{"id":76,"date":"2007-04-25T05:55:42","date_gmt":"2007-04-25T13:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.opinion.katrinasdream.org\/?p=76"},"modified":"2007-04-25T05:55:42","modified_gmt":"2007-04-25T13:55:42","slug":"a-white-new-orleans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/a-white-new-orleans\/","title":{"rendered":"A White New Orleans?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This May Be From Katrina
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today, Congress has the opportunity to help thousands of New Orleans
\nresidents come back home. \u00c2\u00a0The Gulf Coast Hurricane Housing Recovery
\nAct of 2007 would re-open desperately needed public housing units and
\nmake sure there is no loss of affordable public housing in New
\nOrleans.<\/p>\n

The bill quickly passed the House of Representatives, but the two
\npeople who should be leading the charge in the Senate–Louisiana
\nSenators Landrieu and Vitter–are stalling, and without their support,
\nthe bill will go nowhere. \u00c2\u00a0I’ve signed on with ColorofChange.org \u00c2\u00a0to
\ncall on Senators Landrieu and Vitter to stop dragging their feet, and
\nlead on this important legislation, now. \u00c2\u00a0Will you join us?<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.colorofchange.org\/hr1227\/?id=2157-153822<\/a><\/p>\n

Preserving Affordable Housing in New Orleans<\/p>\n

Since Hurricane Katrina hit, public housing residents have been
\nfighting to return home. \u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunately, HUD (Department of Housing
\nand Urban Development) is planning to demolish most of the available
\npublic housing units–apartments that were minimally damaged by the
\nstorm–and replace them with far fewer units of affordable public
\nhousing.<\/p>\n

In response to residents’ protests, Congresswoman Maxine Waters held
\nhearings in New Orleans, giving residents a chance to voice their
\nconcerns to Congress. Around the same time, Governor Blanco met with
\nCongressman Barney Frank–head of the committee that oversees HUD–to
\ndiscuss the need to re-open housing not damaged by the storm. \u00c2\u00a0The
\nresult of these meetings was H.R. 1227, The Gulf Coast Hurricane
\nRecovery Act of 2007.<\/p>\n

H.R. 1227 honors the right to return of all New Orleans public housing
\nresidents and takes steps to preserve affordable housing in New
\nOrleans. \u00c2\u00a0It requires the reopening of at least 3,000 public housing
\nunits and ensures that there is no net loss of units available and
\naffordable to public housing residents. \u00c2\u00a0The bill swiftly passed the
\nHouse of Representatives, but it won’t pass the Senate unless
\nLouisiana senators take the lead.<\/p>\n

Why haven’t Senators Landrieu and Vitter stepped up?<\/p>\n

Race and class seem to explain Landrieu and Vitter’s refusal to step
\nup. Some have expressed a desire to see a “richer” and “Whiter” post-
\nKatrina New Orleans, and many of them have a great deal of political
\ninfluence. \u00c2\u00a0From what we can tell, Senator Vitter is playing to those
\ninterests by ignoring this legislation–but as a senator for all
\nLouisiana residents, it’s his responsibility to ensure that everyone
\nwho wants to come home can–not the just the wealthy, privileged,
\nand White. \u00c2\u00a0Insiders tell us that Senator Landrieu is being cautious
\nfor the same reason: that she doesn’t want to offend “moderate”
\nsupporters who have a similar vision for New Orleans.<\/p>\n

The Gulf Coast Hurricane Housing Recovery Act is the last great hope
\nfor New Orleans public housing residents who want to come home. \u00c2\u00a0By
\nurging the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs to
\ntake up H.R. 1227, Senators Landrieu and Vitter can make it a reality.
\nBut if the senators from Louisiana don’t lead on this issue, others
\nsimply won’t follow.<\/p>\n

It’s time to do what’s right for New Orleans public housing residents
\nand pass this bill in the Senate. \u00c2\u00a0Will you join us and demand that
\nSenator Landrieus and Vitter support H.R. 1227.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.colorofchange.org\/hr1227\/?id=2157-153822<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This May Be From Katrina Today, Congress has the opportunity to help thousands of New Orleans residents come back home. \u00c2\u00a0The Gulf Coast Hurricane Housing Recovery Act of 2007 would re-open desperately needed public housing units and make sure there is no loss of affordable public housing in New Orleans. The bill quickly passed the…
Read more →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,8,16,13],"tags":[93],"class_list":["post-76","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-money","category-peace-justice","category-racism","category-women-justice","tag-rev-samuel-gardner-welles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}