Thursday, February 02, 2006
A Smaller New Orleans
All of New Orleans should not be rebuilt. The over $200 billion estimated cost to protect and rebuild the entire devastated areas of the city would better be spent on grants to home owners and renters to help them pay off existing mortgages and to relocate. The 2000 census lists
215,091 housing units in the city with 100,662 being renter occupied. If we
assume approximately 80% (172,073) of these were damaged or destroyed by Katrina
it would require $60 billion to provide $200,000 and $100,000 relocation grants to owners
and renters respectively. Even doubling the grant amounts would still be a huge savings over
rebuilding the entire city. It should be stipulated that the money be used to buy or build
new homes anywhere within Louisiana outside the areas devastated by the hurricane.
With a median house valued at $87,300, this would represent a significant upgrade for
most people. The building and real estate markets in the state would flourish and thousands
of renters would become home owners. Also, additional billions would not be wasted trying to protect flood-prone areas with levees and flood gates that likely would prove inadequate again.
Katrina was not a direct hit on the city and had dropped to a Category 3 hurricane by the time it made landfall. This and worse will happen again in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. The precedent we set with New Orleans will haunt future disasters responses. Sea level is rising and global warming may be increasing storm frequencies and intensities. Does it make sense to continuously rebuild in the same places and try to protect them simply because residents want to or don’t know any better? Politicians must start paying attention to the science of natural disasters rather than what is politically expedient and popular. Lives depend on it.
215,091 housing units in the city with 100,662 being renter occupied. If we
assume approximately 80% (172,073) of these were damaged or destroyed by Katrina
it would require $60 billion to provide $200,000 and $100,000 relocation grants to owners
and renters respectively. Even doubling the grant amounts would still be a huge savings over
rebuilding the entire city. It should be stipulated that the money be used to buy or build
new homes anywhere within Louisiana outside the areas devastated by the hurricane.
With a median house valued at $87,300, this would represent a significant upgrade for
most people. The building and real estate markets in the state would flourish and thousands
of renters would become home owners. Also, additional billions would not be wasted trying to protect flood-prone areas with levees and flood gates that likely would prove inadequate again.
Katrina was not a direct hit on the city and had dropped to a Category 3 hurricane by the time it made landfall. This and worse will happen again in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. The precedent we set with New Orleans will haunt future disasters responses. Sea level is rising and global warming may be increasing storm frequencies and intensities. Does it make sense to continuously rebuild in the same places and try to protect them simply because residents want to or don’t know any better? Politicians must start paying attention to the science of natural disasters rather than what is politically expedient and popular. Lives depend on it.
