Katrina victims fight eviction from damaged properties

[Thom Little]

Janeice Sylvester is one of thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims who could be made homeless twice by the storm.

Sylvester was evacuated from New Orleans when the storm hit Aug. 29. Upon her return about two months later, the 26-year-old who has three small children found an eviction notice tacked to her door and the interior of her apartment ransacked.

"I'm not sure whether my home was looted or (the landlord) was already putting my stuff on the street."

Community activists and legal aid groups say they're battling a wave of eviction notices issued to low-income Katrina victims like Sylvester. They claim landlords are eager to find tenants willing to pay much higher rents now that housing is so scarce on the Gulf Coast.

"We're seeing the ugliest of market forces," said Judith Browne, co-director of the Washington-based Advancement Project, a civil rights and legal aid organization.


http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051210/NEWS01/512100359/1002/NEWS

[merh]

1. It's happening all over the Gulf Coast

what rental property available has increased the rents, some landowners/landlords have advised their tenants that once the lease is up, they have the option of buying the property (at double it's pre-Katrina value) or they must leave and find new housing. THERE IS NO NEW HOUSING.

Rental housing is a premium and even the subsidized governmental housing is evicting tenants for alleged minor violations so that they can put their family and friends in the units.

Katrina has brought out the best and the worst in people.