Testimony: Post Katrina, Families Still in Cold

WASHINGTON, DC-There are at least 150,000 families along the Gulf Coast that remain displaced after the hurricanes in 2005–and the federal and state programs put in place to help them are not meeting their needs, according to Sheila Crowley, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Crowley spoke Tuesday to a Congressional committee on the issue.

The House Financial Services Committee convened hearings to examine the federal government’s response to the housing needs of people along the Gulf Coast who lost homes after the 2005 hurricanes. Beyond Crowley, a number of witnesses testified before the committee.

Crowley noted that at least 70% of the 300,000 homes that were severely damaged or destroyed by Katrina were affordable to low-income families. The red tape associated with many of the programs, such as FEMA’s rental assistance program, caused a great deal of confusion and wrongly terminated many of the recipients last year, she said.