Contact Senators today about the Gulf Housing Recovery Act (S. 1668)

[intheflow]

I got this today from the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.

Urge Senate to pass Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act

Two years after hurricanes Katrina and Rita, 125,000 families remain without permanent housing, and more than 80,000 families continue to live in FEMA’s toxic trailers. The vast majority of the housing damaged or destroyed by the storms was affordable for low-income families. Since the storm, rents in New Orleans have increased by as much as 100 percent.

Take action now!

The Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act (S. 1668) is currently stuck in the Senate. The bill builds on H.R. 1227, which passed the House earlier this year. The bill, introduced by Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA), helps low-income families return home, whether they were renters or lived in public housing. It increases new homeownership opportunities and shores up funding deficiencies in Louisiana’s Road Home program. The bill also includes greater oversight and monitoring of federal recovery funds for all Gulf Coast states.

Contact your Senators today!

Send an immediate message to your senators through our online Legislative Action Center. UUSC has established a special toll-free number, 800-862-5530, that you may use to respond to this alert. This will connect you directly to the Capitol switchboard where you can ask for the offices of your senators.

Message/talking points

• After two long years, the people of the Gulf Coast are still struggling to rebuild their lives.
• This bill has the support of our partners in the region, who are working directly with the most vulnerable populations.
• This bill not only helps home owners who have not yet benefited from Louisiana’s Road Home program, but also helps renters and public housing residents who want to return.
• Affordable housing is vital to the recovery of all other sectors of the Gulf Coast. Without it, families cannot return to work, attend schools, or help rebuild their communities.
• The average rental costs in New Orleans now amounts to 86 percent of the average salary of hotel workers, 41 percent of the average salary of an educator, and 37 percent of the average salary of a health care worker.

Background

For more insight and analysis on this issue, see UUSC’s recent reporting on the series of weeklong activities commemorating the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

[intheflow]

1. kick b/c this is sinking like a stone.

PLEASE call your senators today!

[intheflow]

2. No one cares about housing for the Gulf Coast anymore?

:shrug:

[tammywammy]

3. K&R

I posted about Rita yesterday and only a couple people replied. Sad.

[tammywammy]

4. kick

[Devlzown]

5. kick

The last figures I saw -- about a month ago -- stated that only 43% of Mississippi's Katrina aid money has been distributed. Meanwhile, Haley Bubba is trying to use the money allocated for housing to expand the port of Gulfport. That money needs to be spent on what it was intended for and the sooner the better. The longer it sits around, the more likely it is to come up missing or be misappropriated.