In addition to the hundreds of people like Barbara, Rosie, and Ana, who have been excluded all together, many applicants that were approved for CDBG funding a full three years ago won't get it. Alabama is nearly out of money for rebuilding.
Of the $11.5 billion in Community Development Block Grants intended for the Gulf Coast after Katrina, less than $100 million was allocated to Alabama, with only $32 million specifically directed towards housing. The total allocation of funds to Mobile County to repair and rebuild housing met only approximately 7% of the estimated need. Roughly 700 approved applicants in the county are waiting for funding that may never come, 438 of whom have homes that were "seriously damaged or destroyed."
It's about Human Rights
Last month, the United Nations released a report finding that the United States has not done enough to create affordable housing, schools, and hospitals after Katrina, "failings which have disproportionately impacted the poor and communities of colour." These failings amount to human rights abuses by the U.S. government on Gulf Coast citizens, says another report by the NGO groups Advocates for Environmental Human Rights and the Gulf States Human Rights Working Group.
Human rights abuses after Katrina, particularly against communities of color and in the area of housing, are certainly not confined to Alabama. In New Orleans, Louisiana, four major public housing projects have been torn down since the storm, fueling homelessness and prolonging the displacement of thousands of low-income African Americans for whom the city was home. In Mississippi, $600 million intended for low- and moderate-income housing was instead spent on the state-owned port.
Keeping up the pressure, five years later
Since Katrina, many community members have become advocates, pressuring government officials and representatives to address their rebuilding needs and racial disparities. Barbara and Rosie Robbins have traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters, and to regional meetings with the community group South Bay Communities Alliance.
But community advocates worry that, a full five years after Hurricane Katrina and with the BP disaster dominating headlines this summer, it will be challenging to garner media attention and the political will to address pre-existing human rights issues.
Barbara Robbins outside the home she shares with her mother and daughter. Photo by Ada McMahon.
Barbara Robbins hopes BP and Katrina are not seen as either/or issues. After all, in many cases it is the same people who are suffering from both disasters. She's concerned that her ongoing housing issues have been, "put back on the back burner. I understand there are other things going on, with the oil spill, but you've got to worry about the residents after Hurricane Katrina."
But there may be opportunities to make gains soon.
Just two days ago, in response to the aforementioned United Nations report on human rights, the U.S. government released a statement saying it will conduct an inter-agency examination of the U.N.'s human rights recommendations. Monique Harden of Advocates for Environmental Human Rights called it "a positive step forward."
In September, Fred Tombar, a Senior Advisor in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, visited Mobile county at the invitation of several community groups (The South Bay Communities Alliance, Equity and Inclusion Campaign, Mobile Center for Fair Housing, and the Bay Area Women's Coalition).
Despite five years of their advocacy resulting in mostly unfulfilled government promises, about 75 community members, including Barbara and Rosie Robbins and Ana Chau, met with Tombar. After hearing account after account of residents' ongoing housing struggles post-Katrina, Tombar expressed shock and disappointment. He told the community that he truly believes leaders in Washington, D.C. simply do not know how bad the situation is. Tombar pledged to do what he can do to figure out a solution to the communities' housing needs.
Residents were struck by Tombar's words, but know they need to keep up pressure in order to see action.
Says Minh Van Le, "We won't stop. We'll let Washington know about it. We're going to continue to try to get some help down here for these folks that have been left out."
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