As tens of thousands of Mississippi households remain stranded in FEMA trailers or unrepaired homes or apartments, HUD Secretary Jackson today approved diversion of $600 million in federal housing recovery funds to expand a commercial port and clear space for hotel, condo, and casino construction.
Although economic development is important and the Port expansion will create jobs and serve as a significant economic regional driver, I remain concerned that this expansion does indeed divert emergency federal funding from other more pressing recovery needs, most notably, affordable housing.
These households scarcely can be reassured by HUD's "concern" over this misplaced priority. Accountability now rests with senior Congressional leaders who promise oversight hearings on how disaster recovery for the poor has run off the rails.
An MSNBC story provides a succinct overview of this controversy: Feds OK Mississippi's Katrina grant diversion
The Steps Coalition, a MS Coast advocacy group estimates the unmet low-income income housing needs at more than $ 1.2 billion. The Steps Coalition has produced a report detailing misspent priorities and making recommendations for a more just recovery.
Since this controversy arose, Governor Barbour has insisted that the $600 million was earmarked for the port from the beginning. MSNBC reporter Mike Stuckey uncovered Barbour's testimony directly contradicting his cover story to the Senate Appropriations Committee on March 7, 2006.
"In November we presented the administration and the leaders in Congress with a plan for Mississippi to try to recover, including the FEMA money we just discussed $15 or $17 billion it's about a $33 and a half billion dollar program. Y'all were very generous to fund much of that in the December package.There are three projects for which we did not request funding last fall since they were not yet ready and our policy is we're not going to ask you to give us money for something we're not prepared to do and show you exactly how we're going to do it, and how we're going to be accountable for it. Since then, two of the projects have further developed, and I ask the Congress and this Committee to give them proper consideration. Both are integral transportation projects dealing with hazard mitigation, safety, economic and community development.
The first is the rebuilding and redevelopment plan of the Port of Gulfport, the entire infrastructure of which was destroyed."
Here is the link to the C-Span streaming video. The key testimony comes up in the hearing at 41 minutes 28 seconds.
Please keep low-income and minority Mississippi storm victims in your thoughts as this matter returns to Congress for hearings to correct this injustice.
And in the meantime, please add your vote to the MSNBC poll on the subject, so us local advocates will have something to shame our own state's leaders with.