Where Will The Money Really Come From To Rebuild The Gulf Coast?
Friday, September 16, 2005PAUL KANGAS: President Bush says the U.S. budget will handle the cost of rebuilding the Gulf coast after hurricane Katrina and taxes won`t have to be raised to pay for it. It`s going to be expensive. The Department of Homeland Security told Congress today it has spent almost $14 billion so far on Katrina`s rebuilding efforts. But as Darren Gersh reports, paying for another effort -- one to house the evacuees is getting thorny.
DARREN GERSH, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Critics on the right and left say the administration`s new urban homestead program isn`t likely to be much help for victims of hurricane Katrina. The Federal Bureau of Land Management says it has very little property in the hardest hit areas. And much of the Federal land in the Gulf coast is most likely already being used for hospitals or other Federal office buildings. Critics also say the job of rebuilding an entire city and region can best be done by private corporations.
BRUCE KATZ, METROPOLITAN PROGRAM, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: I didn`t understand last night why the president didn`t call on some of the major builders, some of the major developers, some of whom are in the southeast, the major banks and financial institutions. Let`s put our heads together here to try to rebuild a city, not go a quarter acre at a time.
GERSH: The Bush administration disagrees, saying there are as many as a 4,000 houses and condominiums the Federal government has repossessed in the Gulf region that could be used to turn displaced renters into owners.
CLAUDE ALLEN, ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR DOMESTIC POLICY: We believe that there is a lot of stock available, at least to get a homesteading act initiative off the ground and to provide opportunity for some families to have a piece of the American dream.
GERSH: Conservatives are particularly concerned by FEMA`s plan to buy thousands of mobile homes for temporary shelters, which they fear will force evacuees into modern day Hoovervilles.
RONALD UTT, HOUSING ANALYST, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: You end up putting them in some obscure part of the countryside, so people aren`t going to be near jobs. And you create, you know, another version of a less satisfactory public housing project.
GERSH: But the White House has promised to work with state and local officials to make sure the families who left behind flooded slums return to more livable communities.
ALLEN: We are very committed to making sure that this is a home ownership opportunity for them and to making sure that this is improving their lives and not worsening it.
GERSH: It is still not clear how much all this will cost or how many families may benefit. That will depend on whether Congress embraces the administration`s idea for urban homesteading. Darren Gersh, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Washington.
