KATRINA READING ROOM
Made Possible by Living Cities, Inc. The Metropolitan Policy Program thanks
Living Cities, Inc. for its generous support of our work related to Gulf Coast recovery, which includes collaboration with three other think tanks focused on the storm's aftermath: the
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities,
Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, and the
Urban Institute. This reading room compiles Katrina-related research from all four organizations.
The Katrina Reading Room contains work in the following areas:
Progress on Katrina RecoveryRe-Building the GulfEmergency Housing AssistanceOther Emergency ResponseOverall Disaster ResponseFacts: New Orleans and the Gulf Before KatrinaConcentrated Poverty in Other U.S. Cities
| THE NEW ORLEANS INDEX |
| Second Anniversary Special Edition: A Review of Key Indicators of Recovery Two Years After Katrina |
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Two years after Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent levee failures, the city of New Orleans and its metro area has bounced back, recovering most of its population and economic base. Yet, progress in the past year has slowed, basic services and infrastructure remain thin, and stark disparities loom between the recovery of Orleans and St. Bernard parishes and the rest of the region. This report assesses the social and economic health as well as public services and infrastructure for the New Orleans region. |
NEW ORLEANS CENSUS DATA |
| Resettling New Orleans: The First Full Picture from the Census |
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New 2006 American Community Survey data from the US Census Bureau provides a detailed picture of the socio-demographic composition of New Orleans and its surrounding region, including who moved in and out of the area, approximately one full year after the impacts of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
This report provides the first full picture of who lived in New Orleans and its region after the hurricanes of 2005, and what types of residents moved in, stayed, or remained displaced one year after the storms. This analysis is critical for moving beyond speculation to informed assessments about how best to serve both existing and displaced households in the aftermath of Katrina and Rita. |
First Census Findings on Katrina and Rita (Metropolitan Policy Program)
June 2006This analysis, based on new data from the Census Bureau, provides a "baseline" portrait of the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on population shifts and changing characteristics in the Gulf Region in the immediate months after the storms hit.
RE-BUILDING THE GULF
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| Building a Better New Orleans: A Review of and Plan for Progress One Year after Hurricane Katrina |
(Metropolitan Policy Program)
August 2006
Recovery in New Orleans continues to be uneven—many ascribe the little visible progress in the region to the slow pace of federal spending and decisionmaking.
Lessons and Limits: Tax Incentives and Rebuilding the Gulf Coast after Katrina
(Metropolitan Policy Program)
August 2006
In the wake of the devastation wrought by Katrina, Congress enacted legislation creating Gulf Opportunity Zones (GO Zones) in localities that suffered the most extensive storm damage.
Federal Allocations in Response to Katrina, Rita, and Wilma: An Update (Metropolitan Policy Program)
August 2006
Amid the often rancorous debate over federal spending for recovery and rebuilding, the Metropolitan Policy Program created this fact sheet, which follows the money spent on Katrina and Rita storms and provides a timeline of federal allocations.
HUD Disappoints in Housing Crisis (Urban Institute)
June 2006
A Times Picayune opinion piece suggests that more ingenuity is required to shelter evacuees in the next emergency.
Rebuilding Aid for Neediest Katrina Victims Should be Retained in Final Supplemental Funding Bill (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)
May 2006
The first federal housing assistance aimed specifically at poor households harmed by last year's hurricanes could fall victim to House-Senate differences over emergency supplemental funding legislation.
After Katrina: Public Expectation and Charities' Response (Urban Institute)
May 2006
Disaster relief organizations have overhead to pay and people to manage, though the public expects immediate response during crises.
After Katrina: Rebuilding Opportunity and Equity into the New New Orleans (Urban Institute)
April 2006
Urban Institute experts chart paths out of the emergency situation with proposals for rebuilding the social infrastructure of New Orleans.
Open and Operating? An Assessment of Louisiana Nonprofit Health and Human Services after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (Urban Institute)
February 2006
Survey results provide data on the nonprofit sector in southern Louisiana and ascertain how ready the groups are to play pivotal roles in the state's recovery.
Young Children After Katrina: A Proposal to Heal the Damage and Create Opportunity in New Orleans (Urban Institute)
February 2006
This essay offers evidence about effective large-scale interventions for young children that might reverse the damage caused by families' displacement.
Rebuilding the Cultural Vitality of New Orleans (Urban Institute)
February 2006
This essay discusses prospects for resurrecting and strengthening New Orleans' cultural expressions, which include music, cuisine, oral tradition, performance art, visual art, and architecture.
Building Opportunity and Equity into the New New Orleans: A Framework for Policy and Action
(Urban Institute)
February 2006
This essay assesses the challenges of rebuilding a city where the social infrastructure was failing long before the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina or the chaos of evacuation.
Building a Better Safety Net for the New New Orleans
(Urban Institute)
February 2006
Katrina hit some of the most vulnerable populations in New Orleans hardest and this essay calls for a better system to protect the elderly, poor, and disabled in crises.
Employment Issues and Challenges in Post-Katrina New Orleans (Urban Institute)
February 2006
Several hundred thousand former residents of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast lost their jobs, and this essay discusses how many required help going back to the labor market.
Rebuilding Affordable Housing in New Orleans (Urban Institute)
January 2006
This essay sizes up the challenge of providing housing for New Orleans residents, with tens of thousands of families displaced.
The Future of Public Education in New Orleans (Urban Institute)
January 2006
Education could be one of the bright spots in New Orleans' recovery effort, and this essay considers how it may even establish a new model for school districts nationally.
ICIC Response to Hurricane Katrina
(Initiative for a Competitive Inner City)
November 2005
No one would deny that New Orleans faced serious economic challenges even before Katrina, but the catastrophe has cast a spotlight on the vulnerability of the working poor in America.
Bringing Katrina's Poorest Victims Home: Targeted Federal Assistance Will Be Needed To Give Neediest Evacuees Option To Return To Their Hometowns (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)
November 2005
Giving Katrina's neediest victims a real option to come home will require targeted rental assistance able to cover the gap between increased post-hurricane rents and the incomes of the poorest households.
Synopsis: An Initial Convening of the Entertainment, Hospitality and Tourism Cluster to Discuss Strategies to Rebuild
(Initiative for a Competitive Inner City)
November 2005
The purpose of this meeting was to brainstorm an effective economic development strategy that not only becomes a collaborative cluster-based approach to redevelopment, but also looks beyond the industry to engage New Orleans inner city residents.
Presentation: An Initial Convening of the Entertainment, Hospitality and Tourism Cluster to Discuss Strategies to Rebuild
(Initiative for a Competitive Inner City)
November 2005
The November 8th convening led to a number of ideas that can be categorized as: cluster-based strategy, workforce strategy, and perception/brand strategy.
Resiliency Is Not Enough: Young Children and the Rebuilding of New Orleans (Urban Institute)
November 2005
This opinion piece offers successful models to combat the trauma of Katrina on young children.
New Orleans after the Storm: Lessons from the Past, a Plan for the Future (Metropolitan Policy Program)
October 2005
It is possible—even in the near aftermath of the hurricane—to draw some initial conclusions about why Katrina wreaked such havoc, as well as to derive from New Orleans' past some lessons for the future and use them to inform a plan for rebuilding a better New Orleans.
Another Round of Economic Stimulus? Hurricane Reconstruction and Relief is the Right Medicine (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)
September 2005
Congress should focus on immediate reconstruction of the devastated areas and relief for the victims of Katrina.
The Aftermath of Katrina: State of the Nonprofit Sector in Louisiana (Urban Institute)
September 2005
This fact sheet characterizes the size and fiscal health of organizations delivering health and human services to storm victims.
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FACTS: NEW ORLEANS AND THE GULF BEFORE KATRINA
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| Essential Facts About the Victims of Katrina |
(Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)
Of the 5.8 million individuals who lived in the areas struck hardest by the hurricane, more than one million lived in poverty prior to the hurricane's onset.
Katrina's Window: Confronting Concentrated Poverty Across America
(Metropolitan Policy Program)
This report shows the level of concentrated poverty in major American cities, examines key factors that produced these concentrations, and reviews policy tools that have proven effective in addressing the problem.
Back to Work in New Orleans
(Metropolitan Policy Program)
Getting New Orleans residents, particularly young black men, involved with the rebuilding of their city will be difficult, mandating an aggressive approach (see national employment statistics for men by race).
Inner City New Orleans Profile (Pre-Katrina)
(Initiative for a Competitive Inner City)
This presentation provides a snapshot of the state of Inner City New Orleans prior to Katrina.
New Orleans Cluster Briefing (Pre-Katrina)
(Initiative for a Competitive Inner City)
This briefing includes aggregate economic and demographic statistics, a profile of the cluster-level economy, and current efforts in creating a strategy for growth.
Location of Jobs (Metropolitan Policy Program)
New Orleans was one of a very few metropolitan areas where the physical distance between blacks and jobs actually increased during the 1990s, bucking the national trend.
Middle Class Flight (Metropolitan Policy Program)
Middle- and higher-income families have been leaving New Orleans for the last two decades, creating municipal fiscal distress.
African American Outmigration
(Metropolitan Policy Program)
Over the last four decades, blacks have been leaving the metropolitan New Orleans area, the only large Sun Belt region in the nation where this has occurred.
Statistics on New Orleans Poverty
(Metropolitan Policy Program)
This PDF includes key indicators of entrenched poverty.
Location of Subsidized Housing
(Metropolitan Policy Program)
In the 1990s, New Orleans ranked second among the nation's big metropolitan areas for locating tax-credit subsidized units in extremely poor neighborhoods and first for locating such housing in predominately black neighborhoods.
Access to Cars in New Orleans
(Metropolitan Policy Program)
One disparity that was immediately apparent in Katrina's aftermath concerned the size and composition of the area's population that lacked access to an automobile.
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CONCENTRATED POVERTY IN OTHER U.S. CITIES
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| Katrina's Window: Confronting Concentrated Poverty Across America |
(Metropolitan Policy Program)
This report shows the level of concentrated poverty in New Orleans and major American cities, examines key factors that produced these concentrations, and reviews policy tools that have proven effective in addressing the problem.
Louisville and New Orleans
(Metropolitan Policy Program)
The conditions that exacerbated the New Orleans disaster—deep, segregated urban poverty—still exist in Louisville, and in most major American cities today.
Helping D.C.'s Lower Ninth Wards
(Metropolitan Policy Program)
In a vibrant city like Washington, concentrated poverty is inexcusable.
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