Federal Homeless Policy Update
On August 29, Hurricane Katrina, a catastrophic storm those of us who live in New Orleans had long feared, made a direct hit on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and Louisiana. Communities stretching from Louisiana to Florida suffered severe damage from high winds, storm surge, and subsequent flooding. As the images from this disaster have been broadcast around the world and have touched millions of hearts, we are reminded of the hundreds of thousands of people have lost everything and are now hungry, homeless, out of work, and without health care.
To be sure, the immense devastation of the hurricane has greatly exacerbated an existing economic crisis. Long before Katrina was a blip on the radar, the waiting list for public housing assistance in the City of New Orleans exceeded 19,000. In the flood ravaged Lower 9th Ward, where over 5,600 units of housing were destroyed as the result of the storm, 63% of the Ward’s residents lived in poverty. And long before FEMA’s tragically slow response helped expose America’s dirty secrets of race and class, 37 million Americans lived in poverty.
Given the unprecedented level of destruction, this year’s celebration of World Habitat Day (October 3) seems an especially appropriate time for us to think globally and in kinship with those outside our own borders. Like the killer tsunami wave last December in Banda Aceh and other Indian Ocean coastal villages, Katrina’s force wiped out entire communities and destroyed countless lives along the Gulf Coast. And much like the terrible tsunami, Katrina disproportionately affected the poorest of the poor, leaving so many with little more than the shirt on their back.
Hundreds of millions of dollars have already been privately raised for Katrina relief efforts, Congress has responded with a $50 billion aid package, and thousands of American families have opened up their homes to the victims of the hurricane. But not surprisingly, the aftermath of hurricane Katrina has also ushered in a tidal surge of nasty and transparent agendas as well. Whether it is the proverbial carpetbagger looking to make a quick buck and flip property, gentrify neighborhoods and further displace Gulf Coast residents or public officials seizing the opportunity to slip through long favored policies, the wolves are clearly circling in the aftermath of the greatest natural disaster in U.S. history. Awarding no-bid contracts while waiving prevailing wage standards, vouchering out the education system, undercutting the educational rights of homeless children, disbanding public housing altogether and squeezing anyone affected by the hurricane into HUD’s intrusive data collection system are but a few of the policies currently being implemented and promoted in Washington, DC.
If we are to avoid post-Katrina rebuilding from becoming a “second hurricane” this outpouring of emergency assistance must be matched by meaningful federal policies. That is, perhaps the terrible storm will finally force our political leaders to do what should have been done all along-respond to homelessness and poverty for the national crisis that it represents. And, perhaps the storm will also lead those most affected to do as those displaced by deadly waves in Asia have started to do- demand a democratic reconstruction and a fundamental human right to housing.
Since its inception by the UN General Assembly in 1985, the United Nations has designated the first Monday in October every year as World Habitat Day to reflect on the state of human settlements and the basic right to adequate shelter for all. It is also intended to remind the world of its collective responsibility for the future of the human habitat.
2005 Global ceremonies will be coordinated from Jakarta, Indonesia to remind the world of the countless thousands of homes destroyed by the tsunami killer wave last December in Banda Aceh and other Indian Ocean coastal communities. This year’s theme is the “Millennium Development Goals and the City.” The theme, chosen by the United Nations, is to remind all of us that in the year 2000, world leaders meeting at the dawn of the new Millennium, committed themselves to launch a concerted attack on poverty, illiteracy, hunger, unsafe water, disease and urban and environmental degradation by adopting a set of eight goals.
In September, the UN General Assembly will hold a five-year review meeting to weigh progress of the eight goals. UN-HABITAT is working with a number of international and civil society organizations, cities and governments to realize Target 11 of Millennium Development Goal #7 (MDG)-improving the living conditions of at least 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2020.
Almost 32 percent of the world’s urban population-roughly 1 billion people-live in slums, mostly in or on the edges of cities across the developing world. In the United States close to 15 million people pay over 50% of their income on housing, 3.5 million people experience homelessness each year, and 37 million Americans are living in poverty. Similarly, UN Habitat’s State of the World’s Cities Report found that in many of the world’s cities, lack of affordable housing and discriminatory practices force migrants to live spatially segregated lives in ghettos where they suffer labor exploitation, social exclusion and violence.
Across the globe, a wide range of events are planned. The African nation of Chad is hosting a series of events including a poetry contest for youth, soccer and basketball competitions, and nationally broadcast debate on the implementation of MDG’s locally. A sampling of other events across the globe include a parade and film festival in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a discussion in Eritrea on shelter provision for Internally Displaced Persons, an art exhibit in Bangladesh of children’s drawings depicting healthy housing, a month long celebration in the Philippines, and a series of events in Nigeria sponsored by the National Union of Tenants, including visits to social housing projects, fundraiser to help homeless communities, church service for victims of tsunami. WHD events in North America are being celebrated in New York and Los Angeles.
Brad