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[SIZE=-1]WWLTV.com[/SIZE] It’s long been speculated that the poor residents of New Orleans fared worse than other groups during and after Katrina and a group that focuses on the problems of poverty say they have the statistics to back that up.
WWL-TV
For every home that is being rebuilt in the Lower Ninth Ward there are dozens and dozens that look like no one is coming back.
PolicyLink says the numbers show that Medicaid enrollment in New Orleans dropped nearly in half from 134,000 prior to Katrina to 72,000. The number of people receiving Social Security went from 26,000 to 10,000 and the number of food stamp recipients fell from 110,000 to 51,000.
“I think it is one of the more heartbreaking stories of this recover that there’s still 90,000 people from New Orleans displaced outside of the state,” said Kaline Rose of PolicyLink New Orleans.
PolicyLink, which advocates social equity nationwide focusing on housing, health and community building, opened an office in New Orleans to monitor the city’s recovery, especially to see how the most vulnerable groups managed.
They say that looking at the situation of senior citizens, people with disabilities and those with limited incomes is not good.
“You see slow progress,” said Angela Blackwell, the founder of PolicyLink. “You see empty neighborhoods. You see lots of hopes that are being dashed and you don’t see lots of momentum for the rebuilding that has to happen.
“Education, health and well being, strong infrastructure, job preparedness and a vibrant democracy are essential for the country to thrive, and what we have right here is a model in which all of those things are failing.”
