It's complicated. New Orleans JUST gave out the new building codes around a month ago. Folks were in limbo until then. Plus you now have to wait for contractors, honest ones that is, who will take time out of building new homes to raise your home. Then you have to wait for supplies. We don't have a walmart on every corner anymore. We are lucky if the walmart stays open past 10 pm these days. Everything is at a premium. If you see it, grab it, it might be days before you see it again. Add in the gas hike has made suppliers up their prices and passed it on to you in the form of higher concrete, higher wages and machinery. There use to be some free programs where you could borrow tools, Mississippi had a great plan for that. The federal government told them to stop loaning tools. ??????
They just sent out the LRA letters and you have to go through a process of three letters, many of them wrong. Fix that, wait for three more letters. In the meantime you are fixing your house with your 401K or with a small loan. The money they will give you in the Road Back Home Project is based on a lower than what you paid to fix your home formula. They are suppose to give an amount of what the difference is between what insurance paid and what you actually put out to fix your home. Many now have no savings at all because what money they do get has to go towards fixing your house. Good luck finding insurance for less than 1300-2600 a year. And that's based on if you are in flood plain A, B or C. In a total flood plain....even if it never was before, you can't get covered.
Now, you have your permit/s, you have your contractor, you've paid out the ying yang for supplies. They work on your house for a total of 44 days then take off. You can't have the walls put up or the floor laid until they inspect and write off on the electric lines. 68 days later they show up to do the walls to find out the inspector hasn't come by yet. Calls go unanswered. Contractor goes away again for 40+ days....on and on for 15 friggin months. Yet, my friend is still living in a trailer in her driveway with no walls at all up inside.
They have given a deadline of Dec 31 to have your house inspected for building. If not, they take your trailer and you are out in the street. So, how do you get them to work faster? Pay them more? Beg? Work until 2 am every night after you work a full time job? All of that.
Folks, we still don't have street signs in some places, some don't have gas on a reg basis, traffic lights don't always work. I'm now 35 miles from NO and it effects me every day, I can only imagine what my friends in Kenner, LaPlace and surrounding areas have to deal with. They aren't even in the worst hit areas.
People are helping themselves. From the old men who walk with canes but climb ladders, to corporate offices forming teams to help fellow employees to Churchs and friends. Those that are here are invested.
A better question might be, why are hundreds, if not thousands of FEMA trailers sitting empty in Lumberton, Mississippi and in Arkansas still? How much are we paying for lot rent on them? What are they gonna do with them? Why are people still living in tents if there are trailers there?
Did you know if your car was flooded and sitting in your driveway you still have to prove you own it before they'll give you a place to sleep? Papers in the car, court houses, dealerships or houses were destroyed. The cars are a total wash, yet the city won't remove them. They are covered in mold, smell to the high heavens, harbor skeeters and rats and sometimes snakes. They are a health hazard. If you are lucky you get mail service and they'll hopefully get to you in time. If not, well, hope you find a place to shower and live in tents or with friends.
There are many, many things going on down here. People sitting on their butts is not one of them. Total amount of money given us, $1000 dollars and a FEMA trailer from Jan of this year to Nov of this year. To allow my entire family to live in one state again we are paying 3 times pre katrina rent and are 45 mins away, which turns into 1 hour and 25 mins when it's foggy or they are working on a bridge or for whatever reason.
I'm not bitter, but I'm tired of people saying help yourselves when that's all you can do.
And for as messed up as NO and east of NO is, Mississippi is ten times worse.
