• Listen to this segment

GUEST: Freddie Monroe, Hurricane Katrina Survivor

Hundreds of homeless people have camped out in front of New Orleans’ City Hall to protest the lack of affordable housing since the Katrina disaster more than two years ago. Pitching pup-tents, the homeless demonstrators are calling on New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin to address the problems of rental assistance and overcrowded shelters. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, many homeless shelters were destroyed and the number of beds available were reduced dramatically. At the same time, the number of homeless people has increased nearly two-fold in the years following Katrina. Meanwhile, a federal judge has refused to stop the impending demolition of the four largest housing projects in New Orleans. A lawsuit has been filed against the plan to raze the housing projects saying that the move will further reduce the availability of affordable, subsidized apartments for low-income families. An attorney speaking on behalf of the Department of Housing and Urban Development wrote that “Plaintiffs have no legal right to return to the particular public housing units they occupied on August 29th, 2005, because they have no property interest in those particular units.”

For more information, contact Committee to Re-Open Charity email: bradott@bellsouth.net or call 504-269-4951 and visit, www.peopleshurricane.org/ and www.stepscoalition.org/