What happens when sky high insurance costs meets charity at the corner of Captured Regulator Blvd and Price Gouging Way? Easy, affordable houses go unused. AP reporter Sheila Byrd has the story for the Sun Herald along with quotes from our own Captured Regulator Mike Chaney who admits insurance rates have gone up and stayed up, despite his earlier proclamations on that subject. (No word yet if he has bothered to reply to the United Poloicyholders Inquiry – somehow I doubt it.) Belated H/T to Editilla at the Ladder.
In four states along the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, Habitat for Humanity came with a mission to build hundreds of homes during a spring blitz so people pushed into poverty after Katrina would have the chance to own a home.
Many of the dozens of completed houses in Texas, Louisiana and Alabama are occupied or will soon be dedicated. But not in Mississippi, where only six of the 30 homes are filled.
Potential homeowners are having a hard time meeting the program’s requirement to save about $3,500 in an escrow account for a year’s worth of taxes and insurance, said Chris Monforton, chief executive officer for Habitat for Humanity of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
And most of the account would be for insurance, with just $500 going toward taxes, said Duane Bates, spokesman for Habitat for Humanity International.
“It is a struggle. That is not unique to Habitat families. It’s a struggle to most first-time buyers,” Monforton said.
But Hurricane Katrina, which hit in 2005, has exacerbated the average challenges homebuyers face.
The storm nearly wiped out Mississippi’s Coast, taking with it affordable housing. That is compounded by some insurance companies, scared off by the hurricane risks, greatly increasing their rates and others pulling out of the region altogether.
Since Katrina, rates along the Gulf Coast have increased about 33 percent in some areas, depending on how close a property is to the water, said Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney.
And three years after the storm, the housing crisis endures, with just under 6,000 families still living in temporary structures in the state.
In May, volunteers, including former President Jimmy Carter, came to help. They began work on about 250 homes across the Gulf Coast. Some were completed, while others remain under construction.
Habitat houses are never sold for the appraised value but usually for thousands of dollars less. Along with the financial obligation, low-income families must invest hundreds of hours in sweat equity that can be earned by attending home-buying classes and helping to build other houses.
And families need to raise some money to cover some fees, which have turned out to be less in the other three states where the homes were built. Homeowners’ insurance rates skyrocketed after Katrina in other Gulf Coast regions as well. But Habitat affiliates differ in the amount and structure of their escrow accounts, Bates said.
The New Orleans Habitat for Humanity dedicated 25 houses from the May event. About 80 percent of them are occupied, said Elise Tusa, communications director for the organization. The escrow account is about $1,700.
In Houston, where half of the 16 homes completed are occupied, families must have $2,000 to put into escrow.
Habitat’s only financial requirement is a $500 down payment in Mobile. By year’s end, all 11 blitz homes will be inhabited, said Anita Havel, a spokeswoman for the Alabama chapter.
“A lot of people are still living in substandard housing,” Havel said of the area. “They were on the edge of poverty and the storm pushed them into deep poverty.”
An 1,100-square-foot Habitat home on the Mississippi Coast is about $88,000, Monforton said.
Monforton said the Salvation Army contributes $10,000 to each house “to be able to buy down the mortgage because we knew insurance went up.”
That money averages out to about $36 a month over 30 years. When insurance costs for some homeowners have gone from $80 a month to $300 a month, the Salvation Army donation “just got wiped away,” Monforton said.
All of the Mississippi homes have been assigned. Some of the families are turning to outside grant programs for assistance with varying degrees of success. Families who qualify for up to a $48,000 grant through the state’s Katrina work force housing program were waiting to receive that money before closing. But Monforton said the grant can’t be used for taxes and insurance.
Tracey Robinson, 40, just moved into her Habitat home after receiving a grant from the city of Pascagoula to help cover her insurance costs. FEMA recently stopped paying Robinson’s rent at a house she moved into after she left a FEMA trailer.
“My kids and I were at the point where we really didn’t have anywhere to go,” Robinson said.
This post is a departure from the interesting “stick and move” format utilized in the previous 6 posts. I was trying to figure out if it was Haiku or something.
LOL. Stick and move results from the combination of a very long day mixed with several martini’s and news items I felt like commenting upon. Some, like RAC downsizing you’ll only see here at slabbed.
In any event, while we await Nowdy’s next installment of “the Scheme” this is the big story today. (That and Jeff Duncan’s column on Deuce.)
sop
Scheme, what scheme?
I hope Duncan was wrong on his theory, but I fear he may not be. Conventional wisdom around here is that Payton largely has wasted what few productive years Deuce had left. Payton could never commit to Deuce, except in the Philly playoff game, and look what happened.
Deuce’s m.o. always has been to wear defenses down in the late 3rd and 4th quarters, but that only happens if he gets 25-30 carries, which opens passing lanes. He still looks strong enough to do that, more often than not. But sadly, he has not gotten the chance. It’s almost as if there is a sense of resignation with the fans that until his retirement, Deuce will be a bit player. It probably has more of an adverse effect on the fans than it does on Deuce.
http://librarychronicles.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html#2853293197176417129
The Saints do best when Deuce gets his carries as you point out Rick. The combination of Reggie Bush and a pass happy coach has limited Deuce before he was injured.
Deuce took the team on his back in that playoff game against Philly. From the little we’ve seen him this year he does not appear to have lost a step to me.
He is a class act.
sop
Editilla:
I had already e-mailed your link to many friends before I read your post here. Nice work on the video, whoever did it. I was at the Atlanta game (the day after L.S.U. upset Tennessee in the S.E.C. championship), when Deuce ripped off the first long T.D. (I think 54 yards) against the Falcons in 2001 or 2002. Of course, Haslett, like his successor, sent Deuce right back to the bench. Back then, it was in favor of Rasta Williams, instead of Vegas Bush.
We’ll never know what really could have been because so much of his time was wasted on the bench at the beginning and end of his career.
I am tempted to refer to this blog as “Perpetual Whiner.” Quickly, where do you get your facts and figures and why aren’t your sources ever credited?
Strokin’ Bull:
I am not whining about Deuce’s limited playing time, just making an observation. The facts and figures (his stats) are an open book. You can get them almost anywhere.
I can’t think of any facts or figures that we haven’t provided source documents for, Robert.
If you can give me an example or two of our use of uncredited facts and figures to check out, I’d very much appreciate the opportunity to see where you think we have failed to establish a source.
In the blog format, the linked documents serve as footnotes for the facts and figures we use. It gives our readers the capacity to go straight to the source document for verification.
I was headed down Beach Blvd when my blackberry buzzed with your comment Robert. I’m not certain which one made me laugh harder, yours or Rick’s.
If it makes you feel better one of my Yahoo alaises is soB81_1. 😉
BTW – Since I post mostly news stories my sources are fairly obvious. Others, like RAC handing out pink slips comes couresty of me being a construction CPA. I post right about 5% of such things I hear on the street..
All that said we remain happy to host your viewpoint. Also please feel free to register your displeasure with me personally too – you have my addy.
And I don’t blame you one bit for being upset about Deuce. He is a fine ambassador for the State of Mississippi and deserves a shot at breaking the Saints career touchdown record.
sop