STATE FARM'S HEAD ON A PLATTER
What Gulf Coast Congressman Gene Taylor wanted the Easter Bunny to bring him.
South Mississippi Living 4/07

Thursday, September 27, 2007

HOUSE APPROVES FLOOD INSURANCE REFORM BILL





Legislation Includes Wind and Water Coverage Under One Policy

Washington, D.C. – House Majority Whip and Chair of the House Democratic Caucus Taskforce on Hurricane Katrina, James E. Clyburn, released the following statement today regarding passage of HR 3121, the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act.

“Two years ago Hurricanes Katrina and Rita pummeled our Gulf Coast with heavy winds, storm surge, and levee breaches that killed more than 1,600 people and caused billions of dollars in damage to thousands of homes and businesses. Many Gulf Coast residents were left to weather an even stronger storm in Katrina and Rita’s aftermath when their insurance companies abandoned them and refused to properly cover their losses.

“Today, the Democratic-led Congress passed the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act, legislation designed to hold insurance companies more accountable and prevent the denials of coverage that so many Katrina and Rita survivors were rightfully entitled. Specifically, this bill authorizes the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to provide for an optional multiple peril policy to cover both wind and flood risk in one insurance policy.

“While the multiple peril provisions fall short of being as comprehensive as the Democratic Leadership would like, we will use this bill as a building block in promoting future initiatives with more inclusive multiple peril coverage plans.

“Democrats returned to the Gulf Coast on the Second Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina committed to a strong partnership for the future with the region. Passage of today’s legislation honors that commitment. I commend Congressman Gene Taylor for his advocacy and perseverance in pushing to get this important legislation to the House Floor.”


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U.S. Coast Guard Wet Debris Removal In Final Stage

BILOXI, Miss. -- Although he wasn't just "cruising down the river" in his new airboat, a contract employee for the U.S. Coast Guard Wet Debris removal program made a rather revealing discovery last spring while exploring wetlands along the northern rim of St. Louis Bay in Harrison County.

Using helicopters and adding more airboats to search the area, U.S. Coast Guard and Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA ) officials corroborated the employee's find.

Coast Guard and FEMA operations personnel verified that approximately 680 acres of wetlands has been hidden from aerial flyovers by dead marine grass, downed trees and other debris since Hurricane Katrina's storm surge overwhelmed the area on Aug. 29, 2005.

Large pieces of debris that once had been a wall or roof of someone's home, dotted the area. At least a dozen small boats were also tossed into the newly-found area. Even automobiles and large appliances were amid the debris.

To get into the debris-filled areas without creating further damage, teams are traveling on existing logging roads, using trucks similar to ones the logging industry employs. Air boats reach the marsh's scattered debris, then ferry it back to staging areas. As much as possible, hand crews are collecting scattered debris to minimize damage to the marsh.

Mark Reyes, FEMA operations specialist reported that 183,284 cubic yards of wet debris have been removed from Hancock ( 87,510 ), Harrison and Jackson ( 53,470 ) counties, including 16,665 yards during the period Sept. 10-17.

"We are pleased to see the progress in the Gulf Coast recovery effort," said Sid Melton, director of the FEMA-Mississippi Transitional Recovery Office. "Nearing the culmination of a clean-up the magnitude of the wet debris program is another step in the right direction."

Gulf Coast wetlands cover some 72,000 acres of Mississippi's 48,000-plus square miles, according to the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources ( MDMR ) which is working with several federal and state agencies to restore portions of damaged wetlands, marshes and the Mississippi Sound's mean high tide line to four miles offshore.

FEMA obligated about $177 million to help clean the Mississippi's coastal and inland waterways following Katrina. The Coast Guard Debris Inter-Agency Agreement oversees the Wet Debris Removal program, while private contractors bid to do the work.

FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.

Original press release here dated September 27, 2007.

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Gulf Coast: Two Years Since Hurricane Rita



Posted: 10:56 AM Sep 24, 2007
Last Updated: 10:56 AM Sep 24, 2007
Reporter: AP

It's been two years since Hurricane Rita swept ashore, leaving a new trail of destruction in parts of the Gulf Coast, and deepening the scars in other places, which had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina only a few weeks earlier.

Rita's worst was concentrated in southwestern Louisiana and eastern Texas; in both states, there is still a long way to go in rebuilding the damage from the storm.

Rita's Category 3 force, with 120-mph winds and a 9-foot storm surge, ruined every structure in the southwestern Louisiana towns of Johnson Bayou and Holly Beach, bringing similar destruction to southeastern Texas.

About 100 died in Texas, including 23 senior citizens whose bus exploded during evacuations.

The storm caused no fatalities in Louisiana, but plenty of property damage in Cameron and Vermilion parishes.

In Louisiana Monday, Gov. Kathleen Blanco is set to mark Rita's anniversary in Westlake and New Iberia, at events meant to highlight one of the lingering problems that has slowed the recovery process: a lack of qualified workers across southwestern Louisiana.

In Cameron, Louisiana, one of the hardest hit places - with the courthouse one of the only buildings not flattened by Rita - nearly all of the town's 1,000 residents still live in temporary housing.

Before Rita, there were twice as many people living in Cameron. Those that still do are pushing through more difficult circumstances that before the hurricane.

The post office operates out of a trailer. So does the only bank in town. There is no grocery, pharmacy or hospital; a rebuilt $23 million hospital is set to open in Cameron this fall with 20 beds.

Residents must drive 50 miles north to Lake Charles to buy supplies, on a two-lane highway that cuts through the region's marshland.

"It's not like it was before the storm, that's for sure," says Darlene Dyson, who makes a living by selling shrimp from a trailer, picks up her 7-year-old son at the end of the day for the trip back to their home - in another trailer.

Fast Facts
In Texas, Rita damaged about 80,000 properties in 22 counties. Two years later, records show that the state has spent less than 1 percent of the federal money allotted to fix or replace thousands of ruined homes.
Those who have moved back, or plan to, have complaints similar to those of residents hit by Hurricane Katrina: the process of moving home is stymied by disputes with property insurers and paperwork from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Marvin Trahan, 46, a native, is hoping a lawsuit against his insurer will be settled this year so he can move back. The storm destroyed his three-bedroom house. He now lives in Lake Charles but wants to build a smaller, replacement house on his property in Cameron.

Trahan said the pull of his hometown lies in its small-town peacefulness, plus its proximity to prime hunting and fishing areas.

"You can fish here, you can hunt here, you can do whatever you want," Trahan said. "You can leave your door unlocked all night without worrying about somebody coming in. It's just a great place to live."

It's not, however, a great place to own a motel.

Anil Patel, owner of the Cameron Motel, used to have 96 rooms. Half washed away during the hurricane. Today, the majority of his remaining 51 rooms usually sit vacant. Patel said he and his wife - who live in a trailer next to the motel - are struggling.

"I hope things pick up. But I don't know," he said.

In all, there were $5.8 billion in property insurance claims in Texas and Louisiana, according to a Texas insurance group. In Texas, the storm resulted in 220,641 insurance claims that totaled $2.8 billion, said the Insurance Council of Texas. In Louisiana, there were 201,157 claims totaling $2.6 billion, the group said.

In Texas, Rita made landfall near Sabine Pass on Sept. 24, 2005, it damaged about 80,000 properties in 22 counties of Southeast Texas. Some 15,000 homes were left in need of repairs.

Records show that the state has spent less than 1 percent of the federal money allotted to fix or replace thousands of ruined homes.

East Texas officials, whose counties were among those hit hardest after Rita roared ashore with 120 mph winds, say the state government has been slow to release funds. But state officials blame strict federal rules and argue that Texas received less money than Louisiana and Mississippi.

"It really appears to me that the state has had an overabundance of caution to prevent fraud and abuse," Walter Diggles, executive director of the Deep East Texas Council of Governments. "Every time we talk to them they say, 'Look, we don't want a Katrina,' or fraud with individual distributions."

Texas was awarded more than a quarter-billion dollars in two separate federal housing assistance installments.

So far, the state and the three regional councils of governments it enlisted have disbursed less than $200,000 of the federal housing assistance, according to figures released Sept. 13 in a report from the Texas Housing and Community Affairs Department. And more than $210 million remains untouched while Texas looks for a private contractor to do the repairs or rebuilding. The report was detailed in stories published Sunday in the Houston Chronicle and Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Thirteen households had been assisted out of 423 that have qualified for help. Another 4,012 applicants are on state waiting lists for home repairs, according to the report.

Beth Anderson, chairwoman of TDHCA's governing board, said she's confident that one year from now the agency will have "delivered substantially the $40 million" awarded to Texas in the first installment.

In the meantime, residents are waiting and dealing with more damage.

Evie McBride, 72, wonders whether how long she'll be living in a Federal Emergency Management Agency travel trailer. Her home, a doublewide on the little piece of backwoods, remains in musty shambles since Rita struck.

"I tell you what is frustrating, is seeing a house that would have cost $5,000 to fix 30 days after the storm, will now cost $30,000 to fix because it's just steadily deteriorating," said Keith Billingsley, an inspector for the Deep East Texas COG.

Reported on WIBW-TV in Topeka, Kansas, on Setpember 24, 2007.

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RAND study: Affordable housing lags in Miss areas hit by Katrina






The Associated Press

The recovery of housing affordable in hurricane-damaged areas of South Mississippi lags significantly behind the rest of the region's housing market, according to new study.

The study by the Rand Corporation examined the impact of Hurricane Katrina on housing and the progress being made toward recovery in the region.

The report, "The study, "Post-Katrina Recovery of the Housing Market Along the Mississippi Gulf Coast," found that the affordability of rental housing was a major issue even before the 2005 storm, with nearly 40 percent of renters paying more than they could reasonably afford.

Katrina destroyed or severely damaged more than 20 percent - about 5,700 - of the affordable rental units in the southern portion of the state.

The study also found that residents in the storm-damaged area had seen a 20 percent increase in rents while employment has declined.

RAND, a nonprofit research organization, also reported that construction to repair or replace about 60 percent of all damaged multiunit housing had begun as of July. That number still lags behind repair and replacement of single-family homes.

Recovery efforts for all housing types are expected to take at least three more years and cost a total of more than $4 billion, according to the study.

The lack of affordable rental units added to the difficulty in attracting construction laborers and other workers needed to rebuild the region's infrastructure, the report said.

"The challenge for the region is to develop a balanced growth plan that provides housing for people at every income level," said Kevin McCarthy, the study's lead author and a senior social scientist at RAND. "There needs to be more affordable housing to create diversity in the economy and build a new, better Gulf Coast."

The RAND Gulf States Policy Institute works to develop a long-term vision and strategy to help build a better future for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Sun Herald originally posted this article on September 27, 2007.

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Multiple-peril add-on to NFIP vote is today

Bill draws Bush veto threat




Posted on Thu, Sep. 27, 2007
By MARIA RECIO
SUN HERALD WASHINGTON BUREAU


WASHINGTON -- On the eve of today's House vote, a bill that would expand the federal flood-insurance program to include wind damage drew a Bush administration veto threat.

The bill, championed by Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Bay St. Louis, is highly anticipated on the Gulf Coast where many residents are still battling insurers over storm damage done by Hurricane Katrina two years ago. Taylor, who settled his suit over the loss of his home, said the bill would resolve the disputes over the causes of damage - wind or water - that have been at the center of many lawsuits.

Despite the veto threat, Taylor was upbeat Wednesday night. "Things are falling in place," he said.

Though the administration and insurers oppose the bill, Taylor said the American Bankers Association, the National Association of Home Builders and the National Association of Realtors support it.

"I'm disappointed in what we got from the White House Office of Management and Budget," said Taylor. He cited President Bush's meeting in Bay St. Louis with state and local officials on the Katrina anniversary "where every person at that table said we need all-perils insurance."

Taylor's bill to cover multiple perils of water and wind in the National Flood Insurance Program was attached to legislation approved by the House Financial Services Committee in July reforming and revamping the program.

Although the bill has strong support in the House, in a release the OMB issued a statement of administration policy opposing the wind provision.

"The administration strongly opposes H.R. 3121 in its current form," said the OMB statement. "If the final bill presented to the president includes provisions to expand the NFIP to include coverage for windstorm damage, his senior advisers will recommend that he veto the bill.

"The administration strongly opposes the expansion of H.R. 3121 to provide coverage for new risks, as this bill does for windstorm damage. Shifting liabilities for windstorm damage from the private sector to the NFIP would be fiscally irresponsible," it said.

Brian Martin, Taylor's policy director responsible for insurance, reacted to the OMB argument that the private sector would be displaced by saying, "What country are they (OMB) in? Half the Texas coast, all of Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina and the mid-Atlantic states are all in state wind pools."

"There is no private market," he said.

The Bush administration objects to expanding responsibilities to the insurance program, which is part of FEMA, because the program had to borrow $17.5 billion more than it took in because of Katrina claims.

Presidential veto threats can sway some lawmakers before a vote but House Financial Services Committee spokesman Steven Adamske said Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., and others would argue for the legislation. "We're going to actively work for passage of the bill," said Adamske.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has made the bill a signature issue for the Democratic majority and highlighted the issue in trips to the Gulf Coast region.

The House Rules Committee considered amendments Wednesday and approved 13 amendments the House will consider today.

WEB

Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007

Here are the key features of H.R. 3121:

• Increases the amount FEMA can raise policy rates in any given year from 10 to 15 percent.

• Extends multiple-peril policies for wind damage where local governments agree to adopt and enforce building codes and standards designed to minimize wind damage.

• Allows any community participating in the flood insurance program to opt into the multiple-peril option. The multiple-peril residential-policy limit is $500,000 for the structure and $150,000 for contents. Nonresidential properties could be covered to $1 million for structure and $750,000 for contents, plus business interruption. Increases the maximum coverage limits for flood insurance policies. New coverage limits would be $335,000 for residences, $135,000 for residential contents, and $670,000 for businesses and churches.

• Phases in actuarial rates for vacation homes and nonresidential properties beginning Jan. 1, 2011. Proposed amendments to H.R. 3121

The House Rules Committee has made the following 13 amendments:

1. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.: Manager's Amendment. The manager's amendment does the following: (1) requires that homes insured by wind/water policies comply with existing model building codes from the International Code Council pursuant to request from the National Association of Home Builders; (2) requires that specific technologies be used for mapping floodplains (such as geospatial technologies); (3) adds a professional mapping association to the Mapping Advisory Council; (4) prohibits FEMA from enforcing a penalties assessed against individual condo owners where the condo complex is underinsured regarding flood coverage; (5) directs FEMA to develop a plan to verify that the recipients of Homeowner Assistance Grants in Mississippi and Road Home Grants in Louisiana, funded by HUD Community Development Block Grants, maintain flood insurance on their properties as required as a condition of the grants; and (6) codifies recommendations in a recently released GAO report (GAO 07-1078) with respect to the National Flood Insurance Program's payments to insurance companies for their administrative costs without requiring the companies to report their costs or to comply with the existing audit requirements. (10 minutes)

2. Reps. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif./Ross (Ark.)/Reyes (Texas): This amendment says that people forced to purchase flood insurance as a result of the new map who have lived in an area where the levees were previously certified, and have now been decertified, will receive a grace period of 5 years in which they will be entitled to a 50 percent reduction in their flood insurance premium while the levees are being recertified. (10 minutes)

3. Rep. Kathy Castor, D- Fla.: This amendment commissions a study by the GAO to examine the effect of the new multi-peril policy on state insurance programs. (10 minutes)

4. Rep. Castor, D-Fla.: This amendment clarifies some of the priorities for wind risk criteria generation. (10 minutes)

5. Reps. Earl Blumenauer D-Ore., or Peter Welch , D-Vt. or Wayne Gilchrest, R-Md.: This amendment would require FEMA, when updating and maintaining flood maps, to take into consideration the impacts of global warming, the potential future impacts of global climate change-related weather events, and use the best available climate science in assessing flood and storm risks. (10 minutes)

6. Reps. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., /Michael Arcuri, D-N.Y.: This amendment would create the position of National Flood Insurance Advocate in FEMA, which would: (1) transmit a comprehensive report to Congress about the major problems facing the Flood Insurance Program; and (2) report to Congress about the feasibility and effectiveness of establishing an Office of the Flood Insurance Advocate, headed by the National Flood Insurance Advocate, to assist insureds in resolving problems with FEMA. (10 minutes)

7. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss. This amendment allows multiple-peril and flood-insurance coverage of apartment buildings up to the total of the number of dwelling units times the maximum coverage limit per residential unit. (10 minutes)

8. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss: This amendment prohibits a company that sells and services flood-insurance policies from including language in its own windstorm policies that would exclude coverage of wind damage solely because flooding also contributed to the damage. The amendment also requires the contract between an insurance company and NFIP to state that the company has a fiduciary responsibility to federal taxpayers and will act in the best interests of NFIP. (10 minutes)

9. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Ill.: This amendment provides that no changes in flood-insurance status can go into effect until the remapping process is completed for the entire district of the Corps of Engineers affected by that map. (10 minutes)

10. Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas: This amendment provides a five-year phase-in of flood insurance premiums for low-income homeowners or renters whose primary residence is placed within a flood plain through an updating of the flood insurance program maps if the value of the home does not exceed 75 percent of the state median home value. (10 minutes)

11. Rep. Marion Berry D-Ark. : This amendment authorizes the director of FEMA to include a note on flood insurance rate maps identifying 100-year and 500-year certified levees and encouraging property owners to evaluate their risk of flooding. The amendment also clarifies that the note shall not be considered a legal requirement of participation in the national flood-insurance program. (10 minutes)

12. Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn.: This amendment adds to the flood map modernization provisions of H.R. 3121 a requirement that FEMA map areas in the 100-year floodplain that would flood if not for a "levee, dam, or other man-made structure." (10 minutes)

13. Reps. Pete Stark, D-Calif. and Dan Burton R-Ind.: This amendment requires written notification by first-class mail to each property owner affected by a proposed change in flood elevations, prior to the 90-day appeal period. Notification would include an explanation of the appeal process and contact information for responsible officials.

HOUSE FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE
Presidential veto threats can sway some lawmakers before a vote but House Financial Services Committee spokesman Steven Adamske said Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., and others would argue for the legislation. "We're going to actively work for passage of the bill," said Adamske.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has made the bill a signature issue for the Democratic majority and highlighted the issue in trips to the Gulf Coast region.

The House Rules Committee considered amendments Wednesday and approved 13 amendments the House will consider today.



© 2007 Sun Herald. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.sunherald.com

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BIG Katrina Recovery Bill on House Floor Today

by Ana Maria

Today’s the big day we’ve been waiting for. Congress will consider the bill that includes the multiple peril policy, a policy that will finally give American home and business owners ONE insurance policy for both wind and flood. No private insurance company has offered such a financial security product since the 1960’s. The Multiple Peril Insurance policy is part of H.R. 3121. When it gets to the floor, a flurry of amendments will be offered.

The easiest way to wade through them is to follow Taylor’s lead. He votes for something, then it’s good. He votes against it, then it isn’t.

Today is the final day to contact our congressional representatives. Please call now. Calling is all we have time to do to have an impact this day. Go here to find the office phone number for your congressional representative. To be really timely, please call the DC office.

When you call, please ask the congressional staff member to pass along this message.

I support H.R. 3121. It is a great way to help restore the financing of the Gulf Coast, a great way to provide financial security for all American home and business owners for whom both wind and flood damage may be a problem.

Please ask Representative (your congressional rep’s name here) to vote for H.R. 3121 today AND to vote for the amendments that Mississippi Gulf Coast Congressman Gene Taylor votes for. Just take his lead and that will be great with me!

Thank you for listening. Have a good day!
That’s it! If your representative is a Democrat, you may tell them to vote with the Caucus recommendations. If your representative is a Republican, you may request that he or she simply follow Congressman Taylor’s lead. That will do the job.

This is a bread and butter issue for home and business owners. It is important to the entire Katrina ravaged region. It is important for the folks from Brooklyn, New York, whose home owner policies—which do NOT cover flood AND wind in one policy—are being cancelled because Big Insurance is getting out of the business. It is important for those in California who have fewer and fewer choices with homeowner insurance carriers—none of whom provide a single policy for both wind and flood.

Thank you for your ongoing support, your calls, your emails, and . . . reading my pieces.

Yes ma’am and yes sir. Today’s political hell raising involves burning up those phone lines! Today’s the day we see the results of our political hell raising throughout the past few months. May we have a great deal to celebrate by the evening!




Type the rest of the blog here.
© 2007 Ana Maria Rosato. All rights reserved.
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Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Breaking News: American Bankers Association Supports Muliple Peril Insurance Policy (H.R. 3121)

From: ABA [mailto:govtrelations@aba.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 11:22 AM
To: Martin, Brian (Congressman Gene Taylor's Policy Director)
Subject: Support for H.R. 3121, the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act

Date: September 26, 2007
To: Members of the U.S. House of Representatives

From: Floyd Stoner, Executive Director, Congressional Relations & Public Policy, ABA

Re: Support for H.R. 3121, the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007

I am writing on behalf of the members of the American Bankers Association (ABA) to express our support for H.R. 3121, the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007, scheduled to be considered by the full House later this week.

Since 1968, nearly 20,000 communities across the United States and its territories have participated in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) by adopting and enforcing floodplain management ordinances to reduce future flood damage. In exchange, the NFIP makes federally backed flood insurance available to homeowners, renters, and business owners in these communities.

Losses from three large hurricanes (Katrina, Rita, and Wilma) in 2005 have left the NFIP more than $23 billion in debt to the Treasury. There is no way that the NFIP can reasonably repay this debt and provide payment for future losses under the current rate structure. The likelihood of additional flood events and resulting claims against the program make reforms vital.

This legislation would require the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to update the flood maps, and it would provide a phase-in of actuarial rates for commercial properties and non-primary residences. ABA supports these efforts as being necessary to sustain the program over the long term.

H.R. 3121 also would increase the penalties for non-compliance in placing flood insurance, from $350 per violation to $2000 per violation. We are pleased that the legislation would provide a "safe harbor" for an institution which is in non-compliance due to circumstances beyond its control (such as outdated mapping by FEMA). We also are pleased that the legislation would provide institutions with an opportunity to correct non-compliance before a penalty is assessed and place a reasonable limit for total penalties per institution/per year.

We urge you to support this important legislation.

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Bush, Barbour’s Katrina Housing Plans Smell Fishy

by Ana Maria

Just over a week ago, my tiny hometown learned of a secret Bush government plan to “wall and haul” the place. In conjunction with Mississippi’s Republican Governor Haley Barbour, the U.S. Corps of Engineers has been plotting and scheming to erect a 40-foot seawall along the beach and to buy up private property it deemed in the flood zone. This birthed my “wall and haul” phrase. You know, wall us up, haul us out.

My parents’ home has never been in a designated flood zone. Katrina is the only time our home had ever gotten so much as a drop of water. Now Bush’s government wants to buy up the family home and the surrounding area. We’re several miles from the Jordan River or the beach. And where will my mother and many others go? She’s lived in this town since 1953. That’s 54 years. How do you replace the safety and comfort, security, and friendships built up over that many decades? You don’t.

Allegedly, the property purchase, including my own mother’s home where she has lived for the last 45 years, is voluntary.

Bush’s Corps of Engineers and its willing accomplices in the Barbour government say the property purchase is voluntary. To believe this requires them to have credibility, which is nowhere to be found.

As I look around at several of Bush and Barbour’s different housing plans, this appears more of a shell game being played with American families and businesses and the money needed to rebuild our homes, our businesses, our communities, and our lives.

Some two years since Katrina demolished the area’s homes and businesses, we still have a housing crisis of epidemic proportions.

". . . the Institute for Southern Studies documented in [its] recent report Blueprint for Gulf Renewal, there's still a serious post-Katrina housing crisis on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Homeowners found the [Mississippi Development Authority]'s grant application process to be difficult and time-consuming, and many are still waiting for checks. In the meantime, there are few affordable rental units available in the region, another barrier facing internally displaced persons trying to exercise their right of return.”
Barbour To Skim Off Housing Money
Rather than cutting out the bureaucratic BS to get the appropriated funding to those who need it here on Mississippi Gulf Coast, Governor Haley Barbour is abandoning his responsibilities to blockade our state’s road home. Barbour, Bush, and their buddies in Big Insurance are Allies in Abandonment Alley.

Barbour proposed diverting $600 million from Katrina funds dedicated for low-income housing here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Barbour wants to use housing funds to rebuild the Port of Gulfport.

As if we’ve got all the housing we can stand down here and boy, oh boy, we better find something to do with that $600 million or Bush will take it back to pay for the better part of a single day’s worth of what it’s costing this nation for Bush’s unnecessary ‘adventure’ in Iraq—using Mississippi military men and women, I might add.

As I look around at the areas with which I’m personally most familiar—a good 50 mile stretch along beach front properties along the state’s Gulf Coast from Waveland straight through Biloxi, I’m not seeing much rebuilding of those beautiful old homes . . . or the beach front businesses for that matter.

See, if those folks aren’t building, that’s an important indicator that the financing isn’t here for many other things either. With the financing comes the construction jobs, which would be in abundance—but only if the financing were here. With construction jobs would come all manner of businesses to provide the goods and services those workers and their families would need. Businesses from plumbing to appliance to office supply stores to support the construction of those homes and business buildings. Businesses like toy stores and movie theaters, bakeries and department stores that families and communities need.

Of course, from architects to painters and electricians to roofers, these construction industry workers would need places for their families to live. Their children would need schools to attend, preferably with running water available like the rest of the U.S.

Alas, housing along the Mississippi Gulf Coast is scarce whether affordable or not. It just doesn’t exist much less in abundance, and what is available isn’t at the pre-Katrina prices. Everything is more expensive, though the wages have not risen.

Here’s the thing, if the solidly middle class cannot afford to rebuild their homes and businesses, that is a strong indicator that neither can those not yet in the middle class economic bracket. Purely and simply, the reason for this economic development stagnation is the lack of funding, money, moolah.

So that $600 million that Barbour wants to divert from housing? What a joke! We could sure use that money to build housing for folks to live in, move out of their FEMA trailers, quit bunking with family and friends, and move back here from where ever they may be residing outside of the area. You know, use it to help those for whom it was intended to help.

Breaking Down Barbour’s Housing Dollars
The Mississippi Center for Justice wrote a startling analysis of Barbour use of our tax money that is supposed to be alleviating our post-Katrina housing crunch.
Mississippi’s Katrina recovery programs have been characterized by disregard for the
needs of its most vulnerable citizens. Over $3 billion of the $5.4 billion Congress gave
Mississippi has been granted waivers from the requirement to serve the needs of low
and moderate income residents. Only $1 billion has been devoted to programs that
serve these same residents. (1) Two years later, less than $100 million from those
programs has been paid out. (2)

With over 17,000 households (close to 50,000 persons) still in FEMA trailers and others
doubled up with relatives or friends, Mississippi’s housing recovery is far from complete
two years after Hurricane Katrina. (3) Last week, however, Governor Haley Barbour
proposed to divert $600 million of housing recovery funds to pump into the expansion of
the State Port at Gulfport, a commercial maritime harbor that earned half its revenue
from casino leases prior to the storm. (4) This makes a mockery of the Governor’s
Commission’s recommendation to place a priority in every housing program upon
serving the needs of lower income storm victims. (5)
[Click here for endnotes.]
Only $100 million? Based on the totality of what had been appropriated originally, $100 million is less than 2%!!?# That is poppycock. And this is yet another great example of a failure of leadership aggressively pursuing every avenue possible to bring about a quick and vibrant recovery along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Are the White House, Big Insurance, and Barbour deliberately starving us all so that they can turn this beach front property into their personal financial playground years down the road?!

The picture seems to be coming in clearly when it comes to housing and rebuilding the Mississippi Gulf Coast, something sure smells fishy, and it isn’t coming from the Gulf.

© 2007 Ana Maria Rosato. All rights reserved.
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Katrina victims ask Shelby for help

Housing bill mainly aimed at Louisiana
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
By SEAN REILLY
Washington Bureau


WASHINGTON -- After huddling with frustrated south Mobile County residents Tuesday morning, U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby pressed federal officials to tackle local housing needs left over from Hurricane Katrina, but did not endorse residents' plea for up to $400 million in additional aid.

Rather than provide more money, lawmakers may need to make sure that funding already proposed is "allocated fairly," Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, said after a Senate banking committee hearing on a bill aimed at assuring that affordable housing lost to Katrina is replaced. Shelby is the panel's top Republican.

The bill is largely geared toward Louisiana. Before the hearing, Shelby heard privately from the group of some 11 activists and residents of Coden and other unincorporated parts of the county.

About 2,000 people from those areas are still living in government-furnished campers, a year after environmental tests registered dangerous level of indoor formaldehyde, Zack Carter, an organizer with the Montgomery-based citizens' group, Alabama Arise, said. But the senator would not commit to trying to amend the recovery act by adding $200 million to $400 million, according to Carter.

"It wasn't a 'no,' so that's something," Carter said. Instead, Carter said, a second meeting is planned this Friday. Another option would be to add the money to a supplemental spending bill, he said.

During the hearing, Shelby did prod administrators with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, on whether they had done enough for the south end of the county. "A lot of people in those areas that were heavily impacted -- their needs have not been addressed," he said.

In response, Robert Duncan, a HUD senior project manager, said the state has been allotted about $24 million for housing needs. Of that amount, only $4 million has so far been spent, Duncan said.

That disclosure appeared to surprise Shelby, who said afterward that he would follow up. Even if all available money is used, "it's going to take much more than what is there at this point," said Stephenie Bosarge, a Coden bookkeeper.

As the Press-Register has previously reported, however, the major bottleneck is at the county level, where 1,166 applications for aid are still pending. County officials hope to begin getting rebuilding help to people by year's end, Annette McGrady, a consultant working on the issue, said Tuesday.

The banking committee has not announced a date to proceed with the bill. The measure's lead sponsor is the panel's chairman, U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn. Dodd, who is running for president, did not attend Tuesday's hearing.

In an e-mail, spokesman Marvin Fast attributed the senator's absence to an unspecified scheduling conflict. Dodd "intends to continue to work to advance this legislation ... ," Fast said.

Alabama Press-Register originally published this article here.
© 2007 Press-Register
© 2007 al.com All Rights Reserved.


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Tuesday, September 25, 2007

American Soldiers: Caught in the Crosshairs of Iraq and Katrina

by Ana Maria

Regardless of our personal perspective on the Iraq occupation, Americans universally support the soldiers, want them to be safe, and want their return home to be joyous and welcoming. For those soldiers inside Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana whose homes Hurricane Katrina demolished or substantially destroyed, they face the double whammy of fighting in Iraq while their families are here fighting Big Insurance who often refuses to pay for wind-related damages for which premiums have been faithfully paid.

Today’s piece is devoted to those homeowners and business owners who are also members of our military, members who George W. Bush sent to his war in Iraq and whose families have been through Katrina and the insurance insanity that has befallen them since the storm’s 135 mph winds subsided.

After Katrina, many an insurance corporate titan implemented aggressive claims adjustment policies that ended up guaranteeing the financial ruin of American homeowners and business owners. Along with police officers, firefighters, teachers, nurses caught in this nightmare were our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

George W. Bush could have used the power of the bully pulpit to twist the arms of his CEO buddies in the insurance industry to do the morally correct thing and pay on the wind-related damages to every one of its policyholders’ homes and businesses be they soldiers, retired chief petty officers, school teachers, or police officers. However, he has not.

Instead, George W. Bush has failed to protect American soldiers from the ravages of the policies that his Big Insurance buddies implemented, policies that failed to deliver on the wind policies included in the homeowner policies these soldiers had for their homes.

What I’d like to hear from a president that cared is something like the following.

My fellow Americans, I come before you today to express my enormous distress at the pain and suffering that has befallen many families and businesses inside the Katrina-ravaged region. Upon learning of the policies and procedures that Big Insurance has implemented that guts the financial security upon which these families and businesses depend to get back on their feet quickly and return to their lives, I am putting the full weight of the White House to back a legislative initiative that will protect America’s financial security for every family and business: the Multiple Peril Insurance policy.

This consolidates into one insurance policy protection for both flood and wind. Nowhere in this great nation of ours can we purchase such a policy. Nowhere. In the 60’s, private insurance companies chose to get out of the flood insurance business. Given this void, Congress passed the flood insurance act to protect the financial security of American families and businesses from flood damage. Since 1968, American families have had this protection.

Today, Big Insurance is demonstrating a callous disregard to Americans everywhere—including our nation’s soldiers who are protecting this country. These soldiers voluntarily give up their freedom, liberty, and sometimes their lives in service to this country.
Rather than looking out for the financial security of policyholders, Big Insurance is looking out for its own financial security and doing so wrongly on the backs of its policyholders--policyholders who are teachers and doctors, retired seniors and American soldiers. These soldiers’ selflessness for the love of country should be the model for all citizens. They give their lives to protect us. We must do what we must to protect them. In so doing, we also protect the rest of America.

Private insurance is effectively no longer providing wind coverage for American families and businesses. Congress is again taking the bold step to provide this needed financial security. Mississippi Congressman Gene Taylor, who lost his home in Katrina and who had to sue his insurance company to get a settlement, has drafted this good bill. The White House is putting its full weight behind the measure because it protects America’s home and business owners.

Thank you.

Wouldn’t that be something to hear?! To know that we had a White House that cared about the hundreds of millions of little people that make up this nation whether we are teachers or nurses or active or retired military officers?

Well, having a White House that cares about the hundreds of millions of little people that make up this nation is something we can work toward. Today, we have the great opportunity to help take out of the insurance crosshairs both active and retired military. Simultaneously, we will be helping the rest of the Katrina-ravaged residents along the Louisiana-Mississippi-Alabama Gulf Coast AND the rest of the nation’s 55% that live within 50 miles of the nation’s beautiful coastline.

Incorporating multiple peril coverage into the federal flood insurance policy is within reach of passing the entire House of Representatives when the legislation goes for a vote this Thursday, September 27th.

Today’s political hell raising activity is specifically dedicated to helping to ease the pain of every soldier impacted by both Iraq and Katrina. Supporting and protecting the troops means providing the armor to keep them safe overseas AND providing these soldiers with the insurance armor that will help keep their families protected against the greedy winds of Big Insurance. ;)

Soooooo, let’s call and email our congressional representatives. Yes, if you’ve already called, then email. If you’ve already emailed, then call. The more, the merrier. On that note, contact two other people and convince them to do the same. Again, the more, the merrier.

Ending what many of us term a nightmare in Iraq also means ending the nightmare that is for many a soldier the ongoing nightmare that is Big Insurance. For soldiers, being caught in the cross hairs of Iraq and Katrina can begin to end today with calls and emails to pass this important legislation.


© 2007 Ana Maria Rosato. All rights reserved.
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