New Orleans and Biloxi, a Tale of Two Cities

August 28, 2006— -- Even a year after Hurricane Katrina, people from New Orleans to Biloxi, Miss., still ask, "Where do we begin?" With more than 300,000 homes and structures demolished, the aerial view of the Gulf Coast appears like an enormous blank slate. So it is not surprising that many of the plans the government and others have proposed call for buying up huge tracks of land and constructing hundreds (thousands even) of new housing units from whole cloth.

However, for those of us working on the ground, the view is very different. Far from being a blank slate, the Gulf Coast is a patchwork of structures -- from social structures such as church groups and community organizations to financial structures such as land titles and lingering mortgages. Granted, not all the mortgages are for structures that still stand, but they are there nonetheless.

Over the course of the last year, we've learned there is no such thing as an empty lot. For every missing mailbox, there is a family somewhere who is still trying to get home. Many are still paying mortgages on homes that no longer exist. Help for these families has been slow in coming.

So where to begin? One lot at a time.

With the attention focused on large-scale planning efforts, officials charged with leading the reconstruction have overlooked the obvious: With a little bit of financial support and technical assistance, many families can come back and rebuild on their own. Rather than funding huge projects, start small.

In New Orleans, more than a year later, many damaged properties remain untouched after the storm, while recovery is well under way in Biloxi. Both cities suffered almost unimaginable damage from the storm. The demographics of the hardest hit areas in both cities -- neighborhoods such as the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans and East Biloxi in Biloxi -- include a lot of poverty. Many families in both cities did not carry homeowners insurance, often because they inherited their homes or owned them outright and did not have mortgages that required insurance. Finally, in both cities, many of those most in need were elderly residents living on fixed incomes.

Kate Stohr is a co-founder of a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that seeks architectural solutions to humanitarian crisis and brings design services to communities in need. If you'd like to learn more about Stohr's organization, please visit: www.architectureforhumanity.orgA year later, most of the homes in the hardest-hit areas of New Orleans remain untouched. By contrast, in Biloxi, more than 70 percent of the homes have either been demolished if they were more than 50 percent damaged, or have been gutted and de-molded and await reconstruction. It's hard to find a lot in Biloxi that hasn't been either cleared entirely or had at least some work begun.

Many factors have contributed to Biloxi's speedier recovery. City leaders made it easy for residents to salvage what they could from destroyed homes and remove the remaining debris. Little paperwork was required. Trucks cleared the streets daily. In New Orleans, by contrast, many families are still waiting for crews to clear their lots. Salvage work requires a permit and makes the homeowner responsible for debris removal.

The most important factor, however, was the leadership role that Biloxi's churches and community groups assumed. Immediately after the storm, many of these groups came together. Working from makeshift offices and partially rehabilitated churches, they began the task of coordinating the work of the many volunteers who streamed into the community to help. Hands on Gulf Coast put up street signs to help residents and volunteers find their way -- a seemingly simple but important task. The East Biloxi Coordination Center divided the community into grids and assigned each volunteer group to a small part of the neighborhood. They helped the volunteer groups assess where to start work and connected them with the families who had the greatest need. Groups like the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio began giving residents technical assistance in answering such fundamental questions as "Is it safe to rebuild on my lot?" "How will the new flood elevations and building codes affect me?" "And, if I rebuild, what can I afford to build?"

For our part, Architecture for Humanity is sponsoring a program to match architects with families to help rebuild on their lots. We're starting with five to seven families. That may not sound like many, but it's five more families who are now on their way home.

Kate Stohr is a co-founder of a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that seeks architectural solutions to humanitarian crisis and brings design services to communities in need. If you'd like to learn more about Stohr's organization, please visit: www.architectureforhumanity.org

Over the course of a year, we've seen Biloxi go from disaster zone to construction site. Gradually, empty lots have begun to take on the personas of the families who still lived there, even if they could not actually live on their property. The groups on the ground knew, for example, that the Robinsons needed a washing machine and that the Lees needed help building a wheelchair ramp for their trailer and that the Harpers had decided to relocate and sell their lot.

The engine behind this change was not large-scale planning or massive redevelopment but a patchwork of smaller efforts undertaken by some 20 or so community organizations and volunteer groups, most operating on shoestring budgets. While larger programs are still getting off the ground, these groups have been helping families rebuild, one lot at a time. Imagine what they could do with a little more funding and support?

To be sure, Biloxi still faces a long road to recovery ahead. Many families may not be able to return, but many of those who stayed are well on their way to repairing and rebuilding their homes. Other cities would do well to learn from their successes and take advantage of the many small groups that are already at work on the ground. If you want to rebuild quickly and cost-effectively, start small.

Kate Stohr is a co-founder of a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that seeks architectural solutions to humanitarian crisis and brings design services to communities in need. If you'd like to learn more about Stohr's organization, please visit: www.architectureforhumanity.org