WAVELAND, Miss. — Home ownership on the Gulf Coast was not really in the cards for Carol and Michael Cupp before Hurricane Katrina, but a decent standard of living was within reach.
They had moved to Waveland from Gulfport, Miss. to be near his job at Sam’s Automotive here, and were staying in a cheap motel while looking for a permanent place. At the time, his $10 an hour pay and her disability check — about $500 a month — were enough to rent an apartment. And that was what they were planning when the monster storm came through, and wiped out most of the area’s affordable housing.
Today, while large apartment complexes in Waveland stand empty — some gutted or in other stages of disrepair — there is an acute shortage of low-cost housing. The Cupps compete with other working class residents as well as a mob of contractors in the area for what little remains.
Places that rented for $400 a month before the storm go for two and three times that amount. So now, and for the foreseeable future, the Cupps pay $400 a month to live in a cramped travel trailer with their two dogs.
Up and down the Gulf Coast, for myriad reasons, people are struggling to build or find housing in the wake of Katrina. The process is slowed by higher costs, a limited number of qualified contractors, the scarcity of building and zoning officials, stricter regulations and delays in compensation and loans. By most accounts, housing lags well behind expectations.
“You do see some construction,” says Henry Winters, realtor with Coldwell Banker Alfonso Realty, Inc. in Bay St. Louis. “But when you think that you lost thousands of homes and there’s only a handful being built ... for whatever reason it’s still very slow coming back.”
Hancock County, which had a pre-storm population of about 45,000, has seen about 35,000 of its residents return, including about 25,000 who are living in travel trailers. By comparison, the business sector looks practically vibrant, with Home Depot and Lowe’s coming on line, joining Wal-Mart and dozens of restaurants and other small businesses along the main commercial strip.
The check is in the mail, still
One reason for the sluggish pace of residential rebuilding is that many homeowners have received only a fraction of what they expected from insurance. Katrina’s tidal surge deluged properties 10 miles or more inland, but most insurance policies excluded water damage from their coverage.
Across the region, those payouts are still in dispute. The highest profile case, filed by celebrated attorney Richard Scruggs against major insurers, argues that Katrina victims were misled by the companies and their agents. It is now in the hands of a judge.
In the meantime, the state has turned its attention to the plight of people whose houses were inundated even though they lived outside the flood plain — as defined by the federal government — and did not buy flood insurance because they were told they did not need it. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour sought federal funds for grants up to $150,000 to homeowners in this category to help cover losses.
By the first of the year, Congress had approved the request, to be funded from Community Development Block Grants under HUD. The plan was finalized and the program opened on April 17.
Applicatons pour in
Applications poured in; nearly 27,000 homes that suffered flood damage in the state were outside the official flood plain.
Kate Solome was among the early applicants for the CDBG money. Her family had received just $12,000 in insurance compensation after Katrina’s storm surge inundated their 2,200 square foot rambler in Waveland, destroying all but the shell of the structure. They had no flood insurance, since they were not in a flood zone. The grants seemed like the answer to their dilemma.
“When we first heard about it, we were thrilled," says Solome, who now lives with her husband and three children in a FEMA trailer next to the house. "We didn’t know what else to do in our situation.”
Then the waiting began.
Haggling over the details — including a bid by mortgage companies to require stricter rebuilding requirements for homeowners who receive grants — delayed the process. Finally, those issues were ironed out and HUD announced it had released the funds on July 10.
The Mississippi Development Authority has been saying for weeks that the money is coming, imminently. Still, the Solomes wait.
“They keep telling us its coming, and it’s frustrating,” she says of the plight her family shares with many other residents of the middle-class neighborhood. “We’ve all gone out and bought things and now we can’t pay for them.”
Last week, Hancock County processed a small number of the grants. But County Chancery Clerk Tim Kellar says that was just a trial run.
“Next week, there will be closings scheduled and we’ll see the real start of that process,” he says, relying on assurances he received recently from state officials. But even then, he says, there apparently will be a caveat: “People will walk away with paperwork to submit to MDA for checks to be cut.”
Meantime, the Solomes have also applied for a low-interest loan from the Small Business Administration, and qualified for up to $210,000, but that money has been stalled for many weeks since approval. Until the cash comes through, they refurbish their house one doorknob and light switch at a time, relying heavily on loans from friends and family.
Scramble for land
If there is a bright spot in Hancock County, it is on Union Street in Bay St. Louis, where more than 200 volunteers from Chicago are helping to build seven Habitat for Humanity houses for local residents.
Habitat, a 30-year-old organization popularized by former President Jimmy Carter, launched its biggest single initiative ever in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, vowing to build thousands of homes in the Gulf Coast region. The homes are made affordable to qualified lower-income applicants through Habitat’s no-interest loans, volunteer labor and homeowner “sweat equity.”
The city has agreed to dedicate one of its overtaxed building inspectors to help keep the project moving smoothly.
The slow pace of inspections has been another source of aggravation for people trying to get their lives back together.
School teacher Kimberly Martin is one of the successful applicants, and is watching her house take shape, albeit a few months later than she originally expected.
“Everyone is positive and energetic and we’re all out there sweating together,” she says. “It’s great … that they came down to help us. It’s a blessing.”
“The process is speeding up,” says Wendy McDonald, who is Habitat project manager for Hancock County. Her goal is to build 100 homes in the area within 18 months.
But getting to this point has not been easy, even for an organization with a long track record of providing housing.
Habitat has a history of building in blighted city neighborhoods or depressed areas, often acquiring property through donations. But here — in one of the great ironies of a hurricane disaster zone — lots are expensive and Habitat is competing with deep-pocketed developers to acquire them.
“People with high and dry land have decided to double their value,” says Christian Enterkin, land acquisition specialist for Habitat International. “We have to meet a budget. It’s very difficult.”
At the same time, the cost of all standing houses soared, even if all that remained of the structure was exterior walls.
“People right after the storm started fixing and trying to sell, and the prices went through the roof, because there was no supply,” says Winters, the real estate agent. He says a gutted house after Katrina was typically listed for 30 percent higher than the same house before the storm. In a sign of reality creeping in, “price reduced” and “new price” signs are starting to make an appearance on some of these homes.
Riddled with wetlands
Environmental issues also loom large for developers in this area. Many properties are technically “wetlands” as defined by the Clean Water Act, and fall under the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers. But some properties were grandfathered in, and many individual builders have skirted regulations.
For a large developer, land judged to be wetlands may not be buildable, or at least not without time-consuming or expensive efforts to offset environmental damage.
“Waveland and Bay St. Louis were historically built on wetlands. People filled it in to build — a little bit of dirt here and there,” says Patrick Chubb, who works for the environmental consulting firm Covington Associates.
Habitat found this out the hard way when it discovered that some of the 17 lots it acquired in Waveland, were not buildable. Those properties will be dedicated to a nature conservancy.
McDonald now spends many hours tromping through the woods with Chubb, who analyzes the soil, foliage and drainage for Habitat. He’s seen many people discover wetlands violations after the fact.
“Some of the higher ups at Habitat kind of overlooked the wetlands. … They came in thinking land is plentiful and cheap. I think they were slapped in the face with reality.”
“It’s slow and expensive,” McDonald says of land acquisition in the wetlands-riddled area. “It’s very sensitive and everyone is trying to tiptoe around it. We’re trying to take it head-on.”
Read previous stories on the housing situation:
Housing boom on the horizon
A beacon of hope in Waveland
Dueling over dead pines
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I was a resident of New Orleans when the Hurricane hit. Fortunately, my family and I were able to leave before the storm. No one was injured but we lost everything. I agree that the government could have done more, but they have been good to me and my family. Not all the stories you hear on television are completely accurate. Just about everyone that I know has had the usual problems you encounter when dealing with the government but eventually everything worked out. Many of the people who are still struggling are the ones who are expecting the government to completely bail them out. They are sitting in their trailers waiting fro everyone else to do for them when they need to do for themselves. I am not saying that this is the case for everyone, but it is the case for a lot of people. Many people that I know are complaining because FEMA is stopping the rental vouchers. Come on!! You have been living rent free for almost a year. You can't expect the govenrment to take care you forever. During that time you should have been able to find and job and become self-sufficient. my theory is that people who were hard workers before the storm are hard workers after the storm. If you were trying to do something before the storm you are trying to do something after the storm, not just sit around and wait for someone to take care of you. I had two jobs before the storm so I just picked up where I left off. Just my opinion.
Liz, Halethorpe, MD (Sent Aug 11, 2006 10:19:54 AM)
It is the wee hours of the morning in California. However, I kept reading because my heart gets heavy with the realization of how Katrina will haunt us. No matter the loss you experienced or your opinion about it or about the rebuilding for homeowners and the relocation for renters or volunteer efforts, the aftermath of Katrina cannot be swept under the carpet and forgotten like it did not happen.
As a schoolteacher I was able to raise money in my school for backpacks for children survivors. It was a lot of work to organize that small fundraiser and wonderful to see the appreciation for them. Nevertheless, it was not enough.
My teenage daughter and I went to the Eastern Shore Church in Daphne, AL during Thanksgiving week in November, 2005. We were sent to Gautier, MS to the Church of God center there to be dispatched to different homes to tear out drywall and spray mold. We worked on three houses only. Yes we went in person, but it still was not enough.
From faraway away I feel overwhelmed. I can only imagine how the pain of this ordeal can take over your lives. Please take heart. I know that is easy to say for someone so far away. At present, I cannot do more physically or monetarily but please know there is a God in heaven who is in control despite the depths of depression a human soul can hit when tragedy strikes. I will pray for your needs to be met in Jesus name.
Sandra in Southern,California (Sent Aug 14, 2006 7:21:50 AM)
Steve lol in Ohio... first off Katrina was no Camille... ask the folks who have experienced both. After Camille you had neighbors 30 to 50 miles away that could help you with milk for the babies, etc. There was no such thing with Katrina... she took it all from New Orleans to Florida and North taking out power with downed trees and flooding. Please do me a favor and either come see for yourself or do some research.
Secondly... lol... who do you think came up with the flood zones? You know the ones we are supposed to use to purchase flood insurance. THE GOVERNMENT thats who, so you see yes we do feel THE GOVERNMENT should take some responsibilty for helping to get things back in order. Maybe they need to use some common sense about how they may need to re-evaluate flood zones. Even the local New Orleans weather woman Margaret Orr said that the levees sink so many inches per year. If she knew this information why didn't our government enforce, research, or maybe even know or care about it before the fact.
On closing yes there will always be the trash of any color that takes advantage of hand outs. Dava in Kentucky... we can not find enough people to work here lol. Stores, restaurants, etc can not have regular operating hours because they can not find people to work. The fast food places were giving $3,000 sign bonuses and making $14/hour. We don not have enough housing is the problem, and what we have is one apartment complex open, which is an old building, that used to rent for $350 now charging $750 a month. How do we get ahead? Don't have housing for people to live and who wants to drive an hour to work with gas prices these days.
Ok I lied that wasn't my closing lol. Thank you all for everything. Tears, prayers, hard labor shared with us, and even the ones whose posts I don't particularly like, atleast you took enough time to read and post, thank you too. God bless you all.
Vanessa, Waveland, MS (Sent Aug 15, 2006 11:18:01 PM)
I thought the Goverment worked for the People?Yea right!!nonworking pumps poor construction ect ect Tell me who is really to blame???
Doug,Toms River, NJ (Sent Aug 18, 2006 7:24:09 AM)
Since Carol and Mike Cupp don't own any property there I can't understand why they don't move.
That is no way for people their age to have to live and not worth their lives. It is too hard, too stressful and will lead to premature death. There are plenty of $10hr jobs in other places with less expensive rents, like Springfield, MO. You can find a nice apt for $400. a month, it's a clean, green, low crime, low stress, friendly city with excellent health care systems and a good school district.
Jan Sprattle, Springfield, MO (Sent Aug 18, 2006 9:22:49 PM)
Having just found out I am a 'climate refugee' and that due to IVAN, I'm still a bit sensitive towards those who say to folks like the Cupps-"Why don't you just move?"
Ma'am, I am a divorced 50 year old lady, reasonably healthy and with a good set of job skills. I was spared Katrina, but what IVAN put me through gives me an inkling of what the Cupps have been through.
IVAN had me in the tub with the dog for 18 straight hours as simultaneous tornados swirled around us because my area was on the deadly east side of the storm. I was sure I was going to die and text messaged a farewell message to my 23 year old son.
After the storm I decided to get out of the Gulf area, but it took nearly a year before I could scrape up the money for gas to Atlanta where a friend of my son was looking for a roommate, OK? I hit town with $50.00 in my pocket and no job. I got an $11 an hour job three weeks later-but I am having a pretty tough time, and it just seems to get tougher sometimes-I actually have to choose between food and gas to get to work so that I can pay the rent on the place I had to rent when my roommate turned out to be an idiot. Do you hear what I am saying here?? I am going hungry to pay for gasoline to get to an $11.00 an hour job, and I am not too sure how I am going to pay the phone and light bill. I think I will go crazy if I can't go to the support chat groups online I've found through having DSL, so don't even go there, OK?
I don't qualify for even as much as the Cupps may qualify for, but I still think I know what they are experiencing right now-it is called despair-the worst kind because it is brought on by the "Yes, well, you can't clean it up your self because of the environmental risks...you can't pitch a tent on your friend's property and camp there, and you can't do it at your land (should you be so lucky as to own some...)you can't...you can't...you can't..." and the reason you can't is because of all the laws that say you have to wait for the government to approve or waive or...
I would LOVE to be able to get to Missouri, it sounds like a nice place. But it is not as easy as you appear to think for people who have been through what Gulf Coasters have been through to just jump in the car and move a thousand or even a hundred miles away.
It is called "disaster" for a reason. And I sincerely hope you NEVER have to endure what those of us who went through Camille, Frederick, Andrew, Charley, Bonnie, IVAN, or Katrina have had to endure. I hope you never have to face the kind of disaster that saps every single ounce of strength and hope out of your soul.
Honest, I really do.
Bianca Gunn (Sent Aug 19, 2006 8:15:16 PM)
It's a shame that we can spend millions of dollars to fight wars and rebuild other countries, but we can't help the victims of Katrina get back on their feet. I think the three major problems affecting the areas hit hardest is Housing costs, JOBS/wages and GAS prices. If we can get the Government to help get them back under control then it would be easier for the victims to help themselves. And as for those big developers that want to come in and Build, build, build. Why not build new apartment communities with normal than lower rents for the first six months to help the non homeowners get back on their feet and get jobs and save. There are so many solutions, we just need to put the greed aside and help those to help themselves.
Nadia, Jupiter FL (Sent Aug 22, 2006 4:42:49 PM)
I live 60 miles to the south of New Orleans and still have not found the courage to travel there to see the destruction first hand. The amount of money being wasted by FEMA on these trailers is outrageous. Some of the stories I've heard are too ridiculous to repeat. I will tell one though, there are 199 fully equipped trailers on a lake in Morgan City LA that are not being occupied. There is even a full- time guard on the site, but no occupants in the trailers. Now that is wasteful spending.
Lance, Houma, LA (Sent Aug 22, 2006 6:19:23 PM)
I think the public should beome more informed about the Katrina "aftermath" and the Great Flood of 1927. After reading about that part of our American History, I see some very intersting parallels in them. I heard about that when reading about Spike Lee's work about Katrina.
Jesse Combs, Gaithersburg, MD. (Sent Aug 23, 2006 11:48:04 AM)
I was recently in New Orleans and surrounding areas due to my work. I was shocked and horrified on the lack of action taken by our government. We send vast amounts of money to third world countries to rebuild after natural disasters. Some parts of NO looks like a third world country. If Katrina would have landed in Florida (Bush state) or Texas (Bush state) I am sure the resources would have been immediate. The evacuation plan was a joke and we seen it coming. The amount of cargo that passes though this great city is astonishing. This city and surrounding areas deserve much better and not a token hand out as the Bush administration is giving.
Dan Gac, Peoria, AZ (Sent Aug 23, 2006 4:50:55 PM)
Katrina victims, one and all:
I empathize with your current situations. I will only say that in the coming days, weeks, month, years, your lives return to some semblance of normalcy.
It is amazing how little people remember the major hurricanes that have torn our country apart. For those of you hit in Florida and devastated by the recent rash of hurricanes, I hope for your complete recovery.
I live on the east coast on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, so I have seen what devastating effects a hurricane can have. During the dual on-slaught of Dennis and Floyd in 2000, I was a student at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC. I watched as Tar River rose 39 feet above flood level, effectively blocking residents in. I had friends who lost everything, whose families lost everything, whose whole lives were ruined. There is a town in North Carolina that is now referred to as "The Town that was" because it no longer exists.
Be glad that there is as much press and people fighting for the areas ravaged by these storms as there are today. After Dennis and Floyd, there was no media to bring the damages before our faces on a daily basis. Yes, these people did get some help from Red Cross and the federal government. Yes, they got up and brushed off the sand and flood waters and dug down and re-built. It took a long time, but they recovered.
What I'm trying to say is, get up. Brush off the sand and the flood waters. Dig down as deep as you can and realize that, even if it takes years, you can re-build. And be glad that you don't live in "The Town that was". Be glad you still have a town, and neighbors, and a community, to call your own.
Lynn, Kitty Hawk, NC (Sent Aug 24, 2006 4:09:28 PM)
I live just outside of Hattiesburg, MS, approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes from the Gulf of Mexico, about 2 hours from New Orleans and 1 hour from Mobile. Until July of this year, I could not leave my trail from my home to work to go to any of the places that I had regularly travelled prior to Katrina. I was unable to deal with the fact that the destruction had reached 5 hours into the state. Katrina tore Mississippi up from the Gulf of Mexico past Jackson.
Waveland homes were removed, not just knocked down, even the plumbing had been ripped out of the concrete foundations. Brand new schools were no longer there St. Martins school was only 2 months old, the only remaining thing is the foundation.
Those of you who say get up, brush off and rebuild don't have a clue of the magnitude of which the coast was destroyed.
You see the devastation of New Orleans and say they couldn't have had it worse than them, but what could be worse, bodies are still being recovered across the gulf coast, people are still living in tents on what was their front yards, 80 year old women are still living in homes that insurance won't cover because of technicalities of verbage.
Businesses are rebuilding so people are BEGINNING to get back on their feet so that people can go to work to rebuild their lives...takes time you say, well guess what, as it is taking time to rebuild, children still have to be fed and clothed, there goes that money to clean the mold off of everything, it takes money to replace the clothing to go back to work, there goes the money to replace the furniture that is mildewed, not to mention the respitory crap that everyone has commonly referred to as Katrina crud.
We are not asking for you to give up what you have to take care of us, we will do that for ourselves, we are asking you to quit comparing us against one another as we help each other stand up again and rebuild our lives.
TJ Richton, MS (Sent Aug 25, 2006 11:27:19 AM)
We, as in all of us in this Country, (perhaps a little broad for a statement, but what the heck….) have some level of blame in the inefficiency, poor planning, economic waste and unacceptable performance of our Federal Governments response to the Katrina disaster. The intent of FEMA and the Federal Government in response to the most devastating natural disaster in US History, has at best been with good intentions, prayers and hope; but undeniably, with very little or no success and a national embarrassment in terms of waste of economic resources.
We, the citizens of the USA, originally united our States of the Union to protect, support, and coordinate the Macro issues facing us as a Country. At times we have been undeniably effective in doing so. We have also been reticent at times in the belief that the contribution of money to the US Government by our States, Cities and localities is pretty much the end of our individual responsibilities as citizens, cities, counties and States to the needs of other States; that we have purchased the right to be critical of how our funds are or are not effectively utilized. For what ever reason, we have grown comfortable in the criticism of a Federal job not well done, but not toward our joint and individual pledge toward positive, creative and innovative problem solving our Nation has been known for.
What has become of our collaboration with experts across this country, that have created means of drilling for resources’ hundreds of miles under the sea, or draining and successfully building on wetlands and swamp area. In other portions of the world, our technology has helped to create massive extensions of coastal areas to facilitate new and fantastic residential development. Why have we as a country not been able to pull into our Disaster Team Planning, the Real Experts, and the Folks that put their futures and their Private Companies futures on the line for success? Many of the Mega Developers of this World began here, in the USA, where once innovation, creativity and hard work were respected and well compensated. The means by which the Federal Government Contracts for Services is another area of embarrassment both at home and abroad, perhaps there are private models that will help revamp a system that has never really worked.
In the end, if there is to be a debriefing on the Katrina Disaster and the Federal Response to the urgent needs of victims, the coordination of resources and the collaboration with States, Counties, Cities and localities it will no doubt indicate a dismal failure; , unless we change the way we coordinate ,facilitate and compensate, in a very BIG way-RIGHT NOW.!
“What we had here is a Failure to Communicate”, Coordinate and Cultivate the expertise of an entire Nation. This in a nut shell, if there can be a nut shell here, is the crux of our problem.
This disaster is and was solvable. FEMA was never envisioned to handle an emergency of the magnitude of Katrina. However the National Resources, the National Brain Energy to collaborate on solving this problem has always been here, evidently so to is the funding once the American Public had raised its voice in concern.
If we are still confused, which it appears we may very well be, and if we still need creative answers and solutions then let us go to the States, to the Public and Private Experts on the various subjects which must be addressed and find the best alternatives. When we needed urgent housing options, many states did step forward to help those individuals and families in need. So let’s go to the biggest and brightest, Brain Bank in the World by creating State Technical Response Teams. NOT POLICY TEAMS, we need real answers and alternatives, we may subsequently be able to look to federal guidelines on policy
Every State in the Union has experienced unique, highly technical and collaborative success on various physical aspect of community re-building, both from a public and private perspective. Within our States, we have documented major success of revitalization of the social, civil and economic fabric of community. Without doubt the scope of the challenge for a Katrina Recovery is beyond anything any individual State, County or City has experienced, BUT THAT IS WHY WE ARE UNITED, why don’t we begin to do more than praying together, lets act together. We just need a Federal Facilitator to help coordinate the resources we have collectively. The facilitator role is one of the most critical responsibilities the Federal Government failed on. So, instead of pointing fingers of blame at Federal, State, local cities, business, lets point that finger toward our selves and find a way we at our local or state level , we may become a resource for the monumental task still ahead, of rebuilding the Muti-State devastation from Katrina.
Patricia Whitaker, Yorba Linda,Ca. (Sent Aug 8, 2007 4:13:04 AM)
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