Adren Wilson, Executive Director of Equity and Inclusion Campaign, writes about how the BP oil spill has compounded the housing crisis Alabama residents faced following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina:
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), 3,177 housing units in Mobile County sustained major or severe damage from Hurricane Katrina. According to available data sets, 1,179 individuals in Mobile County applied for disaster recovery Community Disaster Block Grants (CDBG) rebuilding assistance. Of those, only 301 homeowners have been or will be served. At least 359 homeowners qualified for funding, but won't receive it because they missed an application window that was open for a short period of time by design. Due to depleted federal funding, at least 346 qualified, eligible homeowners will not receive assistance.
That's in addition to the general housing and foreclosure crisis the rest of the country is already facing. Part of the problem was that federal aid mostly focused on Louisiana and Mississippi, failing to adequately address problems elsewhere along the Gulf Coast.
