Tuesday, March 4, 2008
St. Bernard Resident Comments on Demolition
Click here to see a video of comments made by a St. Bernard resident on demolitions currently taking place.
U.N. experts, HUD disagree on housing
by The Times-Picayune
Thursday February 28, 2008, 10:10 AM
Two experts from the United Nations said thousands of black families would continue to suffer displacement and homelessness if the demolition of 4,500 public housing units is not halted, but federal housing officials in New Orleans countered that they have units available immediately for former public housing residents displaced by Katrina.
U.N.-appointed experts Miloon Kothari, the U.N. Human Rights Council's investigator for housing, and Gay McDougall, an expert on minority issues, urged U.S. and local government leaders to further include current and former residents in discussions that would help them return home.
"I think this is vindication of what public housing advocates have been saying from day one," said Monique Harden, co-director of the public interest law firm Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, who testified before Geneva-based U.N. experts.
"Recovery must mean the end of displacement for the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast," added Harden, who returned to New Orleans last week. "What we have instead is recovery that demolishes affordable housing."
"The spiraling costs of private housing and rental units, and in particular the demolition of public housing, puts these communities in further distress, increasing poverty and homelessness," said a joint statement by the experts. "We therefore call on the federal government and state and local authorities to immediately halt the demolitions of public housing in New Orleans."
But local officials said the U.N. experts were too detached from the complexities of the post-Katrina city to claim that razing of the buildings was racist. For example, while the U.N. experts called for residents to be included in discussions about public housing, many of those residents appeared at a New Orleans City Council meeting in December to commend architects and developers for meeting with them regularly to solicit their thoughts on the design of modernized public housing.
City officials were riled, but mostly they planned to ignore the finding.
"The past model of public housing in New Orleans has been a failed one. Years of neglect and mismanagement left our public housing developments in ruin," said a joint statement issued by the City Council Thursday. "These are critical times in our city's history. We can choose to continue on the path of progress and positive change, or we can choose to maintain the status quo."
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development also weighed in, calling the U.N. expert findings "misinformed."
"We do not want to relegate thousands of minority and low-income families back into the substandard conditions of New Orleans' public housing, conditions only made worse by Hurricane Katrina," said a statement issued by HUD's press offices.
Officials from the Housing Authority of New Orleans said the agency has 253 traditional units available in public complexes. Eligibility for those units is limited to people who were public housing residents in New Orleans when Katrina struck. HANO has been renovating some units in complexes across the city to provide housing for former residents until the rebuilding of public housing and mixed-income neighborhoods is complete.
The experts' comments did not entail an official U.N. resolution, but they came a day before a larger U.N. racism panel planned to discuss Katrina recovery efforts and public housing in New Orleans. Neither opinion carries legal or regulatory power.
The demolition of the housing developments appears all but assured. Early stages have begun at some developments, and only demolition permits remain for others. The council voted unanimously in December to raze the units.
. . . . . . .
Staff writer Gwen Filosa contributed to this report.
Thursday February 28, 2008, 10:10 AM
Two experts from the United Nations said thousands of black families would continue to suffer displacement and homelessness if the demolition of 4,500 public housing units is not halted, but federal housing officials in New Orleans countered that they have units available immediately for former public housing residents displaced by Katrina.
U.N.-appointed experts Miloon Kothari, the U.N. Human Rights Council's investigator for housing, and Gay McDougall, an expert on minority issues, urged U.S. and local government leaders to further include current and former residents in discussions that would help them return home.
"I think this is vindication of what public housing advocates have been saying from day one," said Monique Harden, co-director of the public interest law firm Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, who testified before Geneva-based U.N. experts.
"Recovery must mean the end of displacement for the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast," added Harden, who returned to New Orleans last week. "What we have instead is recovery that demolishes affordable housing."
"The spiraling costs of private housing and rental units, and in particular the demolition of public housing, puts these communities in further distress, increasing poverty and homelessness," said a joint statement by the experts. "We therefore call on the federal government and state and local authorities to immediately halt the demolitions of public housing in New Orleans."
But local officials said the U.N. experts were too detached from the complexities of the post-Katrina city to claim that razing of the buildings was racist. For example, while the U.N. experts called for residents to be included in discussions about public housing, many of those residents appeared at a New Orleans City Council meeting in December to commend architects and developers for meeting with them regularly to solicit their thoughts on the design of modernized public housing.
City officials were riled, but mostly they planned to ignore the finding.
"The past model of public housing in New Orleans has been a failed one. Years of neglect and mismanagement left our public housing developments in ruin," said a joint statement issued by the City Council Thursday. "These are critical times in our city's history. We can choose to continue on the path of progress and positive change, or we can choose to maintain the status quo."
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development also weighed in, calling the U.N. expert findings "misinformed."
"We do not want to relegate thousands of minority and low-income families back into the substandard conditions of New Orleans' public housing, conditions only made worse by Hurricane Katrina," said a statement issued by HUD's press offices.
Officials from the Housing Authority of New Orleans said the agency has 253 traditional units available in public complexes. Eligibility for those units is limited to people who were public housing residents in New Orleans when Katrina struck. HANO has been renovating some units in complexes across the city to provide housing for former residents until the rebuilding of public housing and mixed-income neighborhoods is complete.
The experts' comments did not entail an official U.N. resolution, but they came a day before a larger U.N. racism panel planned to discuss Katrina recovery efforts and public housing in New Orleans. Neither opinion carries legal or regulatory power.
The demolition of the housing developments appears all but assured. Early stages have begun at some developments, and only demolition permits remain for others. The council voted unanimously in December to raze the units.
. . . . . . .
Staff writer Gwen Filosa contributed to this report.
Read Thursday's statement by UN human rights officials
by The Times-Picayune
Thursday February 28, 2008, 11:05 AM
On Thursday, two United Nations human rights officials, Miloon Kothari, an Indian architect, and Gay McDougall, former executive director of Washington-based GlobalRights.org, issued a statement from Geneva, Switzerland that expressed concern about availability of affordable housing in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. Kothari is the UN Special Rapporteur "on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living," while McDougall is the UN "Independent Expert on minority issues."
Here's their statement:
"We are deeply concerned about information we continue to receive about the housing situation of people in New Orleans , Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region. African-American communities were badly affected by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. The spiraling costs of private housing and rental units, and in particular the demolition of public housing, puts these communities in further distress, increasing poverty and homelessness. There are reports that more than 12,000 people are homeless in the greater New Orleans metropolitan area alone.
A number of reports suggest that federal, led by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and local government decisions concerning public housing in New Orleans would lead to the demolition of thousands of public housing units affecting approximately 5,000 families who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The demolition of the St. Bernard public housing development apparently commenced the week of 18 February 2008 and others are planned for the Lafitte, B.W. Cooper, and C.J. Peete public housing developments.
Meaningful consultation and participation in decision-making of communities and families affected by these demolitions and related redevelopment proposals appears not to have taken place. While we understand the intention to replace the demolished housing, we understand that only a portion of the new housing units will be for residents in need of subsidized housing and the remainder will be offered at the market rate. Further, we understand that the new housing will not be available for a significant period of time nor will there be one for one replacement for housing units destroyed. These demolitions, therefore, could effectively deny thousands of African-American residents their right to return to housing from which they were displaced by the hurricane.
The authorities claim that the demolition of public housing is not intentionally discriminatory. Notwithstanding the validity of these claims, the lack of consultation with those affected and the disproportionate impact on poorer and predominantly African-American residents and former residents would result in the denial of internationally recognized human rights.
The right to an adequate standard of living enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes the right to adequate housing. The international community has made it clear that those displaced from their place of residence, whether by conflict or natural disaster, should have their rights particularly protected in reconstruction efforts. The inability of former residents of public housing to return to the homes they occupied prior to Hurricane Katrina would in practice amount to an eviction for those who returned or wish to return. International human rights law prohibits evictions from taking place without due process, including the right of those evicted to be given due notice and opportunity to appeal eviction decisions. It also requires the authorities to ensure that large-scale evictions do not result in massive homelessness and to consult those affected on relocation or alternative housing solutions.
International human rights law, including relevant provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, also clearly prohibits actions that result in a discriminatory impact denying individuals or group's equal enjoyment of human rights because of their race, ethnicity, social or other status.
We therefore call on the Federal Government and State and local authorities to immediately halt the demolitions of public housing in New Orleans . This measure should be accompanied by all measures ensuring genuine consultation and participation of current residents - or former residents wishing to return - in all relevant decisions. We also call on the authorities to ensure that redevelopment plans do not discriminate against former residents and that every effort is made to consider alternatives to demolition or redevelopment proposals, so as to protect the rights of the poorer and predominantly African-American communities displaced by Hurricane Katrina".
The above mentioned UN independent experts sent a letter to the United States Government on 17 December 2007 in regard to this situation noting their concern about allegations received and asking for further information. They encourage the authorities to give urgent attention to this issue and consider alternative proposals, such as those reflected in the provisions of draft Senate Bill 1668, which would be more protective of the rights of the more vulnerable groups affected by the Hurricane.
For further information on the mandate and work of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing and the Independent Expert on minority issues, please consult respectively the following websites:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/housing/index.htm http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/minorities/expert/index.htm
Thursday February 28, 2008, 11:05 AM
On Thursday, two United Nations human rights officials, Miloon Kothari, an Indian architect, and Gay McDougall, former executive director of Washington-based GlobalRights.org, issued a statement from Geneva, Switzerland that expressed concern about availability of affordable housing in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. Kothari is the UN Special Rapporteur "on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living," while McDougall is the UN "Independent Expert on minority issues."
Here's their statement:
"We are deeply concerned about information we continue to receive about the housing situation of people in New Orleans , Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region. African-American communities were badly affected by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. The spiraling costs of private housing and rental units, and in particular the demolition of public housing, puts these communities in further distress, increasing poverty and homelessness. There are reports that more than 12,000 people are homeless in the greater New Orleans metropolitan area alone.
A number of reports suggest that federal, led by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and local government decisions concerning public housing in New Orleans would lead to the demolition of thousands of public housing units affecting approximately 5,000 families who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The demolition of the St. Bernard public housing development apparently commenced the week of 18 February 2008 and others are planned for the Lafitte, B.W. Cooper, and C.J. Peete public housing developments.
Meaningful consultation and participation in decision-making of communities and families affected by these demolitions and related redevelopment proposals appears not to have taken place. While we understand the intention to replace the demolished housing, we understand that only a portion of the new housing units will be for residents in need of subsidized housing and the remainder will be offered at the market rate. Further, we understand that the new housing will not be available for a significant period of time nor will there be one for one replacement for housing units destroyed. These demolitions, therefore, could effectively deny thousands of African-American residents their right to return to housing from which they were displaced by the hurricane.
The authorities claim that the demolition of public housing is not intentionally discriminatory. Notwithstanding the validity of these claims, the lack of consultation with those affected and the disproportionate impact on poorer and predominantly African-American residents and former residents would result in the denial of internationally recognized human rights.
The right to an adequate standard of living enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes the right to adequate housing. The international community has made it clear that those displaced from their place of residence, whether by conflict or natural disaster, should have their rights particularly protected in reconstruction efforts. The inability of former residents of public housing to return to the homes they occupied prior to Hurricane Katrina would in practice amount to an eviction for those who returned or wish to return. International human rights law prohibits evictions from taking place without due process, including the right of those evicted to be given due notice and opportunity to appeal eviction decisions. It also requires the authorities to ensure that large-scale evictions do not result in massive homelessness and to consult those affected on relocation or alternative housing solutions.
International human rights law, including relevant provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, also clearly prohibits actions that result in a discriminatory impact denying individuals or group's equal enjoyment of human rights because of their race, ethnicity, social or other status.
We therefore call on the Federal Government and State and local authorities to immediately halt the demolitions of public housing in New Orleans . This measure should be accompanied by all measures ensuring genuine consultation and participation of current residents - or former residents wishing to return - in all relevant decisions. We also call on the authorities to ensure that redevelopment plans do not discriminate against former residents and that every effort is made to consider alternatives to demolition or redevelopment proposals, so as to protect the rights of the poorer and predominantly African-American communities displaced by Hurricane Katrina".
The above mentioned UN independent experts sent a letter to the United States Government on 17 December 2007 in regard to this situation noting their concern about allegations received and asking for further information. They encourage the authorities to give urgent attention to this issue and consider alternative proposals, such as those reflected in the provisions of draft Senate Bill 1668, which would be more protective of the rights of the more vulnerable groups affected by the Hurricane.
For further information on the mandate and work of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing and the Independent Expert on minority issues, please consult respectively the following websites:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/housing/index.htm http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/minorities/expert/index.htm
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