Bob's Links and Rants

Welcome to my rants page! You can contact me by e-mail: bob@goodsells.net. Blog roll. Site feed.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Amazing he has the gall to show his ugly face anywhere near the Gulf Coast

Hurricane Katrina destroyed or seriously damaged 493,000 structures. From the fourth quarter of 2005 through the second quarter of 2006, 1,207,000 single-family housing units and 255,000 multi-family buildings were started in the United States (census bureau). Many of these buildings were purchased on speculation--the buyers hoping to be able to sell the home later for a much higher price. The $110 billion pledged by Bush for rebuilding is approximately twice as much as should have been required to rebuiild every single home destroyed (houses are cheaper on the Gulf Coast than in most of the country), leaving plenty left over for levees, road repair, etc. In short, the country clearly has the money and the capacity to build half a million new homes in a year, something which would not only have rebuilt the Gulf Coast, but would have rebuilt its economy as well. All that was needed was appropriate and swift channeling of the money to the right places, creating the incentives to lure the housing industry into building on the Gulf Coast, rather than building ever more speculative McMansions in the outskirts of DC and LA. So what happened? A commenter at WIIIAI explains:
I live in Pass Christian, MS. My Mother lives in Pass Christian, MS. My brother lives in Bay St. Louis, MS. My home was completely destroyed (along with my business and most of the town). My mother's and my brother's homes were severely damaged and remain uninhabitable.

The Feds "wrote a check" to HUD for billions. HUD developed CDBG (Community Development Block Grants) programs to be administered by MS Republican Gov. (and former RNC head) Haley Barbour. MS Phase I Katrina Housing Grants have been applied for by (reportedly) 17,000 families. Approximately 65,000 homes in MS were either destroyed or severely damaged by Katrina. Of the 17,000 Phase I applicants, less than 50 have seen a dime of Phase I money. Less than 50.

Phase I only covered homes with insurance outside the designated FEMA flood zones. As you can see, only about one-quarter of the homes destroyed or severely damaged by Katrina in MS even qualified for Phase I money and less than 50 have so far received any money at all.

My brother qualified for Phase I. He has yet to receive a dime. My mother and I did not qualify for Phase I. We applied for Phase II, but Phase II is vapor-there isn't any plan for Phase II yet, just an empty promise.

Homeowner's Insurance has turned out to be a cruel and expensive joke (or a racket run against policyholders). If a drop of floodwater can be documented in one's neighborhood, one is denied any coverage by one's homeowner's insurance carrier.

The reality down here is unless a Katrina damaged MS homeowner had the maximum amount of federal flood insurance (which very few did), then their chances of having any reconstruction or repair underway depends almost entirely upon their being able to self-finance (again very, very few can manage that) or getting lucky (akin to being struck by lightning) and having a volunteer group build or repair their home (a few have been that lucky), they are living in a 8' x 28' FEMA travel trailer which rocks and rolls in every strong breeze.
The gall of the idiot, even showing his face down there.


Heh, heh! Just another way to funnel billions to my pals!