Catholic Charities Gives Congress Recommendations
on Helping Gulf Coast Rebuild from 2005 Hurricanes; Leading social service
and disaster response network also urges Congress to take steps to ensure
that the federal government is better prepared for next major disaster
Alexandria, VA-With the 2006 hurricane
season less than two months away, Catholic Charities agencies are calling
on the federal government to provide needed leadership and resources, especially
housing, to rebuild the lives and communities devastated by Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita - and to take more steps now to ensure that the government
is better prepared for the next major disaster.
At a briefing on Capitol Hill for Congressional staff last Friday, leaders from four Catholic Charities agencies from the Gulf Coast area described their ongoing recovery efforts to help hurricane victims - and made a strong case that much more remains to be done by the government and assistance organizations to assist in the recovery.
"While I'm very proud of the work that our agencies have done there, we have to also be mindful that our work has only just begun," said Rev. Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA. "We cannot allow this catastrophe to slip from the minds of Congress, the Administration, or the public."
The Catholic Charities network has assisted more than 300,000 victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, including 87,000 children and 10,000 seniors. Long-term recovery work is now underway as local Catholic Charities agencies work to rebuild better communities, help families become self sufficient, and help hurricane victims to overcome the grief and trauma that they have lived through. To date, Catholic Charities USA has raised more than $158 million to support the recovery efforts of over 75 local Catholic Charities agencies.
The agencies of the Gulf Coast said that the aid and support from the federal government often has been slow to come and has not been nearly enough to address the incredible need.
"We are working very hard to help people get a new start in life," said Rev. Joe Rubio, vice president of community relations and advocacy for Catholic Charities of Galveston-Houston. "We will continue to be the best Samaritans that we can, but we need help from Washington. We need the bureaucracy to be more responsive. We cannot just conduct these fistfights in order to get the kinds of support that we need from various departments to house and feed and help people redirect and start a whole new life."
In order to truly grasp the uphill battle that residents of the Gulf Coast are facing, Catholic Charities urged members of Congress to visit the region. To date, 16 percent of the House and 30 percent of the Senate has come to New Orleans to see and to visit with the folks who have been impacted by the largest disaster in the country's history.
"You have to come see Biloxi, Mississippi; you have to come see New Orleans; you have to come walk this journey with us to understand it," said Gordon Wadge, president of Catholic Charities of New Orleans. "We are a family as a nation, and we need you to walk with us."
Housing is a Critical Need In New Orleans, where 200,000 homes were severely damaged or destroyed, housing remains the top priority.
"Catholic Charities spends a tremendous amount of time and energy and money trying to deal with the mental health of our friends and family, but they cannot truly heal until they have a home and a place," James R. Kelly, CEO of Catholic Charities of New Orleans. "How can they begin to design a [recovery] plan when they're paying a mortgage and paying rent in an apartment; when their children have been in three, four, five different schools since September?"
Kelly noted that the $6 billion in funding earmarked for housing doesn't stretch far enough when it costs an average of $100,000 to repair or rebuild each home. At that average, the money could fix or rebuild 60,000 homes and apartments - but 200,000 homes and apartments took severe water damage in the storms.
In those communities that welcomed tens of thousands of evacuees, the housing market is severely stained as low-income families, elderly and homeless have all been displaced.
"There is no housing in our area, and more and more evacuees are going to come as they try to return to Louisiana," said Deborah Roe, executive director of Catholic Community Services of Baton Rouge. "We thought that if we screamed louder somebody would get the message we need housing. After a few months of going to one housing meeting after another and hearing initially there are no additional funds coming to Louisiana for housing. That was for three or four months. Then additional funds were appropriated, but we need a plan."
The panelists also urged Congressional staff to consider better and safer housing alternatives to the trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). "The use of travel trailers in an area where there are frequent tornados and a new hurricane season approaching is dangerous," said Linda Raff of Catholic Charities of Jackson, MS. "There are some permanent alternatives that are now being directed, namely at what is being called the 'Katrina cottage'. Reports [indicate] that this cottage costs $38,000 to build as opposed to a reported $78,000 to acquire a FEMA trailer and have it installed on someone's lot. It makes sense to invest in Katrina cottages rather than unsafe FEMA trailers."
Catholic Charities Recommendations In addition to calling on Congress and the Administration to increasing the production of permanent and affordable housing for displaced families, Catholic Charities USA in its materials for Congressional staff also outlined steps the federal government must take to help Hurricane victims rebuild their lives and prepare for future. These recommendations included:
Ensuring access to proper health care for families returning to the region; Providing greater flexibility to social services agencies and community-based organizations in the Gulf region so they can continue to provide essential services to impacted families; Rebuilding the safety net for low-income people; Ensuring that immigrants have access to federal assistance; Providing opportunities for small contractors and develop apprenticeships and training opportunities young people in the region; and Preserving federal funding for critical social service programs and abandon proposed budget cuts to nutrition, education, health, and employment and training programs in order to address dire needs in the region for essential services. Budget cuts would further the devastation caused by the hurricanes and delay progress for families attempting to move back to self-sufficiency.
Preparing for Future Disasters In preparing for future disasters, Catholic Charities said that the federal government must: Support national systems to assist displaced families in gaining access to emergency supports during times of natural disasters; Develop better federal/state communications structures to effectively get information out before, during, and after emergencies; Develop specific plans for those who were already living on the margins before the disaster-the poor, the elderly, the homeless, etc. Develop better partnerships with community groups and provide necessary resources to coordinate response using local strategies.
Read about Catholic Charities recovery efforts at http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/news/HurricaneRelief05.cfm.
Catholic Charities USA's members-1,700 local agencies and institutions nationwide-provide help and create hope for more than seven million people a year regardless of religious, social, or economic backgrounds. For more than 275 years, local Catholic Charities agencies have been providing a myriad of vital services in their communities, ranging from day care and counseling to food and housing.
For more information, visit www.catholiccharitiesusa.org.
Shelley Borysiewicz Manager of Media Relations Catholic Charities USA 703/549-1390 ext. 147 703/549-1656 (fax) sborysiewicz@catholiccharitiesusa.org www.catholiccharitiesusa.org Providing Help. Creating Hope.