The Right to Return to New Orleans

by Krista Zimmerman

Individuals in the United States are sometimes accustomed to hearing about displaced people in other countries. After Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, however, hundreds of thousands of U.S. residents were also displaced. And many of them still seek the ability to return home.

Since the storm, agencies like Mennonite Disaster Service and Mennonite Central Committee have been working with people who need assistance to recover and return. But the federal government sometimes stands in the way.

New Orleans lost more than 43,000 rental units after the storm. Rents skyrocketed as a result and people had difficulty finding affordable apartments. Instead of quickly rehabilitating public and government subsidized housing, the federal government pursued a “recovery” plan that prevented families from returning to structurally sound public housing units and sought to demolish as many units as possible. Before this article went to press a court in New Orleans approved the demolition of over 3,000 units of public housing.

Without affordable rental housing or access to government housing, many New Orleans residents are still trying to return but cannot find ways to do so.

According to the City of Houston, it is still home to approximately 100,000 displaced residents of New Orleans. A recent state of Texas survey claimed a total of 250,000. It also found that 59 percent of the surveyed reported they were unemployed and that many had serious health problems.

Meanwhile, community leaders throughout the Gulf Coast rally around the belief that people displaced by Hurricane Katrina possess the same “right of return” accorded to displaced persons in other countries by international law. They believe that despite lack of government assistance (and outright opposition in some cases) that the right of return to the Gulf Coast is one supported by international human rights norms.

The United Nations’ 1998 Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement include in their definition of “internally displaced persons” individuals forced to leave home because of natural disaster who have not crossed an international border. The American Society of International Law recognizes the application of the Guiding Principles to those displaced by Hurricane Katrina, even though the Bush administration has argued against it.

The Guiding Principles provide direction to authorities working with displaced people. They dictate that protections for displaced persons should continue once initial displacement ends, and they call on authorities to establish the conditions and means for displaced persons to return home in safety and with dignity. They also recommend full participation of displaced persons in the planning and management of their return.

The federal government’s current efforts to return displaced Gulf Coast residents to their communities fall short of the standards set forth in the Guiding Principles. But a bill pending in the U.S. Senate, the Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act, would make significant improvements to these efforts. It guarantees minimum levels of public and government subsidized housing replacement, thus paving the way for many residents to return more quickly. It also mandates inclusion of those affected in the planning and recovery process.

For these reasons, and many others, the Washington Office and MCC’s Gulf Coast recovery team are supporting the legislation. Please ask your Senators to back the Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act and visit theWashington Office web site for tips on writing letters in support of the Act.