House passes bill to protect public housing in New Orleans from destruction

[Breeze54]

House passes bill to protect public housing in New Orleans from destruction

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/national/BO46578/

WASHINGTON --

Public housing projects damaged by Hurricane Katrina would not be knocked down until the government
has a plan to replace them under a bill the House passed Wednesday.

The legislation, approved 302-125, also would grant tenants who lived in New Orleans public housing
before the storm the right to return to homes and apartments subsidized by the government.

"We need to address the affordable housing crisis in the Gulf region by returning people to their
homes," said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who sponsored the bill. "Every person who desires to
live in the Gulf region must be given an opportunity to rebuild and to return home."

The Housing and Urban Development Department and the city's housing authority had approved plans
to demolish New Orleans' four largest public housing complexes and other smaller sites. The August
2005 storm left about 7,500 apartments in a condition not considered worth repairing. The demolitions
would have made way for an estimated $681 million worth of mixed-income neighborhood construction.

"To do as HUD has proposed across all public housing in New Orleans is tantamount to forced
homelessness," said Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., who represents much of New Orleans.

Under the bill, HUD would have to survey people who had lived in public housing and provide housing
for any who wanted to return by Aug. 1. Residents would have to declare their intent to return to
the city by that date and occupy the units by Oct. 1.

The government would not be allowed to demolish any public housing without having an approved plan
to replace it.

Lawmakers also approved an amendment that would extend a Federal Emergency Management Agency
housing voucher program through the end of the year and transfer those eligible to other
housing assistance programs when the FEMA aid ends.

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