Luther Davis 55-year old New Orleans native, now homeless under Claiborne bridge. Mr. Davis describes his life since Katrina and gives his analysis of the disaster’s aftermath. Much of Davis’ family lived in New Orleans public housing. He refutes the claims of the city and federal government that they want to demolish public housing to improve tenant’s lives. If that were the case Davis says the common sense thing to do would instead be to bring folks home first by reopening the developments, but that this is really all about power. “It’s all about money and political power… Katrina gave them the opportunity to [get rid of public housing.]” No public housing resident Mr. Davis knows has ever been asked by HANO and the City about what they want to see with the future of public housing. Instead, residents have been forced to protest and fight for their apartments. According to Mr. Davis, the politicians just don’t care.
Kenny Rosen Fifty year-old New Orleans native, now homeless under Claiborne bridge. Kenny believes that the affordable housing crisis and massive (12,000 plus) homeless population is directly due to the greed of those in power. The attention of the City Council, state and federal governments are on rebuilding New Orleans for the wealthy, building casinos and tourist attractions, not workforce housing. His die hard love for his city explains why, no matter what the politicians do, New Orleans will bounce back: “They’re not going to run me from my city. This is mine. 50 years of my life, born and raised here. Fuck em’, and I’m telling you straight up.”
Raymond Brown New Orleans native, now homeless under Claiborne bridge. Mr. Brown lived in Central City neighborhood before Katrina. Sent to Philadelphia, he came back 1 year after the flood to a “living hell.” Mr. Brown describes the homeless situation in New Orleans and opposes the demolition of public housing. He doesn’t understand why the city is demolishing public housing during such housing crisis. He says most jobs pay far too little to hold down a home. Combined with police harassment and other rigors of the street, it’s next to impossible to get on one’s feet.
LATEST COMMENTS ABOUT THIS ARTICLE
Listed below are the 10 latest comments of 3 posted about this article.
These comments are anonymously submitted by the website visitors.
