Washington, DC – Congressman William J. Jefferson (D-La.) today supported and applauded the passage of HR 1227, the “Gulf Coast Hurricane Housing Recovery Act of 2007”. The U.S. House of Representatives approved the bill today by a vote of 302 to 125.

HR 1227 is a measure to assist in the provision of affordable housing to low income families affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.  The bill would specifically quicken the pace of repairing and rebuilding homes and rental housing in devastated communities.  It would also ensure continued rental assistance to residents who have been able to move back to their communities as well as those who are still displaced after the major storms of 2005.  Finally, the bill would reimburse communities and landlords that were generous in providing rental housing to evacuees.

Congressman Jefferson’s work and advocacy resulted in the inclusion in the bill of a provision requiring the Department of Housing and Urban Development to conduct a survey of former New Orleans public housing residents to determine what number of them desire to return.  This information will facilitate the repair and renovation of units to allow these residents to come back to the city.

On the House Floor, Congressman Jefferson said, “The affordable housing rental units lost in Katrina represented about 30% of destroyed or severely damaged rental housing in a city that had 60% of its population renting.  The crisis of the lack of affordable housing in the Gulf Coast has prevented tens of thousands of families from returning home.”

“In addition, public housing units that inspectors have deemed reparable- but remain boarded up since Katrina- should be renovated and reopened to residents who want to move back into them.  Tearing the structures down and rebuilding from scratch would be a more exorbitant, lengthy process”, Jefferson said.