National FEMA Trailer Tour

Good Morning, Friends -

The KatrinaRitaVille Express has just arrived in Manhattan!   This time around, our traveling FEMA trailer is in the Big Apple to help make sure your citizens’ agenda for complete gulf coast recovery, justice and future disaster preparedness is fully heard and understood by the Ford Foundation, Senator Mary Landrieu, and key White House officials.

The specific occasion is a Ford Foundation Forum entitled, Metropolitan Opportunity and the Gulf Coast: Revitalizing American Cities. The  panelists include our own Derrick Johnson of the MS Conference NAACP and James Perry of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center (and NOLA mayoral candidate).  A well-prepared group of survivors, advocates and allies will be on hand as well, from the New York Katrina-Rita Survivors Assembly, Louisiana Children’s Defense Fund, the Advancement Project, Gulf Coast Civic Works Campaign, 21st Century Foundation, and the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health.

Following our recent victories in Washington (to halt trailer evictions) and Biloxi (to block local defiance of the Washington victory), we continue to draw strength and momentum from our re-energized base of allied survivors, community groups and national partners.

Stay tuned as we embark on a summer of continuous education and advocacy - including Gulf Coast Civic Works, overhauling the Stafford Act, restoring our environment, recognizing internally displaced persons (IDPs) and empowering local citizens and community groups to meaningfully influence our region’s redevelopment.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Trihn Lee, 228-383-0910 tle@hopecda.org

Jeffrey Buchanan, 202-257-9048 buchanan@rfkmemorial.org

BILOXI CITY COUNCIL SET TO REMOVE FEMA TRAILERS, VICTIMIZING KATRINA SURVIVORS AND UNDERMINING OBAMA

Residents, Advocates Urge Elected Officials to Stand Up for Human Rights, Vote Down Proposed FEMA Trailer Removal Ordinance

Biloxi, MS (June 12, 2009)—Despite President Barack Obama’s decision to allow residents living in FEMA Trailers to remain in their trailers while the federal government partners with residents to find permanent housing[1], the Biloxi City Council is preparing to take action to kick these hurricane survivors out of their city.

The Biloxi City Council will vote June 16^th on an ordinance, backed by the City’s community development office[2], forcing FEMA trailers to be removed from residential zones by August 9th. Housing and human rights advocates have denounced the proposed ordinance as another step in the victimization and marginalization of residents with disabilities, low income, elderly, immigrant, and minority survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by their elected officials.

Chuck Rogers, a long-time Biloxi resident is currently living in a trailer on Redding Street as he works with Hope Community Development Agency, a community-based nonprofit working to find permanent homes for Katrina survivors, to redesign a new home for his lot. He is eager to move out of his trailer but now fears the city council ordinance will set back his plans to rebuild saying, “I’m just trying to do the best I can to build to the future.”

“I think it’s important that the city recognizes that everyone has not recovered completely from Katrina and that a number of people are still working on their homes,” said Ward 2 Councilman Bill Stallworth, an outspoken critic of the ordinance who also serves as Executive Director of Hope Community Development Agency. “It will be unconscionable for the city to throw its citizens onto the streets.”

“Biloxi will run afoul of the federal Fair Housing Act if the trailer occupants it displaces include high numbers of racial minorities, persons with disabilities, or single mothers with children,” noted Reilly Morse, an attorney with the Mississippi Center for Justice.

The proposed move by the City Council comes in contrast to the Obama Administration’s recent announcement to stall a planned eviction of families in FEMA trailer, instead deciding to sell a number of trailers for $5 or less to residents, and provide $50 million in housing vouchers and federal housing case management assistance to assist remaining qualified residents still in temporary housing to find their best options for permanent affordable housing. The plan, which came about after significant protest and outreach by advocates and residents[3], was viewed as an important first step on Gulf Coast recovery by the new Administration. Still questions remain about how the Administration plans to address the region’s remaining inter-related post-Katrina-Rita social, economic and environmental crises, especially after the U.S. Treasury Department’s recent decision to exclude Gulf Coast communities from key housing programs in the economic recovery package, affecting the construction of 10,000 much needed affordable housing units[4].

Advocates fear that such actions, if allowed to move forward, will not only be a major set-back for residents rebuilding their homes and lives in Biloxi, but possibly for residents in other cities looking to enact similar ordinances to force out vulnerable residents still residing in FEMA Trailer but unable to find permanent affordable housing.

A group of advocates, including local groups like Action Communication and Education Reform, Inc., Biloxi NAACP, Dando la Mano, Hope CDA, Mississippi ACLU, Mississippi Center for Justice, Mississippi Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities, Mississippi Coast Interfaith Disaster Task Force, Mississippi LIFE, MPOWER, STEPS Coalition, and national allies including ACORN, Advancement Project, Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, Alabama Arise; and Federation of Southern Cooperatives, Gulf Coast Civic Works Project, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law , Louisiana Justice Institute, Oxfam America, NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Education Fund, Inc., National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, National Low Income Housing Coalition, Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, South Bay Communities Alliance and U.S. Human Rights Network, who helped push the Obama Administration to stop the planned FEMA Trailer evictions, are now urging the City of Biloxi, as well as state and federal leaders, to end the victimizing the survivors of our nation’s largest disaster.

Instead of removing residents from their land they are urging elected officials to enact policies which protect human rights of hurricane survivors by looking to the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, a human rights policy that, for several years, has guided the U.S. government in providing temporary and permanent homes for people in foreign countries who become displaced by earthquakes, typhoons, and flooding and allowing survivors of disaster to participate in their recovery.

In order to ensure the human rights of hurricane survivors they are also urging:

Ø U.S. Treasury Department to reverse its decision and allow Gulf Opportunity Zone financing to qualify for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s tax-credit exchange program, to help Gulf Coast state housing agency exchange difficult to utilize tax credits for grants to build much needed additional affordable housing units.

Ø Congress and the White House to enact the Gulf Coast Civic Works Act (HR 2269) a recently introduced piece of federal legislation co-sponsored by Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Biloxi, MS), Joseph Cao (R-New Orleans, LA), Rodney Alexander (R-Quitman, LA) and Charlie Melancon (D-Houma, LA) to create 100,000 jobs for survivors to rebuild their communities and restore the environment, including vital natural flood protection to create a more sustainable and equitable Gulf Coast[5].

Ø Overhaul the Stafford Act and other disaster response and planning legislation to ensure human rights are protected in preparation for, during and after future disasters and to incorporate the lessons learned during Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike.

References:

1.      FEMA Website, Finding Long-Term Housing Solutions for Hurricane Victims, June 3^rd, 2009: http://www.fema.gov/media/fact_sheets/longterm_housing_hurr.shtm

2.      WLOX, “Biloxi development director: It’s time for FEMA trailers to go”, June 4^th, 2009: http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=10480791

3.      Press Release, “FEMA Trailer Experience comes to Washington”, June 1^st, 2009: http://krvexpress.org/?p=179; McClatchy Newspapers, “Gulf Coast Advocates Protest at FEMA Headquarters”, June 1^st 2009: http://www.kansascity.com/444/story/1227999.html

4.      American Prospect, “Why is the U.S. Treasury Excluding the Gulf Coast from Stimulus Benefits”, June 10^th 2009: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=why_is_the_treasury_excluding_the_gulf_coast_from_stimulus_benefits

5. New Orleans Times Picayune, “Unlikely Allies back bill for Gulf Coast jobs”, June 1^st, 2009: http://www.nola.com/news/?/base/news-1/1243833645183980.xml&coll=1

Source: Hope Community Development Agency, Biloxi, MS (hopecda.org)

A press conference will be held in front of FEMA in Washington, DC on Monday, June 1st.  The press conference, which will kick off a series of advocacy and action through August 29, 2009, is an effort of over 200 allied organizations, including:

ACORN
Advancement Project
Advocates for Environmental Human Rights
Coastal MS Interfaith Disaster Task Force
Gulf Restoration Network
Louisiana Justice Institute
Mass Action for the Gulf Coast (MA)
Mississippi Center For Justice
South Bay Communities Alliance (AL)

Please stay tuned for coverage of the event, and opportunities to collaborate to ensure that the new Administration’s message of hope reaching the Gulf Coast this hurricane season.

For Immediate Release:

Contact: Sabrina Williams (Advancement Project) 202/728-9557 or 305/904-3960

THE FEMA TRAILER “EXPERIENCE”
COMES TO THE NATION’S CAPITAL

Nearly four years has passed since Hurricane Katrina and thousands of families in the Gulf Coast region lost their homes. Due to government inaction many of these families have spent the past four years living in desperate conditions—FEMA trailers. June 1st marks the beginning of the 2009 hurricane season and FEMA’s eviction deadline for those who have no choice but to live in FEMA trailers. The airwaves will be filled with messages about the importance of preparedness and the government’s continuing inaction.

A coalition of civil rights groups, affordable housing advocates, and Hurricane Katrina survivors are coming to the nation’s capitol to ask the question:  What has the Obama Administration done to fix the problems that Gulf Coast residents continue to endure today, whether still displaced or at home?  How prepared is the Obama Administration to deal with the ramifications and the devastation that poor displaced survivors of Hurricane Katrina are currently facing due to his inaction on Gulf Coast recovery within his first 100 days in office?

This is President Obama’s Gulf Coast now and nothing has been done yet to remedy the government’s failures.  Survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are calling upon him to show his commitment to the Gulf Coast by August 29 (Hurricane Katrina anniversary).  His actions will determine his commitment to the hurricane survivors and to other poor people of color who might find themselves displaced in the future due to another natural disaster.

The displaced residents of the Gulf Coast need the Obama Administration and Congress to:

•    Develop and implement a permanent housing plan;
•    Establish a preventive disaster recovery plan;
•    Pass the Gulf Coast Civic Works Act; and
•    Overhaul the Stafford Act. With UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement

Residents are fighting back! They are issuing a call to action and laying down the gauntlet for President Obama and Congress.

Who:        Displaced Gulf Coast Residents
Civil Rights and Environmental Organizations, Affordable Housing Advocates and other allies

What:       Press Conference

When:      Monday, June 1 - 11:00 AM

Visual:      FEMA Trailer

Where:      FEMA: 500 C Street S.W. Washington, D.C. 20472

Hosted by the Grand and Christina Cultural Arts Center in Wilmington, Delaware, the KRV Express and the Hot 8 Brass Band are in Senator Joe Biden’s home state for a weekend full of cultural and social activities honoring hurricane survivors, volunteers and community activists. Click here for a great article in the News Journal.  It’s not too late to join the Hot 8 and KRV Express for Sunday fellowship at Mother Africa Church (812 N. Franklin Street/10:30am) or to catch the Hot 8 as they show off their unique beat and style that has epitomized New Orleans street music for over a decade.   Check out The Grand’s website (www.TicketsAtTheGrand.org) for tickets - use the code NOLA2008 for special half-off pricing!

For years, Gulf Restoration Network and other groups and individuals have been struggling to secure the closure of MR-GO - a federally-authorized shipping channel which contributed to the devastating flooding during Hurricane Katrina and led to the disappearance of 27,000 acres of wetlands and cypress forests. Thankfully, the state of Louisiana and the Army Corps of Engineers have finally reached an agreement to close this dangerous channel before the next hurricane season! As this Times-Picayune editorial points out, closing the channel is a great first step but aggressive action to restore the wetlands destroyed by MR-GO must move forward as well.

It’s been a few days since we decided to forgo the RNC and return to the Gulf Coast to do what we can to help folks deal with the aftermath of Gustav.  We left Denver and the DNC behind and headed to Raceland, Louisiana to meet with Brenda Dardar-Robichaux, Principal Chief of the United Houma Nation.  Louisiana’s 17,000 indigenous Houma people are scattered throughout the outlying areas of the state’s southern coastal parishes.  Rapidly disappearing coastal wetlands, environmental contamination and marginalization make recovery from each storm more difficult than the last.

Our Gulf Coast “family” extends from Alabama to Texas and although the media and general public look with relieved eyes at a largely unharmed New Orleans, we have heard from Brenda and others that communities in coastal Louisiana have experienced flooding worse than anything seen during Katrina or Rita in 2005.

We arrived in Raceland and presented tribal leaders with a check for $5,000 from the Gulf Coast Fund to help the United Houma Nation provide relief to the Houma families living in hard-hit Lafourche and Terrabonne Parishes.   As the day progressed and supplies came in, tribal members and helpers stocked the shelves of the Old Relief Store and carefully organized supplies into categories, such as food items, toiletries and cleaning supplies.

A big concern was getting supplies to the folks who most need them.  It’s important to understand that geographically, the native Houma people are not located in one central location, but are scattered throughout the southernmost parishes.  Many families are financially exhausted after the evacuation and return, and even if their vehicles are not flooded, gas money is a hardship.  To help distribute supplies directly to families (or for whatever need may later arise), we have decided to leave one of the KRV’s two FEMA trailers with Brenda.

Chief Robichaux seems dedicated and sure of her current mission - to provide much needed relief and supplies to her often invisible and marginalized families and communities.  The KatrinaRitaVille Express mission to educate and advocate for a complete and just recovery continues.  We are thankful Hurricane Gustav spared New Orleans.  But we have to open the eyes of the media and the world to communities that were not spared and are not okay.

Click on the United Houma Nation logo to get the most up to date information and photos.

This afternoon, our friend James Perry of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center arrived at the RNC in St. Paul, MN to urge Republican leaders to commit to Gulf Coast rebuilding as a result of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and now Gustav. Several others, including David Gauthe of Thibodeaux, LA and Derrick Evans of Turkey Creek Community Initiatives had planned to accompany the KatrinaRitaVille Express to the RNC, but Gustav put those plans on hold. Quite naturally, everyone in our circle of community advocates is extremely grateful that James has pressed on to St. Paul to represent the Gulf Coast during this unexpected window of renewed media interest and public concern.

Scores of gulf coast community leaders are connected through the KRV Express, the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal, and other regional networks spawned by the Hurricanes of 2005. Because our “family” of grassroots leaders and struggling communities spans coastal LA, MS, AL and TX (and a 49-state Diaspora), we share a deep anxiety in knowing that someone(s) dear to all of us will soon bear Gustav’s heaviest blows. We also know that the strong possibility of longterm adversity is again most likely to impact low-income and/or minority communities that have not recovered from Katrina or Rita. Throughout the gulf region, these people and places still suffer disproportionately from inadequate infrastructure and services, accelerated wetlands loss, toxic contamination, and the narrow definition of “disaster recovery” embraced by media, government and Big Business. From Mobile and Biloxi to Houma and Port Arthur, we are deeply concerned for one another’s safety and committed to a region-wide renewal that is healthy, just and sustainable for all.

Since Friday, I have spoken with several family members back home in Turkey Creek (Gulfport MS) as well as with friends in coastal Louisiana communities that seem even more likely - at this point - to be slammed head-on by Hurricane Gustav. Brenda Robichaux, Principal Chief of the United Houma Nation lives in Golden Meadow, LA, and has over 8,000 tribal members in Lafourche and Terrebone Parishes. Like Mike and Tracie Kuhn of Bayou Barataria, she is preparing herself and others for the area’s third devastating hurricane in 1100 days. Pam Dashiell of the Lower 9th Ward, bandleader Bennie Peete of the Hot 8 Brass Band, and attorney Tracie Washington are all doing the same in New Orleans. I did not reach Rosina Phillipe in Grand Isle or Reverend Martin Denesse of Grace Harbor Ministries, probably because both are preoccupied with a mandatory evacuation from Placquemines Parish (where the Mississippi River enters the Gulf). Please pray for all of these communities, particularly for community stewards like the above, who many are relying on for strength, direction and support in the midst of tremendous re-traumatization.

Most people I have spoken with have said their efforts to evacuate from Turkey Creek, NOLA and coastal Louisiana, etc. have been hindered by a severe shortage of places to go. Virtually all the hotel rooms in Baton Rouge and Jackson have been booked already, and the prospect of bumper-to-bumper traffic heading to places further out like Atlanta, Memphis or Birmingham is a financial and emotional nightmare. Current gas prices, Gustav’s increasing strength, and the eerie fact that Friday was Hurricane Katrina’s third anniversary have already caused more anxiety and re-traumatization than folks can handle alone. Once again, it is faith in a God of grace, mercy, and miracles that empowers the skittish, weary and cash-poor to trudge onward.

This afternoon, I also spoke with a friend whose company handles all the booking for several well-known luxury hotel chains. He shared with me that a FEMA representative looking to reserve space in one of the company’s five New Orleans hotels had called on Friday, wanting to book the entire place. When I asked why he would want the whole hotel, my friend explained that contracts for housing FEMA emergency personnel and contractors typically prohibit evacuees and media from staying in the same hotel. This, he continued, is because FEMA doesn’t want its workers returning from a long day of recovery and relief work to deal with folks asking questions about their neighborhoods, loved ones and so on.

If true, I thought, this policy is just one more reason why folks trying to get themselves out of harm’s way have so few options for where to go. Having also witnessed government agencies and contractors demolish thousands of habitable, publicly owned brick and multi-story units on the gulf coast since Katrina, I am not as impressed as mainstream media seems to be with governments’ current display of disaster readiness. Many of us would rather see the 5,000 Louisiana families still stuck in flimsy FEMA trailers since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita get first dibs on hotel rooms “blocked-out” in several cities by that agency. It would sure be safer, help folks return home sooner, and conserve peoples’ cash for fending for themselves once the camera crews, politicians and contractors wrap up their respective acts and leave - well before any real recovery happens.

One bright spot worth honoring, of course, is that some employers have paid their employees a few days early, and some for two pay periods. How thoughtful, kind and appropriate given that so many peoples’ paychecks are normally not available until the 31st or the 1st. This week, the 31st falls on a Sunday, and the 1st is both a federal holiday and the day on which Gustav is expected to reach land and destroy God knows what. Having lived three years with a disaster that keeps on giving, we are always thankful for unexpected blessings and thoughtful acts of kindness.