You can click on the pause button to hide the sound.

Monday January 5th

A Hancock Resident begs Supervisors to consider her MEMA Modular

In an emotional Hancock Supervisors meeting Monday morning a packed audience of residents begged, one at a time, the Supervisors to reconsider their position on the MEMA cottages. The supervisors have asked to County Attorney to investigate the stipulation, by the Mississippi Insurance Commissioner, that the MEMA cottage is a modular home.

From Wind Versus Weater to MEMA modular Vs MEMA trailer

Different day but the same saga

The Board of the Hancock Supervisors readies themself for a normal meeting - little did they have any idea what was to unfold.

The respected elder from the community, his daughter and the housing activist

The elder makes his presentation

The Hancock County Supervisor Board President respectfully listens

Mary, resident of Bayside Park, makes the speech of her lifetime

Resident backs up Mary's presentation with specifications for the Mema Modular

Sarge's wife pleads for the residents in Bayside - she lives in Waveland.

Al Showers from WLOX moves in to get a good shot of the activist

The activist tells the board that people are willing to chain themselves to the trailer to prevent them being taken away

The Bayside grocer pleads for the residents affirming all those prior had said.

The sister pleads for her sister's cottage telling the board she can not afford to go anywhere else.

The county attorney tells the crowd that the Supervisors had never heard, prior, that the MEMA cottage maybe actually a "Modular" and not a "Trailer".

The Doctor's daughter drives home the Modular vs Trailer specifications.

Another resident questions the board on where they got their facts on Modular vs Trailer prior

The crowd exits the meeting debriefing with friends, neighbors, reports, attorneys, MEMA employees, all there for the same cause.

No more need be said. They did not rely on their Case Managers, their Housing Advisors, on the MEMA representatives - they made their own case for the MEMA Modular and they did a great job. Best practice - stand up for your own housing needs and say what you mean for the heart. And they did it well - very well indeed.

Saturday January 3rd - a trip thru Bayside Park, Bay St Louis, in Hancock County, Mississippi.

These are the pets that will make it difficult for this client to find another place to live and they will not leave them behind

Mary has a petition organized and is planning on presenting to the Supervisors on Monday morning a request for reconsideration on her MEMA cottage. She had a trailer before the storm and now wants to replace it with a MEMA modular home. Other than the MEMA housing advisor - this resident reports she does not have a Case Manager.
Mary wants to keep this MEMA modular home but......		But her immediate neighbor to the right Mary reported, in a letter to the editor of the local paper, that her MEMA modular home reminds him of Katrina and he wants it gone. Mary's lot is eligible for a modular home and there is no house size ordinance that would limit the size of the home built on the property. Mary was not ever consulted on the type of home her neighbor built on his property - it is not required by ordinance.

This trailer home on this corner is "legal" and there is no mandate for its removal.		This home on the lot across the street will not be allowed by the new ruling that MEMA cottages must be taken out of this area.
This critically ill resident has no home to go too once his MEMA cottage is taken away. Not on a volunteer list for rebuilding - he had no idea he could build with the limited funds he does have available. One of the many residents who have slipped between the cracks who believed that the MEMA cottage issue would be resolved and that the funds he had saved could purchase the MEMA cottage. If forced into a rental situation at the current rates - it would not take long for the rent to eat up the funds he has available for purchase of the cottage of the building of a small home similar to the cottage on his site. Other than the MEMA housing advisor - this resident reports he does not have a Case Manager.
These puppies, who belong to the resident above, will be homeless with their owner when MEMA removes this MEMA modular home shortly due to Hancock County Supervisors ruling

I was at the airport in New Orleans Saturday to pick up a homelessness advocate who is here with a well known photographer to talk to residents who are homeless due to Katrina or soon to be homeless due to the removal of FEMA/MEMA housing units. They will be talking to residents to hear their stories and the reasons they have fallen between the cracks in this recovery process.

Always loved this mural and statute at the airport in New Orleans it speaks to the spirit of not only New Orleans but the Gulf Coast. There was a time here that life was that perfect - before the perfect summer and the perfect storm.

January 2nd, 2009

Riverbuild and Ty West - thank you for an awesome unbelievable week of projects complete. I do not know where to begin to thank you, and neither do the clients who you assisted move so far forward this week. Your crew is the epitome of the heart that is needed to finish the job in the aftermath of Katrina.

Click here for WLOX video.

Thursday January 1st, 2009

Happy New Year !

Published: December 29, 2008 08:18 pm         

Katrina damaged home demolished three years later

The Wash and Wear House Heads on up, up, up......

Thanks to Volunteers of America and their steel plant and the Riverbuild Volunteers who are constructing the house!

Note the pan head screws placed where they will not interfere with siding or interior wall paneling. Also the straps were screwed to the wall frames but nailed to the banding board.

And that gorgeous little Katrina ravaged pond not too far from the Wash and Wear home. No matter the damage - still picture perfect with the starkness of the Katrina damaged trees.

Lemuel Jones showing off his new porch over the back door. We had some issues with wind driven rain on his back door so we made an adaption to the St. Alban's home with this porch thankyou to Riverbuild volunteers from New York. Between this and the debris and brush that was cleared out of Lemuels back yard - he is now at a point where he states he can take care of this property by himself. He is absolutely thrilled.

This and more to come in the New Year......

Tuesday December 30th

Biloxi approves MEMA cottages !

GOD BLESS BILOXI !

Why is it that Martin Luther King Park on Herlihy St is like this?

Why is there no maintenance? Why are the bathrooms not cleaned? Why is there no toilet paper? Why has no one fixed the door on the kiosk for months? Why is the Kiosk not back to pre-Katrina conditions considering the Park got approximately $80,000.00 between the FEMA grant and Bechtel grant - maybe someone needs to have Bechtel come over and look at this legacy of theirs? Why are there no urinals? Why are there no doors on the bathrooms? Why is the kiosk not up to where it was with appliances before the storm. What happened to the list the residents submitted to Waveland City Hall months ago? Where is the money?

The Park on the "other side of the tracks" looks like a Norman Rockwell picture perfect painting. Why does it rate top notch maintenance and the Park on Herlihy has to be tended by volunteers from Shaarai Shomayim in Lancaster, Pennsylvania who came thousands of miles to do what the City of Waveland should be doing in the first place? Why cant the City of Waveland take care of this park the same way they take care of the "other" park on the "other" side of the tracks?

And the Wash and Wear house from Volunteers of America is on the way up courtesy of the Ty West Riverbuild crew

I sent the volunteers out for Vanilla Essence for nat protection - and this is what the crew came back with. Its a "first" but they claim it works!

And this is 84 Lumbers idea of delivering and making sure the material is up on dunnage. I ask and ask - and they continue to treat our material this way.

Picture taken out front of Terry Lathem's office this morning.

Mark Madison and I gutted out this trailer home in January of 2006 - with improvements these residents are making the long road home.

This was one big hummer of a turtle in this little pond not too far from the Wash and Wear house. Domonic says its lunch tomorrow. Only if I tell him where this pond is ! *G*

Volunteers from Ty West's Riverbuild crew working on Affordable Housing Grants on Wednesday morning.

Wednesday - the wash and wear house heads upwards amidst fanfare

Yes, Ty West parked too close to the ditch and the kindly pit operator came down to the rescue. The kindness of strangers. Al Showers was there from WLOX, Megan was there from the Sea Coast Echo, Laurie Spaschak, Deanna Fairly the home owner, the staff working from the VOA steel plant in Pascagoula. It was quite a day.

And they gave Pat a gift card to get her hot water heater, a toilet and a few other essentials so she can get her occupancy permit. And they are over at Lemuel Jones putting a back porch deck over the back door to correct a design floor in the St. Alban's home. They are up at Lumberton tearing down a home and the home owner has called here multiple times to thank the Case Managers from MCMC for making that happen. The home owner has called the television station and the newspaper up there so she can thank the volunteers. How do you thank volunteers for coming thousands of miles to do this? How do you reach out and show them what a huge difference they have made and how it is the little things that take the load of the residents and the local relief operations.

And here in the office were four of those volunteers pulling together grants for the Comming Home Collaborative for Hancock County - that we do not even know if a contract has been signed, after three years, because no one has had the courtesy to let the relief organizations or the residents know if that has happened yet. Even though there was a December 31st deadline put on that grant to Gulf Coast Recovery by MDA or else we were losing the 15 million in funds. Has it happened? I have no idea because I cant get a return phone call from Hancock Housing Resource Center to confirm or deny. That's the problem here - the complete disregard of the common courtesy. Did you know Peal River County has their CDBG grant and that several of the projects are in place and that they also can fund grants for Hancock County? Whose responsibility is it to get this information out?

The wash and wear house is up..............

Saturday December 27th

You know Christmas is over when......

Picture taken on Sycamore St., Waveland. One of the fully restored areas of Waveland in the aftermath of Katrina.

Saturday December 27th

• Stop the poor from living here by pretending there is already sufficient affordable housing to meet their needs when in fact there is none available.
  
• Stop anymore coming by making sure very limited "real" affordable housing is built
  
• Keep the existing housing market artificially high to make sure the first two plans work
  

Tuesday December 23rd

The MCMC Katrina Relief Staff Christmas Dinner

Oh what a joy Christmas is ! Thankyou Chip for sharing with us! An MCMC Case Manager going with the flow at the Christmas party on Tuesday at Katrina Relief.

And even a present from FEMA in everyone's stocking - from Miss Mary. A book on commonly used FEMA acronyms. Miss Mary - you are a gem! I told the staff they have the Christmas vacation to learn all 153 pages worth x 30 per page = 4,590. No problem - they will be right on it ! The next staff meeting with the "contractor" and our staff will be right on top of those pesky little acronyms.

And some are just happy to have a box - forget the present.

And that is our staff going into the Christmas holidays. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Tuesday December 23rd

Waveland City Hall just moved from their temporary trailers into a fully funded temporary office suite, brand new, until City Hall is built. Expected finish date: not known but its somewhere over a year. Hancock County are still in temporary quarters - trailers. No time frame for their office to be completed - in fact it has not been started yet. Like many other municipalities.

The streets, where ever you look, are a mess. The street project on the south side in Waveland somewhere near done, but the rest of the streets are in a shambles with pot holes and crumbling tarmac.

The infrastructure, water, sewer, and gas - all in progress somewhere but no where near done and will not be done for a year or more. The drainage ditches have yet to "drain" all over Hancock County.

But the residents who remain in MEMA housing, FEMA housing, and upside down leases in DHAP rentals - well the "powers that be" want them to come up with a definitive solution somewhere from January to March or else they will be homeless.

Is there something not a little bit skewed with this process?

Is this a "Let them eat cake policy"?

Sunday December 20th

Friday December 19th

Before the storm and after

So this was what was here before the storm and we want to replace it with a MEMA cottage - what is the issue here?

First "Wash and Wear" home to be built December 26th

A brand new baby yesterday, and a brand new home started today

The Amish from the CARE group spent Friday putting in the pilons for Deana Fairly who, the day prior, had had a baby boy. This home, dibbed "Wash and Wear" will be constructed of pre-fab steel walls constructed by the Volunteers of America steel plant in Mobile, Alabama. They donated the home to Miss Deanna as a test model for Hancock County.

It was a muddy day out in the county Friday - we have had a lot of rain in the past few days. The work here for the volunteers is hard work. The concrete truck, this day, was stuck in the mud and could not be moved any closer. How can you thank these voluneers who came all the way from Lancaster County Pennsylvania to do this work as volunteers?

The home will have foam insulation, MGO board instead of sheetrock, ceramic tile floors and if water infiltrates this building from rising water or infiltrated water - all we have to do is toss the furniture, drag out the area rugs - and spray wash the home and the owners should be back in the storm damaged home within two weeks. We just do not build homes - we want to build them better.

The construction crew will be headed by Ty West of National Public Radio out of New York. He is bringing a crew of thirty contractors and volunteers to work over the Christmas break starting on December 26th.

Check the Facebook posts today as there have a a slew of articles on the MEMA cottages. Dwayne Bremmer did an excellent article in the Sea Coast Echo.

The link to the MEMA cottage auction is here. Several have asked for it again.

And that is us headed into the weekend - full of hope and inspiration.

Wednesday 17th of December

While the soldier was off in Iraq the Mayor was getting grants to build his home.....

A decorated Iraq vet pleads for the right to keep his MEMA Mississippi Cottage on his property. Pointing out to the Waveland Board of Alderman that his MEMA home is no more than a modular on wheels, the resident also produced pictures of his neighborhood. The plea fell on deaf ears with only the Mayor claiming that he and his seven foster children lived in his MEMA cottage but they were not planning on leaving the cottage there. Considering the numerous grants the Mayor is reported and alleged to have received for the construction of his home including Camp Coastal Outpost in Kiln and others - it is understandable how the Mayor has a house that is not only built - but lived in as the television indicates running (which is viewable thru the front window as you drive by) in the evening thru the front window. Although the MEMA cottage is still on the property and being habitated by "someone". Apart from the comment from Mayor Longo - the Board of Alderman had no comment on the plea for re-consideration. Not one word. That is so sad. It was truly one of the most embarrassing moments I have had in front of that council - and there have been many. But this topped the list........

Max pouting after getting a bath at the office. Note the heater in the background so he can dry off quickly - he is certainly not as mistreated as Max would like you to believe.

And on the beach the last couple of days - it has been very foggy. Nothing as attractive as the Christmas greens on a white picket fence - even through the log.

The "Wash and Wear" house is about to be erected. The Amish are working on the foundation right now and Ty West, from Washington DC, and his crew will be errecting it on the 26th of December.

And it has not been easy - the rain over the last few days has left the ground soggy and wet.

William, Sparky, and John work on the air conditioning and heater at the office. Had some issues with the heating element but it is all corrected now. All volunteers - William from Florida; Sparky from New Hampshire; John from Diamondhead.

MCMC Case Managers hard at work on Monday - Josie and Teresa.

And that is our Wednesday - how was yours?

Wednesday 17th of December

Last night the town of Pass Christian voted to allow the Mississippi MEMA cottages to stay - with some minor restrictions. This little town has shown the rest of the Gulf Coast that they truly understand the critical housing shortage, the needs of those who have been unable to build to this point, and the needs of those in the lower income range who could not find an affordable rental if they were forced out of the Mississippi MEMA cottage.

Across the Coast there has been a trend to reject the cottage based on aesthetics rather than building codes. The cottage meets all local building codes but have been rejected completely on aesthetics and the belief that they meet the "trailer" model rather than the modular home model. Both come in on "wheels"? Both can have the wheels "removed". So, what is the real issue here?

Last night, in the spirit of the Grinch, the Bay St Louis council voted to not allow the Mississippi cottage except in a trailer park. Waveland, in the same Christmas spirit - made the same ruling about two weeks prior

Question: How many trailer parks are there? How many spaces are avaialable? And can the occupants of the MEMA trailer, on a fixed income, afford to live in these trailer parks?

There are several attorneys, at this time, looking closely at the "Takings Clause" in the Fifth Amendment to see if there can be some relief for these residents in the Constitution.

Meanwhile, the deadlines are looming and there is no affordable housing across the coast. Residents on low fixed incomes from SSI or Social Security have no options for housing.

Some of the MEMA housing option leases start expiring in March. As the Mayor of Pass Christian quite aptly said last week "This is Armagedon".

Tuesday the 16th of December

Wow, what a surprise in my mail box today - a very pleasant surprise. A Donation from the First Presbyterian Church in North Carolina. Thank you very very very much. It is greatly appreciated.

Tuesday the 16th of December

Good deal for the First Responders

After two days of hype about affordable housing - the Governor announced, on Monday, 267 first-responder and public-sector employees have qualified to receive up to $40,000 each for an affordable housing program in South Mississippi, a region still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

There is a lot here I am confused about. First - the Hurricae Relief Fund was reported to us as being out of funds over a year ago. In fact - some of the funds were re-distributed and Hancock County lost access to large portion of those funds in the re-distribution. Then, this from a friend of mine "Very interesting since I tried to apply for this in early Nov - not realizing that I even could without it being inappropriate. I was told I was too late - the deadline was 3 days prior and the scholarships had all been awarded already". So if the deadline was in early in November and the scholarships had already been awarded by that time - why are we announcing this "new" development now that is not so new at all it would appear? And where did those funds come from in a fund that was reported to be depleted? After this article released on Monday I have more questions than I got answers.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch I got my MCMC Case Managers up to speed and had them all install Yahoo Messenger to help with communications within the office environment. I may have to re-think this plan - all I hear is laughter coming out of the computers as they found the avatars and it is very joyfull in the office. OK, on to Plan B.

After much searching, we found our Christmas family. The daughter, age 11, had gone to see Santa at the American Legion a couple of weeks ago and announced that all she wanted for Christmas was a house for Mom and Dad. Apparently they have gone from living in tents, to three FEMA trailers and finally a MEMA cottage that got 1" of water in Gustav in the insulation underneath. The cottage was taken away and now they are living with Grandma, and with the sisters family also. Nine people in a three bedroom house. The Housing Resource Center has given us some funds to buy a pen for the dogs that remain on the property - like so many in Hancock County.

The Gooch crew was in this weekend - and a great job they did on Ruby's house in Pascagoula. We have some punch out work to do on that home and hope to get on that this week. The Steve Gooch crew has been working hard on this home for months and months. They started off in a heat wave in the summer and ended in a freeze out this weekend. The whole range for the Gulf Coast of weather.

Today we are working on Pat Gorrel's home - we are at the punch out stage of that home also. Brian has been working on a punch list at Victor's home for weeks. Almost done.

We were given a lot of left over building materials this weekend. If you are a Case Manager - you may fax requests for material to: (228) 466-4638. You are responsible for picking up the material as soon as possible. Terry Latham, Hope Haven, has first dibs on the pile that is there and he hopes to pick up his load of material in the morning if it is not raining.

Else, we have had a great week here so far.

Saturday the 13th of December

This letter was written by an attorney who came down to work on affordable housing grants for Katrina Relief. He was privy to some of the politics as they unfolded during his stay here and the following letter was a result of his concern for the residents of Waveland and Hancock County.

Neil Singh

424 South Second Street, #302

Phoenix, Arizona  85004

Ph: 602-252-1080

neils@asu.edu

Editor

Sea Coast Echo

Bay St Louis, Ms

Re:  Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor:

As an out-of-state relief volunteer recently in the Waveland area, I was dismayed to learn that the City of Waveland has passed a zoning ordinance forcing all of its citizens who live in trailers to either move them to previously-approved trailer parks or upgrade them to whatever the City deems to be aesthetically acceptable housing.  It strikes me that the City ignored a major problem in passing this decree:  it flies in the face of the core freedoms inherent to all Americans, including the citizens of Waveland, as reflected in our Constitution. 

The 5th Amendment provides in clear terms that no government authority may deprive citizens of "private property" without "just compensation."  This language is rooted in the belief that Americans have certain freedoms with respect to their private property that cannot be infringed. A great Virginian, James Madison, once famously declared: "as a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights."  The City of Waveland apparently believes that the right at issue here -- to live in the best dwelling a citizen can afford under the circumstances -- exists solely at the whim of the government.

The U.S. Supreme Court has emphatically rejected that notion. The Court declared long ago that zoning modifications interfering with property owners' freedoms are subject to the 5th Amendment, first in 1922 (Pennsylvania Coal Company v. Mahon) and in later cases as well, such as its 1992 decision in Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council.  At issue with this ordinance are freedoms guarded by organizations across the entire political spectrum of our nation, such as the conservative Cato Institute, the late Barry Goldwater's Goldwater Institute, and the ACLU. If the City of Waveland intends to deprive its residents of their inherent right to live on their own property, it is presumably on notice of its constitutional duty to pay "just compensation" for that deprivation.

Saturday the 14th of December

A Waveland Christmas from a New York Fire Department

Wow, what a crowd and what a great time was had by all. 700 children in Waveland were treated to Christmas gifts by a Fire Department out of New York.

The long line in the parking lot at Waveland

The hall of the American Legion on the way to the "in" door.

Once inside the groups were lead by volunteers around the tables of toys

The mayor of Waveland, Tommy Longo, talks to Al Showers from WLOX

The commander of the American Legion post in Waveland

Terry Latham, Executive Director of Hope Haven, event organizor.

Saturday the 14th of December

The new homeless from Gustav - the dogs

After Gustav, 272 MEMA cottages were removed and left behind, in many cases, were the dogs. The residents of the MEMA cottages are also "homeless" again - although some qualified for rentals many opted to tough it out in cars, sheds, gutted out homes, and with friends and relatives.

All over Hancock County you will find what is left on these properties is the dogs. In makeshift shelters, and sometimes without shelter at all. This is the new casualty of the storm.

The mail box marks the spot. The spot where the house once was before Katrina. The spot where the Mema trailer was before Gustav. And now the spot of the new homeless - the family that was in the MEMA trailer and the dogs that were left behind when they took the MEMA trailer and the family had to move to where the animals were not welcome.

And this is why - not too cosey for moving into town.

Beautiful to ogle, not to hold

Houses out in the county with straw - but no companionship. It is a very lonely life for these dogs left behind to wait, and wait, and wait.....

Starving for companionship - this one was choking at the end of the chain begging me to come pat him. But I was wary and could only offer comforting words.

And this one was tangled on tires behind the hut his owner had built for him - but I could not get close to this one to untangle the mess and I was hoping the owners were coming before nightfall - its been down in the 30's every night this week.

Tangled around the tires at the back of the shed - the dog could not get into shelter.

These dogs have been housing here since Katrina. I have been watching them for going on four years. There was eight feet of water here during Gustav - so I know the owners evacuated them for the last storm. This tree fell on the pens during Gustav.

As you can see, an empty lot with the dogs waiting for a miracle so the owners can come home.

This problem exists all over the county - also up in Stone County and Pearl River County. An epidemic. The local animal shelters have an extremely high kill rate and so the residents hesitate to turn in animals. There is no solution to this growing problem.

This week we had an issue with a client with 30 dogs and we urgently need to get her relocated into an apartment. There is no where to take the dogs and the owner is reluctant to leave as long as the dogs do not have a safe home.

The new homeless from Katrina and Gustav.

Wednesday 10th December Updated

MCMC Case Managers throwing a baby shower for Chip Maston. His daughter is due any day now. In fact, every morning, the chime at the morning case managers meeting is a "baby report".

Some of the members of the organizing committee for the upcoming Homelessness Marathon discuss logistics of the all night national radio broadcast coming up in January. Not only will it be a national radio broadcast, but there will be national web feeds, and TV Cut-ins from other towns along the coast. More to follow on this including the list of sponsors along the coast. This broadcast has been done from different towns across the nation for twelve years. The mission this year is to uplift the homeless issue along the Gulf Coast and particularly the new homeless from Katrina and the impeding deadlines coming from January to March of 2009.

Jeremy Alderson from the Homelessness Marathon visits with Brice Phillips at his "new" studio (a gift from the Sharing Circle). Still not complete but a good start on a new beginning. There is more work that needs to be done out on the studio and the property - if you have volunteers coming please call for Work Orders on this property. Brice could sure use the help.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch

We have a new Public Works Director - and a prince of a man he is. A long time Waveland Public Works employee - Dwight Haskell will be a great asset in his new position. The City Clerk position is to be advertised and in the interim that have appointed another employee from the City to fill that position. Meanwhile - City Hall has moved to the building next to Sonic.

It was reported to me the other day that 25% of the homes that volunteers have worked on have been sold or flipped. I find that an interesting statistic both in invested resources and the fact that by working that hard on restoring those homes the districts lost those residents despite the best efforts of the volunteers to stabilize the original residents status. Since no exact survey has been done - it would be interesting to know the exact numbers. But, personally, I believe it to be higher than 25%.

With the new homes, in most cases, being more solid and more costly than the original - the tax bills are starting to surface across all the counties and the residents are suffering from sticker shock. Many rebuilt not only "better" but "bigger" and did not take into account the probability that taxes, insurance, and heating bills were going to be higher. Across the board this is creating issues.

We are still unable to place all our clients into affordable housing and clients are coming out of the woodwork contacting us in a panic as they can not afford the current apartment they are in that is being subsidized and come March they must be able to either pay the current rent on their own or find other housing. I had a meeting with Chipper, the Mayor of Pass Christian, yesterday and he described the upcoming deadlines as a Looming Armageddon . I would have to agree - it is a crisis. Not only the ending MEMA, FEMA trailer program but the subsidized rental program.

The Mississisppi Center for Volunteer Service has appointed a new Director to take over from the retiring Marsha Meeks Kelly. David Mallery is the new selection of the Board. David is no stranger to those of us who have been working out here in the field - the name should be familiar to most of you. Wow Marsha - personally you have been my rock and I will miss you but hope to maintain the friendship and communication.

Steve Gooch is headed in here Thursday with his crew. And we are booked with volunteers thru next summer. If you are interested in volunteering to assist, and we desperately need your assistance - please email us as soon as possible. We do have 17 spots for RV's in Pass Christian - two blocks from the beach.

Else, it is Wednesday and we have a mile to go this week yet.

Sunday Dec 7th Updated

And to all of those of you who are booked in to volunteer over the Christmas and New Year - Thank You!

Friday December 5th Updated

So much chatter I have not shared for a while. The Longterm Workforce Housing plan is winding its way down to the local long term recovery committee. Despite all the hype - it is 35 houses in Hancock, up to $60,000, over a year, must have a contractor, will be put up for bid, environmental costs coming out of the total, must meet 80% ami, title of land must be clear, can not double dip into the same CDBG pool, must complete the home, applications not opened up yet, covers Jackson, Harrison, and Hancock, 20% client investment (can be cash or volunteer labor).

And there are no other funds on the recovery table at this time. That is the bad news. So after these 35 residents are successfully picked for this grant for the year - there are no other funds that we know of coming down the pike this year that is going to assist us to start or complete the thousands of other homes still not dealt with. And no answers coming down the pike as to whether there are, or are not, plans in the works to deal with those homes in the near or long term future.

Here, at Katrina Relief, we are working very hard to pull together all the files for those clients whose needs have not been met. We had an attorney here the last two weeks pulling together files and should have about forty grants ready by the time the application process opens up. Pulling together these files will require Case Management - and there are very few independent Case Managers outside the MCMC system at this time. We have a broad overview of what the requirements are and the layout required of the files submitted - and we are addressing that issue and submitting the files. As soon as the process opens up the clients will be required to fill in an application form and provide some up-to-date fiscal information. Else these clients will have most of the work required for the grant process done and well on the way to meet the application requirements.

Else, in the field, we are working on homes with funds left over from the last round of grants in May. Ulhman, Payne, and Fairly will be the last of those projects.

Recovery, as we know it is at a critical impasse.

Our clients in MEMA cottages and FEMA trailers are all facing mandatory orders to be out by January to the end of February - and none of them have housing solutions. Some of them landed in DHAP housing with year long leases and the FEMA payments end in March. The rent after March 1st is not affordable to these clients and we all have no idea what is going to happen. And these, despite public perception, are not "loafers". These are the minimum wage job earners who go to work everyday; the elderly on Social Security or Supplemental Social Security with monthly amounts of $400 - $700.00. The average mandated affordable housing rent average is $850.00 per month. Its not that they wont find solutions - there are no affordable solutions out there. These residents owned their homes before the storm and were maintaining that existence now they are being forced into rental situations where they just can not pay rent, utilities, and buy food. Go live with friends and family say some - not possible if you have no family. And it is very difficult to find "families" that will put up friends who families number 3,4,5 children or families with disabled elderly children needing handicap access and around the clock health care in the home.

If there were simple solutions - we would have had them placed already. There are no solutions out there on the horizon for thousands of these residents and the problem is all coming to a head on March 1st, 2009. Someone, somewhere, has to stand up and look at this now - not in March.

The Case Managers are at their witts end trying to figure out solutions and they are falling apart, emotionally, trying to carry this burden. Folks, this is not the Case Managers problem. It is Mississippi's problem. Truth in fact - there is no affordable housing to meet the needs of these residents who were solid citizens before the storm in their own homes and rental homes and living within their means. The storm changed all that. These are your mothers, your fathers, your brothers, sisters, cousins, grandfathers, and grandmother. These are real people who have tried very hard to find solutions but there are none out there and the promises of help coming have never materialized and now we are at the end of the rope. What are you going to do to help?

Meanwhile back at the ranch at the City of Waveland. The interim Public Works Director did not pan out and he was there at the office all of fifteen minutes it was reported last Monday. His replacement, and predecessor was there three days before he resigned. All is not well with all this mile of infrastructure work going on. Updated And over at Animal Control and at the City Clerk's office - all is not well either. It is alleged: One terminated and one resignation all over a bottle of Euthanize medicine that one wanted, one who had provided it prior and was willing to provide again, and a Head of the Department who stood up and did what was right as it was not legal to distribute. And, along with those woes it has been reported that Bay St Louis and the County of Hancock owe the City of Waveland over $217,000 for the animal shelter. And to top it off Janell Tompkins said there is also some question about how many donations were made to the shelter which went into the Waveland general fund as well as FEMA money allocated for the shelter. The continued questions about where all those funds really landed.

And it was reported also this week by the group that took over the volunteer center over on 90 that formerly the City of Waveland had sunk about $45,000 dollars into - that they were leaving and pulling apart the infrastructure there and taking it with them. At City Council, on the minutes, Mr Longo promised that when the lease was up on that building, that belongs to his former mother-in-law, that the material would be taken out and returned to the City of Waveland. According to the report I received at the coordination meeting this week - that is not going to be the case. There were at least 20 people at that meeting where these facts were reported. I personally just do not understand why matters are reported on the agenda and in the minutes - and then no one follows up to make sure that the City of Waveland's best interests are served for all those "donated" funds and accountability of those funds as promised at the time of allotment.

And last but not least - the MEMA trailers can only stay in Waveland if they are in a mobile home park. There are only three approved trailer parks in Waveland. What does that mean? Well, the cottages, if purchased by the owners must be in a trailer park and the owners must be able to afford the rent at the park. So, while their fixed income may only be $400-$700 on social security - they will be forced, now, to pay for rent. Prior - they had no payments as their pre-Katrina home was paid off or their rent was at pre-Katrina rates. This is a critical blow to recovery in Waveland and it is going to leave many families "homeless" as they will not be able to afford this option. And there are three trailer parks and I wonder how many vacancies? And did they even bother to ask? And would they have their grandmother stay there?

And the question of the day, raised by a visiting attorney, is if this taking of the benefit of use of ones own property might not come under the Takings Clause from the Fifth Amendment. And so that may being looked into as the attorney goes home quite concerned about these home owners rights. Surely there is something that can be done about this socio economic cleansing.

And that is my long list for today. How is your week going?

Monday December 2nd

The Case Managers at Katrina Relief are on their best behavior as they do not want a lump of coal in their stockings ! Today they got in the Christmas spirit and got up the stockings in the office. Not every office has its own fireplace - but we do.

And Christmas came early for Deanna - her house arrived on a truck from Voluntees of America yesterday. The steel framed "wash and wear" house is in the county and we are getting ready to put it up.

Else it is Tuesday here and all is well!