- Poverty strikes a smaller percentage in southeast Louisiana in wake of Hurricane Katrina, By Katy Reckdahl, June 28, 2012, New Orleans Times-Picayune: “Southeast Louisiana bucked national trends and became less poor than it was a decade ago, largely because of new investment due to rebuilding efforts and because of the post-Hurricane Katrina diaspora, which forced many of the city’s poor families to find housing outside the region, according to an analysis of U.S. census data released Thursday by the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center. Calling the post-Katrina exodus ‘the largest population displacement since the Dust Bowl,’ the study noted that it ‘changed the map of poverty’ in the 13-parish region considered southeast Louisiana. Between 1999 and 2010, parishes that flooded after Katrina lost thousands of their poor residents: Orleans Parish lost 50,000, St. Bernard lost 4,000 and Plaquemines lost nearly 2,400. But the rest of the region showed little increase in poverty, suggesting that most poor people relocated outside the region…”
- Poverty strikes health, education across region, By Andrew Nash, June 28, 2012, Pittsburg Morning Sun: “The freezers at the Wesley House are running out of meat. One freezer contains just five packages of hot dogs, while another freezer holds three small packages of edamame beans and one package of deer hamburger. All told, freezers that should be full are empty and becoming more empty. These freezers are supposed to be full of proteins for those who need it – a surprisingly large number in this region. These pantries tend to get low from time to time during the year, but the cupboards are bare a little earlier this year. Bare cupboards and freezers at the Wesley House are just one symptom of an ongoing problem in the Four States region. Declining health statistics and poor economic conditions are two more symptoms. The pervasive problem in this region is poverty, and it’s not going to go away. Pick any figure that details the impoverished, and those in Southeast Kansas and Southwest Missouri will be among the worst of the bunch…”
Tag: New Orleans
Chronic Homelessness – New Orleans, LA
Chronic, longtime homelessness has been nearly halved in Orleans and Jefferson parishes, By Katy Reckdahl, May 23, 2012, New Orleans Times-Picayune: “For 28 years, Miller Osbey survived with the help of a shopping cart. But for six weeks now, the massive plastic buggy has been parked inside Osbey’s living room, near the front door. Osbey, 60, patted the cart fondly as he passed it earlier this week. ‘I ain’t gonna let it go,’ he said. Less than two months ago, Osbey moved into one of 2,116 apartments in Orleans and Jefferson parishes that house homeless people with severe disabilities. The apartments aim to keep even severely impaired homeless people housed by pairing rental vouchers with intensive social services and mental health and medical services, paid for by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Housing Authority of New Orleans and various state agencies. A separate federal program provides similar housing and services through the local Veterans Affairs hospital for homeless veterans…”
Relocated Public Housing Residents
Relocating public housing residents must be done responsibly, study says, By Katy Reckdahl, April 19, 2012, New Orleans Times-Picayune: “As the Housing Authority of New Orleans moves Iberville development residents in preparation for this fall’s demolitions, new Urban Institute research emphasizes the need for ‘responsible relocation strategies’ for public housing residents. Such plans are necessary to ensure both the residents’ well-being and to maintain the stability of the high-poverty neighborhoods where residents are likely to relocate, researchers contend. Urban Institute researchers, who have conducted a wide body of research on relocated public housing residents, have known for a while that public housing residents who moved out of dilapidated old ‘projects’ end up in better, safer housing, although still in very poor, very segregated neighborhoods. In general, residents who leave are less anxious about crime, which has for decades plagued the troubled public housing developments in New Orleans and elsewhere…”