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The Case of the Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans

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The Case of the Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans A New Orleans jazz funeral starts with a solemn march and sad notes from musicians who accompany mourners and the deceased to the cemetery. All is still when the procession reaches the grave for the sermon which often warns of the devil and urges the mourners to be true to their hearts, not to their wallets. As the sermon ends, but before anyone can say, “Amen,” the group of mourners stirs. Jazz lives! The band stops crying, starts laughing and struts back to town on the happy beat of “Oh, But on the Third Day!”[From a Review of Wynton Marsalis, “Majesty of the Blues”] “History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.” (Mark Twain) The Challenges of Sudden Natural Disasters for Land Administration and Management: The Case of the Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans Prepared from contributions by J. David Stanfield (editor), Kali Akuno, Richard Campanella, Annie Clark, Dominique Duval-Diop, Davida Finger, Monique Hardin, Amy Koritz, John Lovett, David Marcello, Bill Quigley, Kalima Rose, Ommeed Sathe, Keith Twitchell, and Nathalie Walker 11 April, 2008 This is an image of Hurricane Katrina on Sunday, August 28, 2005 at 10:25 PM EDT as seen by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite's Precipitation Radar, which looks underneath of the storm's clouds to reveal the underlying rain structure. For digital copies of this study, contact: Lynn Burns, [email protected]; telephone: 1-608-767-3449; 1 Copyright:© UN-HABITAT. Reproduction is authorized provided that the source is credited. All rights reserved United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), P.O. Box 30030, GPO Nairobi 00100, Kenya. Tel: (254-20) 7621234 (Operator) / 7 623120 (Information Services Section) Tel: (254-20) 762 3151/3153 ( Media and Press Relations) Fax: (254-20) 7624266/7624267/7624264 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.unhabitat.org/ Disclaimer The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries, or regarding its economic system or degree of development. The analysis, conclusions and recommendations of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, the Governing Council of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, or its Member States. 2 Prologue:....................................................................................................................................6 Executive Summary...................................................................................................................9 1. Introduction..........................................................................................................................12 1.1 Geographic and Social Topography of the City of New Orleans ..................................13 1. 2 New Orleans Before the Storm.....................................................................................15 1.3 Municipal/Parish Governance and Land........................................................................16 1.4 The Roles of Federal/State Governance Institutions in Disaster Situations ..................18 1.4.1 Federal Legislation on Disasters: The Stafford Act................................................19 1.4.2 The Norquist Doctrine ............................................................................................24 2. Katrina and Its Impacts ........................................................................................................28 2.1 Arrival............................................................................................................................28 2.2 Katrina and the People of New Orleans.........................................................................32 3. Institutional Responses to the Disaster in the Gulf Region .................................................36 3.1 Some Government Agencies, Terms, and Programs .....................................................36 3.2 Temporary Emergency Housing in the Gulf Region .....................................................38 3.3 Trailers as Emergency Housing in New Orleans...........................................................38 3.3.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................39 3.3.2 Trailer Controversies ..............................................................................................39 3.3.3 Background: Jefferson Parish ................................................................................41 3.3.4 Local Procedures: Removal ...................................................................................41 3.3.5 Impact: Stories from Jefferson Parish.....................................................................43 3.3.6 Conclusion about FEMA trailers ...........................................................................45 3.4 Longer Term Emergency Housing.................................................................................45 4. Prioritization of Areas for Permanent Rebuilding—Creative “Plandemonium”.................46 4.1 First steps toward rebuilding..........................................................................................47 4.2 Deciding Not to Decide .................................................................................................51 4.3 Land-Use Planning Beyond the Footprint Debate.........................................................52 4.4 Land-Use Planning Beyond New Orleans .....................................................................53 4.5 Post-Katrina Land-Use Planning in Perspective............................................................54 5. Rebuilding after Katrina: The Road Home Program for Home Owners .............................55 5.1 Land Banking in the Road Home Program....................................................................57 5.2 Problems Implementing the Road Home.......................................................................58 5.3 Limited Impact on Housing Redevelopment .................................................................61 5.4 Interaction with Applicants............................................................................................62 5.5 The Community Connection—Hammering Out Local Involvement ............................65 5.5.1 Nonprofits and Road Home Assistance—Local Organizations Pressed into Service ..........................................................................................................................................66 5.5.2 Scope of need..........................................................................................................68 5.5.3 Lack of Transparency a Major Barrier....................................................................70 5.5.4 Compensation and Capacity ...................................................................................70 5.5.5 Effective Utilization of Community groups ...........................................................71 5.6 Post-Hurricane Housing Demolition in New Orleans .................................................72 5.6.1 Background.............................................................................................................73 5.6.2 Good Neighbor Ordinance......................................................................................74 5.6.3 Imminent Health Threat Ordinance ........................................................................74 5.6.4 Demolitions: Looking Forward...............................................................................78 5.7 Conclusions about Rebuilding of Owned Properties.....................................................78 5.8 Some Remaining Questions about Road Home.............................................................79 6. Housing for Renters ............................................................................................................81 3 6.1 Multi-Family (Large) Apartment Building Development Program..............................82 6.1.1 Insufficient Funding................................................................................................83 6.1.2 Parish Opposition to Housing Projects ...................................................................84 6.1.3 Lack of Comprehensive Housing Policies..............................................................86 6.1.4 Weak Management of Housing Complexes ...........................................................87 6.1.5 Lack of affordable housing .....................................................................................88 6.1.6 Special Needs Populations......................................................................................89 6.1.7 Small and mid-size developers ...............................................................................89 6.1.8 Limited transparency ..............................................................................................90 6.1.9 Conclusions about Programs for Multi-family rental housing ...............................91 6.2 Louisiana’s Small Scale Landlord Assistance Programs...............................................91 6.2.1 Results of the Small Scale Landlord Assistance Program.....................................93 6.2.2 Recommendation about
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