we want to come home. Yes, we have lost memories,
personal achievements awards, our children's kindergarten
pictures, K through 12, furniture, jobs, even grandparents'
obituaries. Yes, there is a healing process that we must go
through.
But part of our healing is to be able to come home.
However, we have many concerns--housing, jobs, schools, health
care, and neighborhood development. Yes, we want to come home.
The Baker Bill is stating we will be receiving six percent
equity from our homes. However, we are not in agreement with
it.
Another bill that we have looked at is the CBC, which
states, it requires FEMA to reimburse entities that perform
services that should have been performed by FEMA following
Hurricane Katrina after the entity requests reimbursement and
allows a retroactive purchase of flood insurance by Hurricane
Katrina victims who did not live in a designated flood area. We
know our Congressman Baker voted against it and it was voted
down by one vote.
Please reconsider, we want to come home. We do not want
charity; we want justice. We do not want to sell our property;
we want to live in our houses. We were told we were in a no-
flood zone; that was the reason why we did not purchase or we
were not offered, even offered flood insurance. Now, our
mortgage companies are saying we must have flood insurance.
Please, help us to keep our homes. We do not want to sell.
Title 11 will bring hope and relieve pressure off of us. Our
suicide rate is rising every day, at least five per week.
Please relieve pressure.
One other thing I would like to add to that is that many of
our residents are concerned about food stamps. We had emergency
food stamps that were issued in the beginning of the pre-
Katrina--well, I should say it was during the Katrina
catastrophe. However, at this point, once we received the $2000
from FEMA, they were cut off because at that point in time they
are no longer qualified for food stamps. So now what was stated
through FEMA is we could not use the money to buy food; we had
to use it to buy housing. We want you all to know that there is
nothing there stating that--with the food stamps program
stating that we cannot receive food stamps even though FEMA is
issuing us the funds. So I wanted to make sure that you all
were--that that was brought to your attention.
Another thing that I wanted to let you know, I have a 15-
year-old, a 13, and a 17-year-old. My--we live in a hotel in
Lafayette, Louisiana, and we are going through, and you heard
the problems that are going--that are faced right now with the
hotels.
Chairman Ney. Did you say three children?
Ms. Lewis. Three children. I am concerned because I have
one son that is really dealing with this really hard and I am
having personal problems with him because of this move and
these problems that we are facing. Our State is still stating
that the requirements for the LEAP test is still in place.
From month to month, as you know, the deadlines come about
and the hotel, they state that 1 month you have to move, the
next month you have to move, but of course I could tell the
kids that we have to move to another area because we do not
know how long we are going to be in a hotel.
I have applied for a trailer. They asked me if I had
property. Yes, I have property. My house is gutted out and I
asked them to put the trailer there. I have requested the
trailer since October and I do not have, they have not came out
to put the red markings on the property as they stated earlier.
But I am still waiting; it has been since October and I still
do not have a travel trailer in front of my door. So I just
want to make, to bring these points to your attention.
I have nothing further.
Chairman Ney. You have been waiting since when?
Ms. Lewis. October.
Mr. Jefferson. Mr. Chairman, if she can provide the
information, I think we can help her household.
Chairman Ney. That is what I was talking about. We can look
into that type of delay.
Ms. Lewis. I am in the New Orleans East area.
Chairman Ney. Ms. Boyer too has another issue I think we
can look at and we will talk with you. Mr. Schedler.
[The statement of Muriel Lewis can be found on page 129 in
the appendix.]
STATEMENT OF LARRY G. SCHEDLER, PRESIDENT, LARRY G. SCHEDLER &
ASSOCIATES, METAIRIE, LA, TESTIFYING ON BEHALF OF THE NATIONAL
MULTI-HOUSING COUNCIL/NATIONAL APARTMENT ASSOCIATION
Mr. Schedler. Chairman Ney, Ranking Member Waters, and
distinguished members of the subcommittee, my name is Larry
Schedler. I am the president of Larry Schedler & Associates in
Metairie, Louisiana. I have been representing buyers and
sellers of apartment communities here for the past 22 years and
have transacted more than 20,000 multifamily units exclusively
in the Gulf Coast region.
I am here today at the request of two trade associations
that represent the private apartment industry, the National
Multi-Housing Council and the National Apartment Association.
Since we are in New Orleans today, I would like to discuss
the housing situation in this great city before and after
Hurricane Katrina. The City of New Orleans is down, but
definitely not out. It is estimated that approximately 260,000
residences, both owner occupied and rentals, in New Orleans
were affected by Hurricane Katrina. It appears that 30 to 35
percent of our inventory of 50,000 apartment units was
critically affected by Hurricane Katrina. It is not
unreasonable to assume that 15 to 20 percent of our total
inventory of rental apartments will never be rebuilt without
cooperation from all government entities.
The area that sustained the largest amount of concentrated
destruction is East New Orleans. East New Orleans was developed
in the early 1970s and had become a predominantly moderate
income apartment market. Its approximately 7500 rental units
rented for an average of 65 cents per square foot. While these
rents were sufficient to cover the operating expenses of these
older properties, they are not sufficient to cover the cost of
new construction even if the buildings were built to the pre-
Katrina standards. Moreover, the cost of new construction all
over the State will be higher because of higher cost building
supplies, insurance, labor and the cost to meet anticipated
changes in the building code.
If a rebuilt New Orleans is going to include apartments,
the Federal Government will have to be generous with incentives
in the form of tax credits and grants. Otherwise new
development will remain financially unviable. Good news is that
there is already overwhelming investor interest in the New
Orleans market. Developers have been searching for locations to
develop new apartments, both in the city and the surrounding
parishes. It is important to note that before the storm, 95
percent of the available apartments in New Orleans were
occupied. This means that the city's apartments were virtually
full. So even before the storm damaged 35 percent of the
housing inventory, there was virtually no surplus housing to
help meet the rising demand.
There is an unquestioned need to build more housing in New
Orleans and the surrounding area. But meeting this need will
require more Federal incentives and a streamlined redevelopment
process. The rebuilding efforts are complicated by the fact
that high demand, a limited supply of land, and rising
construction costs will all combine to push the price of the
resulting housing higher. If State, city, and Federal officials
are serious about rebuilding the housing in New Orleans, they
will need to make Federal incentives available.
Fortunately, Congress has already passed and the President
has signed into law new incentives to redevelop the Gulf Coast.
The emergency allocation is $18 per capita, more then nine
times the current law allocation of $1.90 per capita. Finally,
the measure increases the size of the credit from 100 percent
of qualified project costs to 130 percent of such costs by
designating the areas as GO zones.
If Louisiana is going to get the maximum value possible
from the tax credit program, it needs to change its past
practices of making small allocations and creating new
affordable housing on a small scale. During the rebuilding
period, it will be necessary to allow more credits per project.
This will encourage developments that will meet the large scale
need and it will attract well-capitalized developers who can
utilize their skills to create more affordable housing.
I thank you all for the opportunity to testify today and
assure you that the NMHC and the NAA look forward to being a
part of the solution to this housing crisis.
Chairman Ney. Thank you, very much. Mr. Kelly.
[The statement of Larry G. Schedler can be found on page
164 in the appendix.]
STATEMENT OF JAMES R. KELLY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CATHOLIC
CHARITIES ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW ORLEANS
Mr. Kelly. I thank you for your concern. I thank you for
your compassion and I thank you for your passion.
Since 1727, Catholic Charities has been caring for the
poor. It began in the 9th Ward. In the Nation, Catholic
Charities started in the 9th Ward; we have a long history. Last
year, we cared for 125,000 people with such needs as hunger,
poverty, unemployment, abuse, domestic violence, mental
illness, and homelessness.
I was in the Dome; I was at Armstrong Airport; I saw a lot;
I saw a lot of brave people, a lot of really brave people and a
lot of good people--the National Guard, the homeless, the
vulnerable. We have been busy. We have been counseling folks.
We have distributed 40 million pounds of food and provided
emergency assistance and counseling to thousands of people and
listened to too many stories like Ms. Lewis's and Ms. Boyer's
and Ms. Stewart's.
We greatly appreciate what your committee has done.
Appreciate that the legislation has finally been passed. I
cannot image what Christmas would have been like in this town
if some of that legislation had not passed. Hope is oxygen in
this town.
Thanks for what you have done on the Baker Bill, we pray
that it will pass through Congress. Where and how to rebuild
continues to be debated in our town. I lived in Washington; can
you imagine if northwest and southeast Washington flooded and
then we were going to take those neighborhoods and prioritize
who got built first, rebuilt first and who got rebuilt last.
Those would be some Congressional hearings.
Prior to Katrina, 20 percent of our citizens lived below
the poverty line, 30 percent of our children, 47 percent of
African Americans. Sixty percent of the residents of New
Orleans were renters, 40 percent homeowner, a flip of the
national average.
Who were the victims of Katrina? Seventy-seven percent of
the victims were African American. Rebuilding should be carried
out in a manner that treats the area's poor with the same
respect and dignity as the most affluent. High ground should be
set aside for rich and poor, white and black; diverse
neighborhoods are our future. But without your intervention and
your assistance, without the Government, the market will not be
kind to the poor.
Recently, Congress directed the Secretary of HUD to
preserve Section 8, 202, 811, and HOPWA housing. Yet, on
November 1st, HUD cut off rental payments to nonprofit 202
landlords and housing managers like the Holy Family Sisters.
Many of these damaged and vacant apartments for low-income
seniors are now nearing default. HUD's most successful housing,
the 202 program, will no longer be available to the elderly. So
they cannot come home. And even if we fix the buildings, what
do they come home to. No doctors, no pharmacies, so we are
going to put the non-profit landlords out of business? That is
a major issue. I pray that you can find out answers.
Most welcome is the low-income housing tax credits. Two
billion dollars of tax credits will get you 20,000 units of
housing. That is not very many units, but it is wonderful.
Never had anything like it, but it is only 20,000 units. And it
does not set aside any percentage of those for the poorest of
the poor, people making 30 or 40 percent of median income. I
ask that you look into that and pass legislation; if not, the
poorest of the poor will suffer some more.
The new regulations also require that the credits be spent
in the year that they are issued. That sounds efficient until
you hear the complexity of the land issues in New Orleans. And
also, understand as the mayor said that those credits could be
spread across all of southern Louisiana, so we could get locked
out. Credits will go to higher ground, go to areas in civil
parishes or towns that do not have those effects and New
Orleans could not get their fair share and I am sure it could
happen in other parts of Louisiana.
The construction of new affordable housing is going to take
time. It is critical; there was a dire need before; there is a
dire need now. So what do we do today?
Fast track the rehabilitation of offline public and private
housing; maybe we use eminent domain for some of these
landlords sitting in New Orleans East who do not know what to
do, rather than spending how much money on trailers.
Increase the number of housing vouchers.
Increase the value of these vouchers to 130 percent
including KDHAP.
Provide support and mental health services to the fragile.
Transfer all housing responsibilities from FEMA to HUD. I
have been in the very early meetings at the joint field office
when a FEMA representative was asked once you put someone in
those 100,000 trailers that are on their way--this goes back to
September--what do you do? Oh, we are done.
Experts predict only 250,000 people will come back.
Chairman Ney. Mr. Kelly, your time has expired, but if you
would like to summarize.
Mr. Kelly. The people of New Orleans are strong; they are
brave; they need your support. We appreciate what you are
doing. I will end with scripture. We are called to be one body,
one spirit, one hope. To be successful we will need a spirit of
humility and collaboration. Most importantly, we will need
God's grace and God's speed. I pray that God will bless your
efforts and through you the good and brave people of the Gulf
Coast.
Thank you.
Chairman Ney. Thank you, Mr. Kelly. Ms. Kegel.
[The statement of James R. Kelly can be found on page 122
in the appendix.]
STATEMENT OF MARTHA J. KEGEL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNITY FOR THE
HOMELESS
Ms. Kegel. Thank you, Chairman Ney, Ranking Member Waters,
and members of the subcommittee. We are so grateful that you
have come to New Orleans to shine a spotlight on the suffering
of our people and we are so grateful for your obvious
determination to end that suffering. I am grateful also for the
opportunity to testify today on behalf of UNITY, which is an
award-winning collaborative of 60 different agencies,
governmental, non-profit, faith-based, large, small agencies
that are providing housing and services to people experiencing
homelessness and people at risk of homelessness in greater New
Orleans.
Throughout this crisis, members of our 60 agencies, which
include Catholic Charities, have performed heroically while
experiencing their own losses, and I want to recognize today
two of those heroines of Katrina who are here today with me.
Angela Patterson and Lori Adams, could you stand and be
recognized.
[Applause.]
Ms. Kegel. Angela Paterson of the Louisiana Public Health
Institute stayed with her disabled clients at the Superdome for
5 days serving them and immediately following that has not
missed 1 day serving disabled clients from the Health Care for
the Homeless Clinic that is operating off of a boat. She is
truly amazing.
Lori Adams, like countless other people in our continuum of
care, evacuated with her mentally ill clients, spending weeks
with them in difficult accommodations far from home, all the
while having to deal with her own disabled child. And she is
also a heroine and so many of our staff members also deserve
recognition and appreciation.
We can and we will rebuild New Orleans, and with your help
I believe that we can create a national model that will ensure
that the people who are most adversely affected by Katrina, the
people who are at most risk from being permanently displaced
from their home communities, specifically the low-income
disabled people and elderly people will be able to return home,
will have a place to call home in their beloved city. And this
model will also include affordable housing for musicians, hotel
and restaurant workers, and other low-income workers who need
affordable rental housing.
Katrina's catastrophic flooding caused widespread
homelessness, including the tragedy of thousands of people with
disabilities and elders losing their homes. Before the storm,
the City of New Orleans had disproportionately high rates of
poverty and severe disability. New Orleans counted 6300 people
who are homeless, many of whom have serious and long term
disabilities. Thousands of New Orleans residents were at
constant risk of homelessness, were living on income below 20
percent of median income. Sixteen percent of New Orleanians
suffered from serious disability. We cannot and we must not
ignore the needs of these most vulnerable people as we rebuild
our devastated city. It is up to all of us to ensure that the
most vulnerable people affected by Katrina can come home. And
this means creating new high-quality affordable rental housing
that meets their needs.
We have been working very hard in partnership with the
city, the State, local non-profits, the National Alliance to
End Homelessness, other national partners to create a plan to
create 10,000 units of affordable housing, rental housing,
including 5000 units of supportive housing for people with
disabilities and special needs. This plan already has the
support of members of Bring New Orleans Back Commission and the
Housing committee of the Louisiana Recovery Authority.
I understand that this Committee already strongly supports
the supportive housing model as a proven strategy to end and
prevent homelessness among people with disabilities and special
needs. As you all know, supportive housing is permanent
affordable rental housing that is directly linked to community-
based services, health care, mental health care, employment
services that allow people with special needs to stay housed
and prevent them from becoming homeless. And in city after
city, supportive housing has been proven to be cost effective
and to be extraordinarily successful in keeping people with
special needs housed.
We have two requests of you today. First, in order to make
this plan a reality when it is so very much needed, we will be
coming to you for support, for rental subsidiary because the
only way to make this plan work when the people who need
supportive housing are extremely low income is if there is an
ongoing operating subsidiary, a rental subsidiary, for these
units to ensure that the housing is affordable.
Second, we are very appreciative of your wanting to
eliminate all unnecessary deadlines for Katrina victims,
whether it be deadlines for leaving the hotels, deadlines for
staying in trailers. We also ask that you look at eliminating
all unnecessary deadlines for the KDHAP program. As you may be
aware, the special needs portion of the KDHAP program still is
not up and running because the forms and the contracts with the
non-profits have still not been issued.
Chairman Ney. Sorry, your time is expired, but if you would
like to summarize, please.
Ms. Kegel. Meanwhile the people with special needs,
homeless people, are being given a March 11th deadline to sign
up, even though FEMA has always told them they were not
eligible for FEMA assistance and there is no plan in place to
effectively notify these persons of their eligibility for this
program. So we would ask that you give people at least to
December 31st of this year to be able to sign up for this
program, which they cannot even access at this point, and to
require that HUD or FEMA put into place an effective publicity
plan to reach out to these people who so desperately need this
assistance.
In closing, I just want to quote President Bush in his
speech in Jackson Square on September 15, 2005. ``We want
evacuees to come home for the best of reasons, because they
have a real chance at a better life in a place they love.''
Thank you so very much.
Chairman Ney. Thank you. Mr. Perry.
[The statement of Martha J. Kegel can be found on page 125
on the appendix.]
STATEMENT OF JAMES PERRY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GREATER NEW
ORLEANS FAIR HOUSING ACTION CENTER
Mr. Perry. Committee members, I would like you to consider
the following statements.
I would like to live--``I would love to house a single mom
with one child, not racist, but white only.''
``Not to sound racist, but because we want to make things
more understandable for our younger children, we would like to
house white children.''
``Provider will provide room and board for $400 but prefers
two white females.''
These may sound like flashbacks to the 1960s, but these are
advertisements that were on Katrina evacuee websites in 2005.
My name is James Perry. I am director of the Fair Housing
Action Center. I have 28 pages--
Chairman Ney. Mr. Perry, that was on a website of who?
Mr. Perry. Sir, there are five websites.
Chairman Ney. Okay.
Mr. Perry. Katrinahousing.org, Katrinahome.com, DHRonline,
and reliefwelcomewagon.com. These websites have these
discriminatory advertisements listed on the websites. I have 28
pages here of those very advertisements. My organization has
investigated and found the advertisements and we have pursued
litigation as a result. But very blatant discriminatory
advertisements. Unfortunately discrimination is alive and well
in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and Rita.
My organization is an 11 year old organization that fights
to eradicate housing discrimination. We have gotten more than
200 complaints of housing discrimination since the hurricanes
hit. And I am going to give you a few examples of some of the
things that we have been uncovering.
First is that some landlords have represented to black home
seekers that vacant livable units were unavailable or
unlivable.
Some black home seekers have been charged more rent and
higher deposits than the white, for African Americans than for
their white counterparts.
Rental agents have failed to return messages to African-
American home seekers while returning the calls of their white
counterparts.
Rental agents offer special endorsements like lower
security deposits to white home seekers while failing to offer
the same to their black counterparts.
People with mobility impairments have complained that there
are few accessible units available to them.
In December, we were forced to file a lawsuit against the
City of Denham Springs after it applied its zoning code in a
manner that discriminated against a group home for displaced
New Orleans residents with mental disabilities.
And I previously listed these five websites or noted these
five websites. Important to note is that one of the websites,
DRHonline, is specifically endorsed by FEMA. FEMA lauds this
website as one of the best mechanisms for people to find
housing. And this is in a Times Picayune article even after we
filed a complaint against FEMA and even after FEMA knew that
there were discriminatory advertisements on the website.
A study by the National Fair Housing Alliance after the
hurricane found that 66 percent of the time evacuees who were
African American were treated less favorably than white
evacuees seeking housing.
I say to you, committee members, unfortunately, housing
discrimination is alive and well after the hurricane. My
organization is the single organization for assisting victims
of housing discrimination in the entire State of Louisiana.
Before the hurricane, we had four employees; since the
hurricane, we are down to two employees because two of our
other employees have been displaced. We receive some assistance
in fighting housing discrimination from HUD, some assistance
from the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and some
assistance from the National Fair Housing Alliance, but we need
more help. And I heard you mention earlier that there has been
money appropriated for fair housing and we need it, desperately
need it, and we thank you for it.
In addition to talking about housing discrimination, I want
to address a few overall concerns when it comes to the
rebuilding. The first is that I have got to make clear before
we talk about housing, we need levees; we need category five
strength levees. I know it has been said already, but I cannot
emphasize enough how important and essential it is to us.
With that said, the issue here is changed. It had been
about food and water and these basic needs that people had, but
it has changed and the new most important issue is housing and
that is why we are all here today, because this housing issue
is so very important.
While I would submit that there are several places where
FEMA has obviously failed when it comes to housing and I am not
going to go into that too much because we have talked about
them a good bit already. But I will talk about SBA for a moment
because I think we have not focused on, we have not talked
about SBA much. But essentially, SBA is running a housing
program in that evacuees who need to get--who need to get loans
in order to renovate their homes are directed by FEMA to SBA to
apply for loans.
SBA, in October, had turned down nine out of every 10 loans
for housing assistance. Nine out of every 10 loans in October
had been turned down for housing assistance. So the question
becomes for a person who is relying on SBA for the loan to
renovate their home, where do they turn? Because SBA is not
going to help them. So one thing that I would implore is that
you look at FEMA and SBA and consider that what they have
actually had to do is change from business entities and from
emergency management entities into housing entities. And so,
just as the gentleman suggested earlier, we would recommend
that HUD handle housing issue. HUD is a true housing entity.
With regards to the Baker Bill, we do support the Baker
Bill, but there are a few things that we want the committee
members to consider as the Baker Bill makes its way through the
process. The first is that right now it only gives 60 percent
of the value of a home to a homeowner. We think that amount
should be 100 percent.
Second is that we want to make sure that participation in
the Baker Bill remains completely optional and at no point does
it ever become required for citizens.
Next is that the Baker Bill sets it up so that developers
can come in and develop properties. We think that there should
be an option so that citizens could also choose to develop
their own homes through the funds provided through the Baker
Bill.
Third is we think that there should be a requirement that
the Baker Bill--that any developers who acquire property
through the Baker Bill process are required to have mixed
income developments and they are required to reserve a portion,
at least 20 percent of the properties, and make them accessible
for people who have mobility impairments.
The last thing, the last point that I want to make is about
the Hope 6 program. I think that the Hope 6 program on the
whole is an excellent idea. It is this theory where you want to
deconcentrate poverty and end residential segregation.
Unfortunately, it has not worked in the City of New Orleans. I
think that the committee members have viewed some of the Hope 6
projects and they are beautiful; they really look good. And
here is the fundamental issue. What happened is that it has
taken poverty that was concentrated in one area, deconcentrated
that particular neighborhood, but then concentrated it in other
low-income parts of the city. Right? So in effect, what
happened is that there is more poverty in New Orleans East and
in the St. Bernard housing development because so many
residents who were in what are now Hope 6 projects were
reconcentrated there. So there is more residential segregation
as a result of the Hope 6 program here in the City of New
Orleans.
So we need some more guidelines to make sure that I guess
when you desegregate you cannot desegregate just one
neighborhood, because what happens is that you may end up
segregating another neighborhood or reconcentrating poverty in
another neighborhood. It has to be a citywide approach, a
holistic approach.
Finally, I would submit that here in the City of New
Orleans, we have been through obviously a very, very tough
time. You know, I think that in other parts of America where
Katrina had some effect, it affected just about everybody. And
it really did not have any care for what race a person was. But
here, because of residential segregation, it happens to be that
mostly African-American neighborhoods were affected. What I
implore you is that as you consider legislation, you make sure
that the goal of the legislation is to end residential
segregation. If there had not been residential segregation,
then Katrina would have affected people equally, but rather
African Americans were affected by and large by the effects of
Hurricane Katrina.
In my comments there that I submitted, I have in my written
comments about 44 recommendations or ideas for things to
consider and there are some things that are directly
appropriate on the Federal levels, so I implore you to take a
look at those comments.
Thank you.
Chairman Ney. And you have that for the record for us?
Mr. Perry. Yes.
Chairman Ney. Dr. Gable.
[The statement of James Perry can be found on page 153 in
the appendix.]
STATEMENT OF DR. WILLIE GABLE, JR., EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIRMAN,
NATIONAL BAPTIST CONVENTION, USA, INC.
Mr. Gable. I represent the National Baptist Convention, USA
Housing Commission where I am executive vice chair and I am a
board director of the American Association for Homes and
Services to the Aging, representing about 6000 facilities for
senior citizens in the country. My testimony has been provided
to you and is on record. I would just like to, in the interest
of time, highlight a couple of areas of the written testimony
that is in your record.
One is that I think it becomes critical that the project-
based Section 8 certificates that HUD has, that there be an
abeyance for those Section 8 project-based certificates for our
units that have been damaged so that we do not lose those
certificates, but that it be held until our facilities are
brought back on line. If not, we are going to end up without
any income.
In addition, in the testimony we are asking that you would
have HUD to immediately release dollars for project-based
facilities so that we can get them back on line. When the
hurricanes occurred in Florida, what happened was they were
told that they could use their deductibles and they would
reimburse them, but it was long coming in terms of being
reimbursed by FEMA for those deductibles.
In addition, HUD has REOs in a number of HUD properties
that they own in and around the State and in the country. What
we are recommending is that waivers be given and those
properties be transferred to faith-based groups and to non-
profits so that we can use those facilities to house low- and
moderate-income individuals in those particular facilities.
And the Louisiana Baptist State Convention, along with the
National Baptist Convention and AAHSA, stands ready right now
to receive some of those properties. What happens most of the
times with the REOs is that the major corporations are able to
purchase those because they have the funds to get them very
quickly off the market from HUD. But if we had the opportunity,
I think that we could do so.
I wanted to share those highlights, but also to point out
as a pastor and as a victim of Hurricane Katrina who lost
everything in my home and my family--now living in Baton Rouge
with my family--, what I found out after the first week was
that FEMA purchased all of the rental housing in Baton Rouge
and locked it up so that most of us had to get--units that we
have now in Baton Rouge, we either got them because of the
blessings of God or somebody helped us. But they put FEMA
employees in units. Particularly sometimes where you had two
bedrooms, you have got one FEMA employee staying in a facility
in the Baton Rouge and other areas. They purchased all of them
and you can check that for the record.
For the FHA program that is being touted saying that we can
get, who had FHA homes, we can go to FHA and get a loan. They
are not saying in the loan application--Mr. Williams, who was
here is not saying for those who were eligible for FHA, the
only way you can get that FHA 1-year mortgage payment is that
you have to prove that you have no income. Well, I mean, I do
not have any income, at least from my congregation, but my wife
is working, so we will not meet the threshold to even get the
FHA. And yet we cannot move back into our home. Actually, what
we are doing is robbing Peter to pay Paul with Visa and
MasterCharge. Peter and Paul is going to show up at some point
to get paid and we realize that.
The other thing is that with the $11 billion of CDBG
dollars that you approved, the Louisiana Recovery
Administration, as I shared with Congressman Cleaver, is going
to be the group the State utilizes to develop the plan. So
there will not be no community input on that. New Orleans
should have gotten a portion of those dollars automatically
rather than having to submit a plan to the State that does not
have the capacity to handle the dollars.
And then finally, Entergy in my area, where we have just
been told yesterday we cannot rebuild in Lakeview, Entergy sent
a letter yesterday to my home in Baton Rouge saying they are
turning the electricity on and either I pay a monthly fee, even
though I am not there, or I disconnect and if I disconnect I
will get my deposit back, but then if I go back I will have to
pay a new deposit that will be higher than the deposit that I
have now. So, you know, I have to determine whether--obviously
what I am going to do is pay a monthly fee and not be there
because there is nobody in the neighborhood. So I think these
particular things are quite important in terms of us trying to
get together.
Congresswoman Lee asked about connectivity. What we have
been trying to do through Global Crossing/Bell South, we were
able to get a 1-800 telephone number for our members of our
congregation free of charge, and through that method we have
been keeping at least 50 families online three times a week and
providing them with information. We are a part of that 8000
that the mayor talked about who want, who have asked for a
group of trailers to put on our properties around the church so
that we can bring our members back. But like Jim Kelly and
others have said, I had three funerals last week, last week, of
individuals who died early because of this trauma.
And so I thank you for coming. I implore you to continue to
do what you are doing. As we come near the celebration of Dr.
Martin Luther King's holiday, I am reminded of something that
he said. ``Our lives begin to end that the day that we remain
silent on things that matter.'' And I believe that you are
going to--and I know in my heart you are not going to remain
silent.
I thank you.
Chairman Ney. Thank you. Mr. Noel.
[The statement of Dr. Willie Gable, Jr. can be found on
page 108 in the appendix.]
STATEMENT OF RANDY NOEL, PRESIDENT, REVE, INC.
Mr. Noel. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member
Waters, members of the subcommittee. Thanks for the opportunity
to come and address you.
My name is Randy Noel. I am a custom home builder and I
want to share with you the experiences that we have been having
since the hurricane. My written testimony is an expansion of
what I am going to tell you today. These are the things that we
see are issues with us rebuilding this great city and the
surrounding area.
One of the significant problems is the homebuilders and the
remodelers being able to find laborers. It has been very, very
difficult to find people to work for us because, for example, I
had a bricklayer that lived in the 9th Ward. He lost everything
in the 9th Ward, moved on to Mississippi, and started to work
there. He would have come home in the first couple of weeks,
but he did not have any place to live. And so he remains in
Mississippi. And we lost several of our workers that way.
Then it came time to hire new workers and it was difficult
to find new workers because the large contractors that were put
on by FEMA were out hiring our people at double the salaries.
We would have people come in; we would start the day with 10
framing carpenters to frame a new home and at the end of the
day end up with four because they kept getting fed off at these
higher salaries and these other opportunities which has made it
really, really difficult for us to begin the rebuilding effort.
The other thing about the temporary housing has been, as
soon as the hurricane hit, most of the housing that was
available was zapped up and you have heard that all day. And it
was very difficult to get trailers. We went to the Office of
Emergency Preparedness and said that we need trailers to put
our laborers in so we can start to rebuild this area. Because
most of the homebuilders in this area are small business
people, they did not get the trailers as did the large
corporations and larger refiners and manufacturing areas that
were able to get trailers.
And I have a son who wanted to get involved in the recovery
effort. He hauled debris for about a month, then he wanted to
deliver trailers. And this would give you an example of the
situation with the trailers. He was going to pick up a trailer
at Louie Armstrong Airport one day and they were going to
release the trailers at 10:00 and he got there at 10:00 and
they said, well you need to go on home because the 25 trailers
we release a day are already gone. So he had to go like the
next day at 5:00 in the morning to get in line with a long line
of folks that wanted to pick up trailers and deliver them to
people's home sites, but they only delivered 25 a day. And at
that rate we will not have trailers for a long, long time. That
needs to be addressed.
Another situation that we are finding happen is the
Homebuilder Association of Greater New Orleans put on a
consumer fair last year where we invited people to come and ask
us questions about rebuilding their houses, about remodeling
their houses, and where to go and what to do. We had some
thousand people show up and the number one question was they
were completely confused about what to do next. And part of the
problem is, is (a) in the media we have been constantly
bombarded with we are going to raise the base flood level and
you are going to have to raise your home. Well, that probably
will not happen for almost a year to get new flood insurance
maps put in place. The base flood elevation is the maps that we
have had since 1984. So we were constantly telling people go
ahead and fix your house; if your house is built after 1984,
you do not have to raise it to the base flood elevation.
The second thing was is FEMA has a mission statement that
basically says that they want to mitigate future damage. Part
of that issue is they go out and try to assess through the
permitting office whether their home has been 50 percent
substantial damaged or not. The definition of that is if your
house was worth $120,000 before the storm, you take $20,000 out
for the land value. After the storm, if it costs $50,000 or
more to repair your home, you are now required to raise it to
the base flood elevation if it is not at the flood elevation.
The confusion is is the way that is established it is real
subjective. It depends on who the person is making that
establishment. So what they did is they put on a website, the
city website, a range in a lot of cases, 40 to 70 percent.--
What do I do now? And then if they show up at the permit office
and try to get the permit to repair their house if they have
been assessed as being more than 50 percent, they have the
opportunity to appeal it, but you cannot call the permit office
right now because there is no way to get to them on the phone
and if you go and get your building permit, it is a day's event
because of the line that is going in there.
Part of the requirements that FEMA has is you have to have
a building permit to do repairs. So everyone that is doing
repairs has to go in and get a building permit. Now you can get
the permit online, but the problem is you have to go to the
office to get it. And they have kiosks set up in there, but
they are five or six deep and they do not always work. So it
makes it very difficult.
The 50 percent rule, I can take four or five different
appraisers come up with four or five different values and I can
take four or five different contractors and come up with four
or five different contracting repair values.--And which one is
right and which one is wrong? It is just a bad way to do this
at such a bad time. People are emotionally drained because of
this whole process and then be confused about whether to
rebuild, tear down, buy new, move away. It makes it very
difficult. So we have to look at another way of doing this
mitigating for future damage. This 50 percent substantial
damage rule is real problematic.
The BFE, Base Flood Elevation, needs to be clear. The
people in New Orleans need to know if your home was built after
1984, we are not raising your house; you do not have to raise
your house. Do not worry about the 50 percent substantial
damage; go fix your house. That needs to be stated clearly so
they know that so they can go ahead and fix the house.
Chairman Ney. Your time is expiring. But you can summarize.
Mr. Noel. I think the most important thing that we need to
do from the Federal Government perspective is our permitting
office--and from the homebuilders perspective--our permitting
offices are swamped trying to meet this criteria. They do not
have tax revenue to continue to have employees, so they had to
lay employees off, so they cannot issue the permits so people
can rebuild.
We are confusing the folks with this 50 percent substantial
damage rule and we are confusing the folks by not giving out a
clear distinct message on the Base Flood Elevation.
And one other thing, if I might add, is my firm believes if
we are going to do anything about affecting people's
properties, they need to be an active, engaged person in that
process. The American dream of owning property in this country
needs to be protected at all cost. We are going to rebuild this
great city and the Homebuilders Association are going to help
rebuild the city. We have a lot of people from around the
country that want to help rebuild the housing where those poor
folks can go. We work with ownership wealth program; this is a
major opportunity where we can move tenants into homeowners
with the help that we are getting from around the country. And
I think it is going to be exciting what happens in the next 5
years.
Thank you.
[The statement of Randy Noel can be found on page 143 in
the appendix.]
Chairman Ney. Thank you very much.
A couple of questions I had. Ms. Lewis, for families such
as yours, the hotel rooms that you get, is it two rooms or one
room?
Ms. Lewis. One room, two beds.
Chairman Ney. One room.
Ms. Lewis. Double beds.
Chairman Ney. Two beds. No other rollaway?
Ms. Lewis. No, and if you get the sofa bed, you get the
king size but you just get one bed. So you can either get two
double beds or you get the king size bed.
Chairman Ney. I am not blaming the Hotel Motel Association
for this. You built that a long time ago not anticipating that
this was going to happen. I just need to say that. I just--like
I said, as much as I dealt with this issue, there is just new
things coming out that frankly unless--I do not know, I have
not paid attention, that are not being talked about, about
people's conditions.
A couple other points maybe you will want to answer or
anybody else. What about, there used to be women shelters that
women could go to if they had abuse of women; now those are
gone I understood. Has there been anything recreated for
example for women shelters, for halfway houses, for persons
with special needs that had a workshop maybe they worked at?
Back home we have workshops, things like that. Has that been
temporarily recreated?
Mr. Kelly. We ran the Crescent House Women's Domestic
Shelter in New Orleans. You have seen its picture everywhere.
We also have a set of attorneys who work protecting women; we
have counselors. We have two buildings; one we will probably
open this month. In general, what we understand is women will
not flee in the early months because they are afraid of what
will happen. After 3 or 4 months, the post-traumatic stress
starts, then the numbers are going to start to spike.
Understand that a women flees 7 times. Once you put a person in
a shelter, the idea of a shelter is to help them then move on
to housing. We know the issue for those is permanent housing.
We are working with a whole network throughout the State, so if
we have a woman who needs to flee, we access other centers
within the State.
Mr. Gable. We have two substance abuse facilities in the
community and we have been working with FEMA to try to get
those back on line and Louisiana Public Assistance Program. But
I think there are about 160 pages that we are working through
to get those two. Now we are keeping track of our clients to
make sure where they are around the country and if they are
getting the support. But the problem is getting the assistance
from FEMA to get those buildings back open so that those
individuals--and actually these are substance abusers who were
managing their addiction saying that they want to come back.
Ms. Kegel. We had about 2700 emergency, transitional, and
permanent housing in our continuum of care prior to Katrina and
just this week we updated what the current status of all those
units are and only about a quarter are currently operable. And
that is primarily because of storm damage, most of the agencies
still have not gotten their insurance settlement. Difficulty--
they have difficulties finding, you know, companies to come out
and do the work. That has been a major problem. And then the
other problem is personnel; some of the buildings that have
reopened have not been able to get at full capacity because so
many employees have been lost, you know, were displaced and
unable to come back home.
Normally, I am not a fan of more emergency shelter, but
actually in New Orleans we really could use a Red Cross
shelter. And we have tried hard to get the Red Cross to open a
shelter here and have not been successful. Because our street
outreach workers are having to turn away. We estimate--they
estimate to me that there is at least 2000 homeless people and
I am not counting of course the people that are living in
hotels and trailers. Just 2000 literally homeless people in New
Orleans right now, and we only have one of the homeless
shelters open right now. The others were not able to re-open
for a variety of reasons; two of them were severely damaged.
And this is a city that actually does need a Red Cross shelter
more than anyone else and we cannot get a Red Cross shelter
here.
Chairman Ney. Do you know why?
Ms. Kegel. Well, I would rather have the city and Red Cross
answer that question rather than put words in their mouths.
Chairman Ney. Okay, one--we might ask that in a follow up
letter. I think you mentioned something about a rental
subsidiary deadline?
Ms. Kegel. Yes, the Katrina Disaster Housing Assistance
Program, which is the HUD-run program for people who had
received Federal HUD housing assistance prior to Katrina and/or
were homeless prior to Katrina. That program has a March 11th
deadline. And the special needs portion of it anywhere in the
country is not even running at this point. And especially for
the homeless people who were told by FEMA that they were not
eligible for FEMA assistance, most of them never signed up for
FEMA assistance. They tried to; they were told that they were
not going to be eligible to get any help. So to tell them
that--I mean to have a March 11th deadline when this program is
not even accessible, as we speak, for a population that is very
hard to reach and there are no funds in the KDHAP Program to do
outreach, it is just not reasonable. And I think that if there
has to be a deadline, it needs to be December 31 so that these
non-profit organizations have a chance to try to do outreach
and really there has to be a national publicity campaign to try
to reach homeless people around the country to let them know
that they are eligible for this program because many of our
pre-Katrina homeless people are still scattered.
There were many other heros who did a great job getting as
many homeless people as possible to the Superdome before
Katrina, so most of them ended up going to Houston. From
Houston, they were evacuated all over the country. And they
need an opportunity to avail themselves of this assistance.
Chairman Ney. For the members, I will finish up here; I
will be real brief.
Dr. Gable, I think it was your personal home, you cannot
rebuild, they said, you said can not rebuild?
Mr. Gable. Yesterday, the plan came out saying that our
area in Lakeview--
Chairman Ney. I am sorry, where is Lakeview in relationship
to--
Mr. Gable. Out towards--
Chairman Ney. We were by there today. I am sorry, yes.
Mr. Gable. So they are telling us that we cannot rebuild
and, you know, that 50 percent that Mr. Noel was talking about.
Chairman Ney. I am sorry. Who told you cannot rebuild?
Mr. Gable. Well, it is being recommended by the city's
Commission for Rebuilding New Orleans.
Chairman Ney. Why would that be for Lakeview?
Mr. Gable. Because we were--the levees there are not
sufficient and again having grown up here, it was never the
levees; it is a levee wall. And the levee walls were engineered
improperly, constructed improperly, and maintained improperly.
And that is what broke. You did not have water going over the
Mississippi levee or the Lake Pontchartrain levee. There is a
difference in the old levees with the mound and a levee wall
that holds the water back. The water pushed those walls and
that is what caused the flooding.
Chairman Ney. What would be the difference of decision of
rebuilding, let us say, in the 9th Ward versus where you are at
or was it, were you so close to the levee that the force of it
was more destructive?
Mr. Gable. I have not had a chance to read the report to go
online. It just came out yesterday. Some others might be more
familiar with it.
Chairman Ney. I am just curious what makes the difference
that you can rebuild in the 9th, but you cannot rebuild--
Mr. Perry. It does not really say that you can rebuild in
one neighborhood or another. What it says is that there should
be a period where citizens should come back to the worst
affected areas and start to work and if the areas see a
significant come back, then the city will make a decision at
that point to start to dedicate resources to that area. If the
neighborhood does not get together and come up with some type
of plan and start to come back, then the city will not
designate resources. So, in essence, what they say is--
Mr. Gable. We have got to do that in 48 days.
Chairman Ney. That is hopeless.
[Laughter.]
Chairman Ney. You think the Feds are bad.
Mr. Perry. What they say is that you have to wait this
whole period; they recommend do not issue any permits; do not
do any construction at all until they determine what
neighborhoods are the neighborhoods that will come back. So if
you are in Houston, or somewhere else, you are supposed to sit
there and wait until the city makes a decision about which
areas. We do not know if it is going to be lower nine.
Chairman Ney. But in my hometown, I had a county that had
24 percent unemployment; it is Appalachia; our steel mills
closed, et cetera, but the whole thing is you can live in a
county that has some depressed economy, but you can live in one
place and work in another. So it is not really incumbent upon
just what stores are rebuilt in a neighborhood, I would not
assume. I do not want to get way into this. This is some local
discussions, but if they are going to use Federal money or want
Federal help too, those discussions I think need to occur, my
opinion, with the Fed, State and local.
Mr. Kelly. It would be helpful for you all to see the map
of 80 percent of the city.
Chairman Ney. I have not seen it. Could we get a copy of
that map?
Mr. Jefferson. It was a capitulation to the idea that the
decision makers on the committee did not want to make a
decision. But they have made one impliedly by giving the
citizens such a short window of opportunity. Basically, the
decision bears no relation to the risk that is supposedly
presented in the neighborhood for flooding. If enough people
hold their hands up, no matter how low the area is, they
apparently get paid attention to. And if they do not hold their
hands up, of course. They do not.
Now this is totally counter-intuitive if you are talking
about how to make the area safer for people to live in and you
are worried about areas of survival, that is one thing. What I
think is happening here of course is that there was just a
reluctance for the Commission to say we do not think you ought
to rebuild here. They made it impossible for people to come to
decision themselves to do it. So consequently they are going to
say people are unable to have meetings to sustain themselves.
We have communities and we have virtual communities with folks
all over the country; how can they come together in that short
period of time. How can they make a decision at the end of the
day. If they keep to this proposal, you will have large parts
of the city written off.
Without taking up the committee's time, as I said today if
the Netherlands can live 20 feet below sea level and they are
there for the reason that it has economic potential, they need
deep sea water in order to have a huge port like they have.
That justifies the existence of the Netherlands. There would be
no Netherlands without this deep sea water. But it presents a
threat.
We are here because of the river. New Orleans is justified
as a community because of its situation on the river and access
to the Gulf and on out to the world. Otherwise there would be
no reason for it to be here. We have to learn to live with the
water and I guess all the rest of it, the oil and gas and all
the rest of it that we explore off here.
So, in any event, without taking up the committee's time,
what essentially has happened here is you have made a plan
which essentially is going to write off large parts of the city
if it is adopted, and I hope it will not be adopted in the way
it was presented.
Chairman Ney. I want to ask Ms. Lewis--another question for
Ms. Lewis. The schools, how are children; children are going to
school?
Ms. Lewis. Yes, children are going to school. They catch
the buses from the hotels.
Chairman Ney. I noticed some of the schools were destroyed;
I think I saw Martin Luther King Elementary; I saw it.
Ms. Lewis. I was not speaking about here; I was speaking
about in Lafayette.
Chairman Ney. Oh, I am sorry. I was talking about here,
people that were here in hotels or in Lafayette. So you are in
Lafayette.
Ms. Lewis. I am in Lafayette.
Chairman Ney. There is a school over there; I am sorry. One
other thing, what about counseling services; obviously people
are under all this stress. Children, you know, are in hotel
rooms, and it is tough enough if you have five or six rooms and
you know how things are. So are there counseling services, a
number that people can call, pick up the phone and call
somebody?
Ms. Lewis. When I first went into the area and I started
having problems with my son, because he felt that he lost
everything, he was devastated with the situation. He is a 15-
year-old; I went to the school and asked them for counseling.
They did not quite--of course, this was new to them too. So
they told me that we could have someone come in and talk to him
for maybe an hour and that is about all we can do. They said
that was something that has to be in place from the State level
in order to put counseling in the schools. So I asked them what
about the requirements for the LEAP test for my son, because he
is in the 10th grade. They stated that he would have to pass
the LEAP test like everybody else would have to pass, even
though he went through the devastation he went through. I went
several times and asked for counseling for him. But since--I
think one school I found out they did have now in place I think
it is 1 hour a week with the students.
Chairman Ney. So the school is helping, the school is the
resource people would probably turn to for children then, the
school is the resource for counseling?
Ms. Lewis. I asked many schools about it because I went to
several schools to visit other children besides just mine. They
really do not have a clue how to deal with this situation
because they have not been through that themselves. So they
really do not understand what the children are actually going
through.
I have a friend that lives in Houston and her son got in a
fight for the first time because kids were teasing him because
he came from New Orleans and he lost everything. He was saying
about his little toys he had lost, so he took it personal as a
child of course. So the kids, they do not--the teachers do not
understand, some of the principals either, why the children are
acting out at this time.
Chairman Ney. Mr. Schedler, real quick, there is a lease
issue. I heard it in Washington with our hearings; there was a
lease issue. I cannot remember exactly what it was, but that
the people in the hotels were having a problem because the
Government--I do not know if it was FEMA; I think it was FEMA--
could only say you could have a 3-month lease or something. Do
you know what I am speaking of? There was an issue and they
said that people that had, you know, obviously had rental
properties, it would be hard to say okay, 3 months, we will do
a lease for you. It is hard to require--have you heard of that
issue at all.
Mr. Schedler. Are you talking about hotels specifically?
Chairman Ney. The people living in hotels and now want to
come into apartments.
Mr. Schedler. Okay, what I have seen down here has been
generally what they have done before which is 6 month leases.
Chairman Ney. Six months, okay.
Mr. Schedler. I cannot speak for everybody; I think most
owners are probably going for 6 month leases.
Chairman Ney. Thank you. Ms. Waters, thanks for your
patience.
Ms. Waters. Mr. Chairman, I would like to again thank you
and thank all the Members who showed up here today, thank all
panelists who helped us to understand exactly what is going on
here. I am going to leave here pretty disgusted, feeling that
there has been a lot of bumbling, incompetence, manipulation,
insensitivity, and everything that I can think of to describe
what I believe is a lack of responsiveness or will to do what
needs to be done to provide some basic assistance to people who
have been devastated in ways that most of us never ever ever
could have imagined before.
And so I am having several thoughts here. One is I am going
to work with Mr. Jefferson taking a look at some of the needs
that have been identified today to see if we cannot expedite a
few things; just take some of these things as case management
kind of needs and see if we cannot move some things. Mr.
Jefferson is back in--for example, Dr. Gable, this site for the
potential of 8000 trailers to be put on property that you have
identified, I think that should be one of the cases that we
take on with FEMA to see if we cannot move it along with these
individuals that you are going to try and help.
I often feel a lot better about helping to solve problems
when I can personally do something, I can get involved in some
way to make something happen. And I think we have identified a
number of things.
Let me just say to the Hotel Association here, we do not
intend to have anybody placed on the streets by FEMA because
they cut off payments to the hotels and we do not intend to
have you in a position where FEMA is abandoning the tenants and
you have to put them out. I think that is an untenable position
to be in. And given all that you have done, if FEMA continues
the payments, as they will, we are going to have to make sure
they do that. We ask that you bear with us as long as you
possibly can to get people transferred into either transitional
housing or permanent housing. So I appreciate what you have
shared with us today.
That is on our radar screen and that is what the
Congressional Black Caucus met with FEMA about before we left
and we did make it clear to them that we do not intend to have
anybody to be put on the streets with these deadlines that do
not make good sense to us.
All of you have given us some very, very valuable
information. Some other things that I think we could do very
quickly is, if FEMA is supporting a racist website, we are
going to deal with that right away. They have no business
having their names in support of any racist website that is
advertising, you know, apartment rentals under those kinds of
conditions. Things that we can try to do right away.
We have heard more than once today, and I am glad that you
are bringing it to our attention because we are the Housing
Committee, that FEMA is not capable or competent to handle the
housing needs of this community. And so I hope that--this
discussion has been raised before, Mr. Chairman, about whether
or not HUD should be the agency that is doing the housing, that
is taking care of the housing. We are going to have to find a
way to revisit this and see if we cannot only respond to what
we hear, but what we really know also about how to start to
deal with these housing needs.
I guess there are several other issues that have been
raised here today as far as Mr. Schedler has identified the
need for looking at how to rebuild these units, how to do it
quickly, how to have a one stop shop; how to get rid of some of
the onerous requirements, all of that. I would think that
giving the so-called appreciation for the needs of the business
communities like so many Members of Congress that this should
be done in the State and the local government, et cetera, right
away.
I appreciate all the non-profit agencies and Catholic
Charities and others and the Salvation Army who are feeding the
people every day, who are taking care of the homeless and all
of that. And I appreciate you doing it without the resources
that this Government should be providing for you to do it.
Now having said some of that--and I cannot say everything
that I am feeling right now--I am probably going to have a lot
of sleepless nights. This business of who gets the assistance
of local government and the requirements of local governments
about what areas may be rebuilt based on, as Mr. Jefferson
describes it, who raises their hand is absolutely ridiculous,
outrageous, and cannot be tolerated.
And I just have to say to you, while I am a legislator and
a Member of Congress with the responsibility for public
policy--I am an activist and an organizer. I may do that better
than even legislating. And if it takes me connecting with many
of the activist organizations around the country to come back
into the communities and help them raise their hands under this
ridiculous requirement, Mr. Jefferson, I just tell you that
many of us will dedicate our time to doing that.
If New Orleans wants to be the focal point for national
activism, then let it be. We had some activists in the audience
today who come from a lot of different communities around this
country and I just tell you that many of them are going to
leave here feeling the way that I feel, that maybe this whole
Government is too slow. Maybe this whole Government does not
care enough. Maybe this whole Government needs a kick in the
behind.
And so if it is going to take some national activism to
help move public policy, just as the people empowered me to be
a public policymaker, I feel like they also empowered me to be
an activist and I do not mind doing it.
So with that, I am not going to ask any more questions. I
am not going to say anything else except to tell you all I am
up to doing what has to be done. Okay?
Thank you, very much.
Chairman Ney. The gentlelady from California.
Ms. Lee. Thank you very much. As we say in the House, I
associate myself with the remarks of the gentlelady from
California.
But let me say to you today that this has been probably
more devastating than most of us had in mind and, in fact, I
agree with Congresswoman Watson; Every member of Congress needs
to come down here, every Member, because every committee has
some jurisdiction over an effective and immediate response.
Secondly, much of what you shared today, I did not know,
for example, what Ms. Lewis said about the food stamp issue and
guaranteed I will go back and we are going to look at that. I
assume all of you know that in fact once a displaced resident
gets the $2000 from FEMA, then they are ineligible for food
stamps. That is really mind-boggling; I cannot believe that.
Trust me, we will go back and look at how we can fix that,
because to me that is probably one of the most inhumane
policies that a government could promulgate under such dire
circumstances.
On the homeless issue, with regard to eligibility of the
homeless for whatever assistance is out there, we are going to
have to figure out where, first of all, the homeless are. You
say there are about 2000 left right now here in New Orleans.
But how do we find everyone? And then how do we make sure that
if they did not have a place to live other than a shelter that
they are eligible for the type of HUD assistance and FEMA
assistance that they deserve. And you know, I am not sure how
the rules impact those who were homeless and had to leave. So
we are going to have to look into that and I look forward to
working with you on that.
Again, going back to the suicide rates and the mental
health needs, these issues are directly related to housing and
the hope that is out there in terms of the ability to return
and not return. And we are going to have to figure out how to
make sure that HUD or FEMA or whatever appropriate agency we
can find, has the resources for mental health services because
that is not disconnected from housing.
And young people, in terms of their acting out, we are
going to see a lot more. I know we are going to see safety
issues; we are going to see serious long term mental health
issues with children and with senior citizens and with others.
So we are going to have to figure out how to work with the
appropriate agencies to make sure that we can find--the money
is there I know, but how we can redirect or direct money for
the very severe mental health needs of individuals in this
region.
Finally, let me just say with regard to the discrimination
and the racism, we saw that coming. We knew it and in fact in
the CBC Bill, the Congressional Black Caucus Bill and the Baker
Bill, we did put in the requirement that HUD redirect some
resources to hire, you know, complaint officers and individuals
to make sure the fair housing laws are complied with.
I am not sure if people--I mean people who are displaced
and just trying to get home, I do not know if they--and Mr.
Perry, maybe you can answer this, if they are aware that they
can file housing discrimination complaints and fair housing
complaints or are they too bogged down right now with just
survival to let it pass by if in fact they are treated in an
unfair manner?
Mr. Perry. I would submit that New Orleanians are aware of
their rights under the fair housing rules because this
organization, even before I lead it, did a good job at
education and outreach in the New Orleans area.
Ms. Lee. Good.
Mr. Perry. Katrina evacuees who are not from the New
Orleans area I think do not have the same opportunity. One of
things that demonstrates though that New Orleans know is that
about 75 percent of our complaints are coming from outside the
New Orleans metro area. The New Orleanians who are in other
parts of Louisiana who have been discriminated against call us
and we will investigate the case.
Ms. Lee. So the number of cases should increase with HUD's
fair housing complaint division?
Mr. Perry. Yes, I think so. I will be frank though; the
biggest issue we have in this is that we do not have enough
resources to adequately investigate all the cases.
You may be familiar with the process that we go through to
investigate fair housing. We do testing. So if an African-
American female calls in and says that she has been a victim of
discrimination, then we will send an African-American female
and a white female to that apartment to try to rent that same
apartment and see if they are treated equally. And so we had a
pool of about 50 testers who used to go out and do that testing
for us. But they are dispersed all across America like everyone
else. So we have had to retrain testers. We have to pay testers
every time they go out and do these investigations. Instead of
the investigations being right here in New Orleans, we are
sending them to Shreveport and to Lafayette and very far
distances and those are expenses that the organization has to
incur. So it has been difficult to investigate.
One other thing that has made it difficult is that there
are loads and loads of unfair and improper evictions that are
happening. And a lot of times, these evictions are not really
discrimination issues; they are just frankly unfair or
inappropriate evictions and sometimes they are fair and
appropriate evictions. But people call us and say well, you
know, fair housing. This is a housing issue and they may not be
familiar with the fair housing laws. So we have to go through
those hundreds of calls that we get to determine which ones are
housing discrimination issues and which ones are really kind of
landlord-tenant issues.
Mr. Gable. If I may just add, Congresswoman, you know, in
my case, the landlord went up $140.00 from the previous date,
but I had to get a place to stay the week after and so it may
not be on color. It might just be on cash.
Ms. Lee. Gouging.
Mr. Gable. You know, you just do it because you have no
other place to take; it is two bedroom that is all you had
available. I would suspect now that we are going into the sixth
month and we have to re-up those leases; it is going to be much
more. They are going to kick it up even higher because they
know we have no place to go.
Mr. Perry. I would add one more thing. In the case where
landlords are upping the rents. One thing that we have seen is
that there will be these low-income African-American complexes.
Landlords will come in and try to get rid of all these low-
income African-Americans and try to move in new Katrina
evacuees. And so to the extent that it affects mostly African
Americans, it is a discrimination case.
Now the fair housing law says you do not necessarily have
to have intent, just the actual impact of discriminatory
treatment. So there are some ways that those become cases, but
that makes it so much more difficult with only two people to
investigation.
Ms. Lee. Sure. Thank you very much.
Finally, let me just conclude by saying again, I just want
to commend you for your service, your--really, everyone is
going so far beyond the call of duty--and for your tenacity and
steadiness. And just know that, as Congresswoman Waters said,
many of us intend to work to make sure that what we feared
initially in terms of the ripoff of New Orleans by developers
quite frankly, I saw that and thought that could be a
possibility, you could see million dollar condos going up where
a $100,000 house had been because of some of the dynamics
around gentrification and land grabs that we know could take
place. But just know that many of us are on to that also and
look forward to working with you as you move forward in this
recovery process.
Thank you very much.
Chairman Ney. Thank you. Mr. Cleaver.
Mr. Cleaver. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to just
emphasize again what Reverend Gable said and take it just one
step further. When Congress passes legislation or when we
appropriate dollars for HUD--and this committee does that--we
do not get involved in the regulations. The HUD infrastructure
does that, the career bureaucrats. I think in this case we
might need to have the Secretary come to our committee because
of a couple of things.
First of all, regulations require public hearings. The
public hearings are, in most major cities, the most contentious
meetings mayors conduct and for those of you who are here from
New Orleans, you know it is usually packed to the walls and it
is just the night that we have to deal with it. It is just the
way it is. But if we ever have those hearings on a statewide
basis, first of all, who do you notify and secondly who
conducts the hearing? I can go on and on and on.
The other part of it that is as equally disturbing is,
there--we are not even sure that the regulations will require a
30-day notice. There is some suggestion that maybe the
regulations has been altered to 3 days.
And then finally, this is one of the realities of America.
In my State, there are two major cities, Kansas City and St.
Louis. If we have to depend on the State to disburse CDBG
money, we would lose; it is over. Not just in Missouri, in
every major--in every State in the country, if it is in
California--and the reason is simple, the majority of the
members of the General Assembly come from the rural areas. And
what you are going to have is a fight for $11.1 billion between
New Orleans and those Mississippi small communities. And I
cannot overstate, I do not think I am exaggerating the fact
that this has been done in a way that is--people are almost
going to go to fisticuffs. What is needed is an allocation for
New Orleans based on the devastation, the disparity, the size
of the community, the way that the CDBG budget is normally
allocated. And then there ought to be the money disbursed in
other areas.
The other concern is members in other communities need to
know that the Government is not supposed to say, we are going
to give you this much money. And probably most of the people do
not know that. That is, let us say for example in Mississippi,
the Governor just says, okay, this community gets this much,
that is not the way it is supposed to run. I do not think this
committee can afford not to see what regulations have been put
in place for the disbursement of this money. If we fail to do
it, I think these people are going to be mad at somebody, and I
just want you to remember my name, that I am the one that tried
to stop it.
Thank you.
Chairman Ney. Ms. Watson.
Ms. Watson. Thank you so much. And I again want to thank
the chairman and the ranking member for coming here to the
scene of the disaster and evaluating.
And I just want to very quickly suggest some things that
will summarize what I have heard today. First, we ought to make
it possible for local government and for the mayor to know
where his or her citizens are and we ought to have those lists
released so that the footprint for New Orleans will not change.
The next thing that I thought was an excellent suggestion
is that we have the GAO to come in to review how to make the
financing for temporary housing available, trailers, et cetera.
The Section 106 rates need to be honored and the tax
credits and grants for new housing need to be given and I think
that the people who are without income because they are without
jobs and they have nowhere to live need to be given special
consideration for long term rentals and leases. It just does
not make sense to me to put people who have suffered through
this disaster through those hurdles.
We need to increase the value of housing vouchers and we
need to do something about the Katrina websites that have
discriminatory messages on them. That is an outrage; it is
illegal in terms of Government agencies and we can do something
about that, Mr. Chairman, right now.
SBA has never been an agency that I thought reacted
effectively to loan applications and what I understand is SBA
has turned down nine out of 10 loan applications for new
housings. That is outrageous too. And HUD should handle housing
financing. I think what we need, Mr. Perry, is an ombudsman
process, where all these complaints like we heard today, and
they are in many different categories, are heard and then
directed where something can be done about them.
I want to thank all of you who have testified today. And
you have brought home to us the specifics that occur after
disasters. You know, we get broad general reports in Congress;
it is not until we get on the site to hear from those of you
affected that we know the specifics. And thank you for coming
and testifying, and I think we have most of your written
testimony. And I trust the leadership of this committee that
something will be done.
And we certainly will be compiling the recommendations and
approaching those agencies and the departments that can make a
difference.
So, again, thank you very much. And thank you, Mr. Chairman
and ranking member for holding this hearing.
Chairman Ney. I just want to make a brief statement and
ask, since it is the district that you represent, I will ask
you to close, as we say in the U.S. House.
Just a technical thing, I want to note that some members
may have additional questions for this panel which they may
want to submit in writing. Without objection, the hearing
record will remain open for 30 days for members to submit
written questions to these witnesses and to place their
response in the record.
I think we could do a fair housing hearing in Washington;
we could do a fair housing on Katrina. I think make it
comprehensive, we can do that. I think it would be a good idea.
The other thing I want to mention and not to single out
Catholic Charities, but some of the first information we
received on this was Catholic Charities and we found--on this
whole situation down here in Washington, gave us great ability
to tell us what was going on, where people were moving to, how
everything was going. And we learn from groups frankly quite a
lot and so I urge all of you if you have, some of the things we
have discovered today, I think we can help with. Ms. Boyer has
the four inch problem with the driveway, et cetera. Some of
those things I think we can help with.
As you have issues and something is not going right, do not
assume we know. You can call us; you can call my office; you
can call the ranking member's office, Mr. Oxley, Mr. Frank; we
all share information. So please, if you have things, do not
assume we already heard it.
And I just want to again thank the Port Authority facility
here and also our colleague Mr. Jefferson for helping us with
this hearing and hosting us down here.
Let me just say again, I cannot tell you, you know, how
much--we all have worked with these issues, but also coming
here and seeing it, things struck me today in the home we went
into and I am assuming it was an older woman's home and on the
wall was her daughter's graduation picture and next to it was
Amazing Grace poster and the Last Supper. No one--she had to
move so fast that she did not take the picture. You know, I
have children. If you say what can you take, you know, you can
take a few personal things, you would take the picture. I mean,
and when you see that, it is just like their life stopped and
now they are in a situation where they are in complete limbo,
the people are. You have got a lot of brave people, people
really fighting down here to help other people and I know from
my end of it and I think I can speak for all members, this is a
good hearing.
I do not want you think we have not done our work; we have
been doing it since day one together, screaming and fighting
not with each other mainly, but to get answers from people. So
this hearing though is good on the ground. Thank you.
Mr. Jefferson, would you like to close.
Mr. Jefferson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I cannot tell you
how grateful I am to you and to Ranking Members Waters and to
all of the committee members who have come here today, my
colleagues in Congress; thank you so much for coming to pay
attention and to shine the light on the subject that is so
critical to all of us in this Nation. But for the people here
in New Orleans it is their lives; it is everything to them.
During this period of time when Members can travel to far
away pleasant places when we are out of session and observe
things that are less traumatic and less difficult than here,
they have chosen to come here, which shows a great deal about
their commitment and their passion and their interest in
helping us to get through this.
So I thank each of you again for fulfilling the, I think,
more than any of you thought the objectives that we had in mind
when we asked you to come. Now your having come gave you a
chance to be close to our community. The worst and the most
difficult challenges and of course the best of it in the people
who have come to testify who you have had a chance to
encounter. And I think it has been a brilliant display of an
array of people from different walks of life who have made the
case as to why we ought to rebuild our city, how we can rebuild
our city, and the things that we must do to work together to
get that done.
From the ordinary citizens who have themselves been
evacuees and who are still living as evacuees to the church-
based, faith-based communities that have done so much to help
stand things back up here to the folks that are interested in
keeping the historic character of our city together some sort
of way and to those folks that are trying to build our city
back through all the red tape and risk that is out there.
And the issues that you talked about with the low income
housing tax credit, we tried to make it as flexible and as
large as we could this time. I read your testimony, and I see
there are a few things here that we perhaps need to watch with
our own State rules and work on that.
And to the Hotel Association and Motel, it has been helpful
to our people, I think, what Ranking Member Waters said. We
need to give you a little certainty as to how you can help
without burdening you too much, to make sure our people are in
good shape.
This issue about the State--FEMA has this business which I
think we ought to try to figure out about how the State plan
requirement works. FEMA does not want to deal with all these
cities and school boards and parish governments; they say we
are just going to deal with the State, which is why CDBG money,
which ordinarily would come to an entitlement city like New
Orleans, and some part of it goes to the State under this FEMA
operated State plan. There is not much reason why we ought to
do that. We have got the formulations there already; we ought
to know how these things can be disbursed, except that it is
going to be quite a challenge to get it out of the State. And
it will be, it will not be so much Mississippi because we are
going to get an allocation at some point that is just for
Louisiana. But it will be the towns in Louisiana outside of
here that will lay claim one way or another, for some reason or
the other. Because you are in Lafayette, somebody will say we
had an impact in Lafayette; forget about New Orleans; let us
just bring some money there to take care of that local impact.
So we have a lot of challenges here, but I am convinced
that it is just a matter that is a matter of political will as
to what choices we make. It is not what we can do. It is not
what we cannot afford. It is none of those things. It is what
we want to do to bring back this city, what our vision is for
New Orleans and for this region, as I have said in my earlier
testimony.
So this I think helped us to advance the idea that we can
pull our city back and make ourselves whole as well as we can
with some folks we have already lost, but as whole as we can
now, given the circumstances. So this could not be advanced
without a committee willing to come out in the field as it says
and hold a field hearing without the constraints of Washington
that cuts the time so short and makes it so difficult to have
discussions, do it out here with your people. This could not be
done without your having come here.
So thank you very much for what you have done, and thank
you for your presentations. And we are grateful to everyone who
has helped to make this project work out so well.
Thank you very much.
Chairman Ney. Thank you for your time.
[Whereupon, at 7:40 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
January 13, 2006
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