Your federal tax dollars at work. Oh, well, we don't have to worry much, most of N.O.'s population did not own homes, they lived in the local county and state areas called "projects" where they paid little rent.
While a large segment of the population does in fact, inhabit the "projects" ... or, as one of them was called "The Bricks" ... the home ownership rate in the devastated Lower 9th Ward is about 58% ... one of the highest rates of home ownership in the city.
Please see Posts 11, 22 and 25.
Sorry i_dont_chat ... it has been an afternoon of constant interruptions ... but, no excuses ... I just posted to the wrong person.
Cheers to all!
caryatid
You raise a good point - a lot of those people did not own their residences. It goes far beyond the "official" public housing, though. Much of the infamous lower ninth ward was occupied by renters (and owned by slumlords).
It's not *exactly* a "tax dollars" issue, unless you disapprove of the Federal Housing Administration in total. FHA (and VA) loans carry a monthly mortgage insurance premium which borrowers must pay until they have approximately 20% equity in the property.
In this case, FHA is using those funds to prevent applicants' loans from going into default, by essentially tacking on a second mortgage which is paid *after* the original term of the loan. Since mortgage insurance exists specifically to ensure that mortgages get paid, this seems like an appropriate action for FHA to take.
Speaking of tax dollars, I'd love to see a list of Section 8 housing in New Orleans outside of the "housing projects" - I bet it'd be astonishing. Of course, all of the "blue" spots on the electoral map have similar problems - Katrina just tore the lid off of those conditions in New Orleans.
It makes one wonder how long those conditions and entitlement mindsets will fester elsewhere.