Earth Equity News

After Fanfare, Hurricane Grants Leave Little Mark. By Adam Nossiter, NYTimes, August 31, 2008. “It was the largest housing aid program in American history, billed as the essential government tool that would make New Orleans whole after Hurricane Katrina. Yet even though about $3.3 billion of federal taxpayer money has been spent here on the cash grant program known as the Road Home, New Orleans on the third anniversary of the hurricane remains almost as much of a patchwork as it did last year, before most of the money was spent. The program has had no effect on most of the houses in New Orleans, and has played only a limited role in bringing back the neighborhoods most flooded in the storm. And as Hurricane Gustav bears down on the city, many residents are worried that the work already accomplished could be set back.”