New Orleans Katrina Pain Index at 10: Who Was Left
Behind
By Bill Quigley
July 20, 2015 "Information
Clearing House"
-
When
Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, the
nation saw tens of thousands of people left behind in New Orleans.
Ten years later, it looks like the same people in New Orleans have
been left behind again. The population of New Orleans is noticeably
smaller and noticeably whiter. While tens of billions poured into
Louisiana, the impact on poor and working people in New Orleans has
been minimal. Many of the elderly and the poor, especially poor
families with children, never made it back to New Orleans. The
poverty rate for children who did made it back remains at
disturbingly high pre-Katrina levels, especially for Black children.
Rents are high and taking a higher percentage of people's income.
The pre-Katrina school system fired all it teachers and
professionals and turned itself into the charter experiment capital
of the US even while the number of children in public schools has
dropped dramatically. Since Katrina, white incomes, which were over
twice that of Blacks, have risen three times as much as Blacks.
While not all the numbers below are bad, they do illustrate who has
been left behind in the ten years since Katrina hit.
33; Rent in New Orleans is up 33 percent for one
bedroom apartments and 41 percent for two bedroom apartments since
Katrina hit. This is very tough because in New Orleans,
55 percent of residents rent. The national average is
35
percent. In
2005, one bedroom was $578 and two was $676. In
2015, it is $767 for one and $950 for two.
Before Katrina the average renter spent 19 percent of its income on
rent.
The Data Center, a terrific resource for information on the
region, reports
37 percent of renters in New Orleans now spend more than 50
percent of their income to rent. Rental apartments are mostly
substandard as well with
78 percent, nearly 50,000 apartments, in the city needing major
repairs. And
CNN/Money has named New Orleans as one of the worst cities in
the US for renters.
38; In
2005, 38 percent of the children in New Orleans lived in
poverty, 17 percentage points higher than the US as a whole. The
most recent numbers show 39 percent of the children in New
Orleans live in poverty, still 17 percentage points higher than the
national average. 82 percent of these families have someone working
in the family so the
primary cause is low wages.
44; New Orleans now has
44 school boards. Prior to Katrina, nearly all the public
schools in New Orleans were overseen by the
one Orleans Parish School Board.
91 percent of the public schools in New Orleans are now charter
schools, the highest rate in the country.
Only 32 percent of African Americans believe the new nearly all
charter school system is better than the public school system before
the storm versus 44 percent of whites even though precious few
whites attend the public schools.
50; Fully
half the Black children in New Orleans live in poor households,
a higher percentage than when Katrina hit.
59; New Orleans is now
59 percent African American, down from 66.7 percent in 2000; 31
percent white, up from 26 percent in 2000; and 5.5 percent Hispanic,
up from 3 percent in 2000.
67; Prior to Katrina,
New Orleans incarcerated more of its citizens than any city in the
US, five times the national average. Ongoing efforts by
community members and local officials have reduced the number of
people held in the jail by 67 percent according to
The Data Center.
73; Seventy three percent of New Orleans students
who start high school
graduate on time.
3221; There are now 3221 fewer low income public
housing apartments in New Orleans than when Katrina hit. In
2005 there were 5,146 low income public housing apartments in
New Orleans, plus thousands of other public housing apartments
scheduled for renewal or maintenance, nearly 100% African American.
The housing authority now reports having
1925 public housing apartments available for low income people
on the sites of the demolished complexes, less than half of the
number promised, and less than half of those completed have rents
set at rates which are affordable to those who lived in public
housing before Katrina, meaning the majority of their public housing
units now require higher incomes from renters than the people who
were living in public housing prior to Katrina. That is why only
about
half of the families who lived in the four public housing
developments which were demolished after Katrina made it back to New
Orleans at all by 2011. And only 7 percent of those original
families were living in the new housing which replaced their homes.
6,000; There are 6,000 fewer people on Social
Security in Orleans Parish than before the storm. Orleans parish had
26,654 people on Social Security, either old age or disability, in
2004. Orleans parish had 20,325 people on Social Security in
the latest report.
7,500; Over
7,500 public school teachers and paraprofessionals, mostly African
American, were fired after Katrina when Louisiana took over the
New Orleans public school system. The US Supreme Court refused to
hear their appeal in May 2015.
9,000; There are 9,000 fewer families receiving
food stamps than before. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP) is the old food stamps program. In
May 2015, Orleans Parish had just under 40,000 households
receiving SNAP benefits. In
May 2005, New Orleans had 49,000 households receiving food
stamps.
17,392; There are
17,392 fewer children enrolled in public schools in New Orleans
now than before Katrina. There were over 63,000 enrolled pre-Katrina
and now there are 45,608.
35,451; The
median income for white families in New Orleans is $60,553; that
is $35,451 more than for Black families whose median income was
$25,102. In the last ten years the
median income for Black families grew by 7 percent. At the same
time, the
median income for white families grew three times as fast, by 22
percent. In 2005, the median income for Black households was
$23,394, while the median for white households was $49,262. By 2013,
the median income for Black households had grown only slightly, to
$25,102. But the median for white households had jumped to $60, 553.
44,516; The New Orleans metro area (Jefferson,
Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, St. John
the Baptist, and St. Tammany Parishes) has 44,516 more Hispanic
residents in 2013 than in 2000. The total is now 103,061,
just over 8 percent of metro population according to The Data Center.
71,000; Seventy one thousand fewer people live in
New Orleans now than before the storm. In
2005, New Orleans had a population of 455,000 and in
2014 its population was 384,000.
99,650; There are
99,650 fewer African Americans living in New Orleans now than in
2000, compared to 11,000 fewer whites.
71,000,000,000;
Seventy one billion dollars was received by the State of
Louisiana for Katrina repairs, rehabilitation and rebuilding. One
look at this index and you see who did NOT get the money.
Bill teaches law at Loyola University New
Orleans. You can reach Bill at
quigley77@gmail.com.