Back from NOLA!

Hello again, blog!

I'm back from New Orleans! A group of 23 students from Ryerson, York and Western Universities went down to NOLA for two weeks to work with community organizations and with St. Bernard Project to help rebuild homes in this fabulous city.

When I first found out about this course, I was like "What? Wasn't Katrina like, 6 years ago? Why would they still need help rebuilding houses? I thought everything was back to normal now...". Pretty much every person I've told about this has had the same thoughts, even those who have actually been to NOLA (NOLA = New Orleans, LA) since the storm. Of course, usually these people were hanging out in the French Quarter/tourist areas, where a) there was little or no flooding in the first place, and b) the neighbourhood is quite wealthy and was able to repair what damage there was pretty quickly compared to other areas. The rest of the city, however, has large pockets that remain completely devastated. We walked and drove by several blocks at a time without seeing a single house that was inhabitable - if there was even a house left at all. Many homes have been abandoned, torn down due to mold and damage, or simply were washed right off of their lots during the flood, and never rebuilt because the owner of the lot simply cannot afford to come home.

How is it possible that in the United States of America - theoretically the richest nation on earth - that the situation has not changed in SIX YEARS????

So along came a group of students from Canada to help rebuild a house. The home that I was assigned to belonged to a man whose home was completely destroyed during the storm and had to be rebuilt from the ground up. Everything he had was lost. He has been living in Baton Rouge with family for the last six years, but wants desperately to return to the community where he grew up and raised his children and grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren (!!!). This man deserves to come home. Sadly, many of his neighbours have not been so lucky, and there still stand many uninhabited homes or empty lots around his new house.

People have asked me a lot of questions since I came back. Why can't these people just rebuild their house with the insurance money they got, or the money they got from FEMA? Why would they need to rely on volunteer labour 6 years later rather than just hiring skilled contractors so that construction could be done way faster?

Most of the neighbourhoods that were most affected by the storm were the poorest areas of New Orleans (e.g. the Lower Ninth ward). It just so happens that the major levee breach, at the Industrial Canal, broke in this neighbourhood. This was a manmade levee, as were the others that broke and the MRGO that helped to funnel the storm directly into the city and destroy what remained of the city's bayous by releasing salt water into freshwater areas. The natural levees that exist along the Mississippi River did not break. Ironically, in 2004 this neighbourhood was removed from the flood warning list, because it had experienced NO flooding in 40 years. People were no longer required to have elevated homes (costs about $100K to elevate a house) or flood insurance ($2500-3000/year). Now that these major expenses were no longer required, many homes canceled their insurance and didn't worry about massive renovations to their homes for flood protection. The very next year, Katrina came along. Residents who had no flood insurance got NOTHING for their homes. They were lucky if they received a few hundred or a few thousand dollars for part of their property, e.g. if a tree happened to have fallen on it, but nothing for the actual flood damage. As for FEMA, the US government failed the people of NOLA massively. Yes, they were given some money for their damaged homes, but not near enough to rebuild anything. Some were "lucky" enough to receive FEMA trailers to live in while their homes were under construction. I say lucky in quotation marks because it turned out that these $100K trailers were chock full of formaldehyde, making many people sick. Did I mention that they were poor, had no insurance money and had to live in a trailer? This means that they probably didn't have the money for their medical bills either.

Way to go, FEMA.

Without money, people can't afford to pay a skilled contractor. In addition, some contractors weren't exactly as skilled as they claimed. We've all seen Holmes on Homes and seen the shotty work that is done by unskilled and overpaid contractors. Imagine that in a disaster situation, where the greedy can gain even more. Sadly, many who did use their insurance/FEMA money to hire contractors ended up right back at square one, with a lot less money, due to unsavoury contractor work. With no other option, many homeowners have turned to non-profit organizations like St. Bernard Project, Habitat for Humanity, etc. to find help in the form of volunteers like us. Even better, the volunteers learn new skills. Some of the volunteers that participate in these projects include other NOLA residents, and recently some of the fisherfolk from St. Bernard parish who have been unable to fish after the BP oil spill. The volunteers are learning new skills that may help them to get new jobs that will still help their community. Win win situation, anyone?

Long story short, New Orleans was amazing, and I can't wait to go back. I want to return and see the house that I drywalled standing tall and proud in the Lower Ninth among all of the other destruction. I want to see the neighbourhood come back to life. And, I want to encourage everyone I run into to do the same!