Two New Orleans Residents Build New

ABC News’ Jennifer Parker Reports: New Orleans native Josephine Butler, 84, is moving into her brand new home this week that she had rebuilt on her land in the Lower 9th Ward.

"When my grandmother found out that she no longer had a house, she never once doubted that she would go back home," said Butler’s granddaughter, Tanya Harris, 31, noting that her grandmother and grandfather built the house in 1949.

"This was their piece of the American pie, they built this home at a time when black people were segregated," said Harris, noting that her grandfather, who passed away a year ago, worked as a longshoreman and saw the Lower 9th Ward as a working class community.

"This house had a deeper meaning to them, it meant that nobody was going to ever be able to tell them what to do," said Harris, who is also the lead organizer in New Orleans of ACORN, a housing advocacy group for lower to medium income people.

Homeowners, Josephine Butler, and Gwendolyn Guice, who is in her fifties, have been next-door-neighbors for 25 years in the Lower 9th Ward. They both decided to rebuild in exactly the same spot where their flood-damaged homes once stood, using low-interest loans financed by Countrywide Bank. They will both move in this Thursday.

"We’re here to make sure people understand their rights and fight for what’s theirs," said Harris, arguing that the Lower 9th Ward is being eyed hungrily by developers who want to take advantage of its proximity to industrial areas and a shipping port. "We’re not going to be shooed away."

The new homes have been designed to be hurricane-resistant and energy-efficient, developed by the Louisiana State University School of Architecture.  Helping build the two homes were volunteers from Delta Corps, the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge, and the Canadian Auto Workers union.

Harris says the project is giving hope to the 800-1000 people that are currently living in the Lower 9th Ward, in FEMA trailers, and basements, trying to rebuild their homes with insurance money and savings.

"People are reinvesting in their community," said Harris. "People want to come back – we’re happy here," she said.