Louisiana Weekly Housing Update
A look into the role of a Disaster Recovery Center
Release Date: December 5, 2005
Release Number: 1603-198
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BATON ROUGE, La. -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) and the State of Louisiana's urgent priority is providing temporary housing. Helping victims find a safe place to live is an essential first step toward getting them back on their feet. In this massive housing operation, several programs and strategies have been implemented by all involved parties to ensure that housing options are made available to the thousands of displaced residents.
Housing efforts continue daily throughout the Gulf Coast with more than 50,000 housing units ready for occupancy. FEMA's Disaster Recovery Centers (DRC's) play a significant role in helping victims understand temporary housing options and in the support of the overall housing mission. With 45 centers scattered throughout the devastated areas in Louisiana, DRC representatives are familiar with the needs of disaster applicants and can relate their needs back to their supervisors.
A recent poll of activity at various DRC's shows an average of 6,000 individuals visiting DRC's daily with their number one questions relating to housing. To help answer those questions, representatives of state, federal, and voluntary agencies, as well as customer service representatives from the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Disaster Assistance, are on hand. They can provide recovery information and assist applicants in correcting problems and updating their files. Written materials about various assistance programs are also available to individuals and business owners.
This week in Louisiana:
At the close of business on Dec. 3: 13,898 travel trailers and mobile homes on private, industry, group and commercial sites are occupied; 2,321units on cruise ships are occupied; 925 FEMA-leased hotel rooms are occupied, and 2,867 units of federal housing provided by the United States Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) are now occupied.
There are also several housing sites under construction throughout Louisiana. Crews are working continuously to complete these sites in various parishes including St. Charles, Calcasieu, Orleans, St. Bernard, Jefferson, Plaquemines and East Baton Rouge.
The following charts provide detailed information on the types of housing available and a listing of housing units currently occupied by parish.
| Type | Units Occupied |
|---|---|
| Travel Trailer Individual Assistance** |
9,913 |
| Travel Trailer Industry** |
3,136 |
| Mobile Homes | 849 |
| Federal Housing HUD -Housing & Urban Development USDA -United States Dept. of Agriculture |
2,867 |
| FEMA Leased Hotels/Other | 925 |
| Cruise Ships | 2,321 |
| TOTAL: | 20,011 |
**Travel trailers are categorized as Individual Assistance (assistance for affected individuals and families) and Industry (housing assistance for displaced workers who have returned to bring critical facilities back online).
This table shows the parishes with housing units currently occupied.
| PARISH | UNITS OCCUPIED |
|---|---|
| Acadia | 5 |
| Allen | 4 |
| Ascension | 57 |
| Assumption | 6 |
| Avoyelles | 36 |
| Beauregard | 51 |
| Bossier | 43 |
| Caddo | 16 |
| Calcasieu | 1,366 |
| Cameron | 130 |
| Claiborne | 2 |
| Concordia | 64 |
| East Baton Rouge | 881 |
| East Feliciana | 4 |
| Evangeline | 11 |
| Grant | 13 |
| Iberia | 362 |
| Iberville | 8 |
| Jefferson | 4,440 |
| Jefferson Davis | 65 |
| La Salle | 7 |
| Lafayette | 99 |
| Lafourche | 124 |
| Livingston | 51 |
| Madison | 0 |
| Natchitoches | 21 |
| Orleans | 3,693* |
| Ouachita | 75 |
| Plaquemines | 590 |
| Pointe Coupee | 9 |
| Rapides | 9 |
| Red River | 6 |
| St. Bernard | 849 |
| St. Charles | 283 |
| St. Helena | 11 |
| St. James | 143 |
| St. John the Baptist | 57 |
| St. Landry | 1 |
| St. Martin | 12 |
| St. Mary | 68 |
| St. Tammany | 2,310 |
| Tangipahoa | 184 |
| Tensas | 1 |
| Terrebonne | 97 |
| Union | 1 |
| Vermillion | 152 |
| Vernon | 1 |
| Washington | 160 |
| Webster | 0 |
| W. Baton Rouge | 1 |
| TOTAL | 16,579* |
*Does not include parish breakdown for federal housing.
Last Modified: Tuesday, 06-Dec-2005 10:34:14