More than two years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, thousands of coastal Louisiana residents still live in government-provided trailers or commute miles to work from surrounding parishes. What they share, beyond a lingering devotion to reviving the Big Easy, is a lack of affordable housing.
After the storm, Republicans and Democrats made a priority of approving billions of dollars in aid to help rebuild the region. Then this year, the House swiftly passed legislation to authorize the reconstruction of the subsidized housing that existed in the city before the storm and give displaced residents the right to return. It had the support of all five Louisiana Republicans.
In the Senate, however, rebuilding legislation has come up against an unexpected opponent: the state's Republican senator, David Vitter.
Vitter opposes the rebuilding bill, saying it would simply re-create crime-ridden and poverty-stricken housing projects as they were.
A home-state senator's opposition to any regionally focused bill is tantamount to a legislative death sentence, and so Vitter's opposition has frustrated business groups, state and local officials and fellow Louisiana lawmakers who say the plan will help get the Gulf Coast economy back on track. They were surprised in September when Vitter issued a news release questioning the bill's fundamental approach even though, they say, he had given them assurances that he would not publicly oppose it. Some housing advocates have even questioned Vitter's motives in opposing the plan, saying he wants to deny fellow Sen. Mary L. Landrieu, a Democrat, the chance to claim credit for helping rebuild Louisiana.
"The biggest obstacle is Sen. David Vitter," said James Perry, president of the Louisiana Housing Alliance, a coalition of nonprofit groups that has been lobbying for passage of the measure. "He sees the bill as a win for Sen. Landrieu should it be passed, and he doesn't want to allow her that win."
Asked whether he was trying to deny Landrieu the ability to take home victory in a re-election year, Vitter responded, "My motivation is we shouldn't rebuild the same housing that was there. We're trying to express clearly what our reservations are."
Vitter responded only briefly to questions about why he opposes the bill. When asked about his specific objections, his aides point to an opinion piece last month in the New Orleans Times-Picayune in which he laid out general opposition, saying it would halt a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) plan to raze four housing complexes.
Surprise Resistance
Staff members for both senators say they had been working for months on a compromise, and housing advocates and Landrieu aides thought they were close to a deal.
But hours after a Sept. 25 Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Development Committee hearing on the measure, Vitter condemned it, taking advocates of the legislation by surprise, and, they say, bringing negotiations back to square one.
Vitter has since said he has six specific concerns he is trying to resolve. His staff has refused repeated requests to elaborate on them.
But in his op-ed, Vitter said he believes that no more than one-third of the units in new developments should be reserved for the poorest candidates for housing subsidies. The bill currently allows developers to reserve up to 50 percent of their units for the poorest tenants, but Landrieu aides said they are willing to change that limit to 30 percent.
He also wants to make sure that any reconstruction plan does not interfere with the HUD plan. But bill supporters and developers on the project say the bill would not derail the plans. Two of the developers have sent Landrieu letters supporting the bill.
Other aspects of the bill are less contentious and are supported by Democrats and Republicans. These include efforts to streamline environmental studies, allow already-approved Community Development Block Grants and hazard mitigation grants to be used more broadly for reconstruction, and enable the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority to redevelop foreclosed or abandoned properties.
Housing advocates and other supporters are holding out hope that they can enlist the support of Banking's ranking Republican, Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, whose state also could benefit from the bill. But so far, Shelby and other Senate Republicans have refused to sign on without Vitter.
Banking panel Chairman Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut said he is "talking to Sen. Landrieu every day" and hopeful they can break the impasse. But aides and lobbyists following the dispute say Dodd and Shelby are deferring any action unless Vitter and Landrieu can work out their disagreement.
"Ninety percent of this bill is New Orleans," said one GOP aide. "And Sen. Vitter and HUD still have serious concerns."
Aides and lobbyists have all but written off any chance of Vitter's support.
"It seems as though the bar is constantly moved for what Sen. Vitter would need to support the bill," said Diane Yentel, a policy analyst at the National Low Income Housing Coalition. "It's come to quite a standstill."
Landrieu is loath to characterize her colleague's stance, saying only, "I find it difficult to follow." But her staff is more straightforward about the talks, saying Vitter has added demands along the way.
"We feel like we're not getting the straight story. We get some concerns, then we get other concerns," said Landrieu spokesman Adam Sharp. "We're trying to get a set of finite concerns so we can get through them."
The gridlock is a marked change from Congress' stance in the months after Katrina, when members declared aid to the Gulf Coast an unquestioned national priority and cleared billions to help those hurt by Katrina.
But political experts say the senatorial flap is not unexpected, given Louisiana's rough-and-tumble politics and Vitter and Landrieu's chilly relationship. Landrieu is up for re-election next year and has emerged as the GOP's top target among incumbent senators, in part because of the state's rightward shift in recent elections.
"The fact that Mary Landrieu is widely identified as the most vulnerable Democrat coming into the next election cycle, you certainly don't want to give her big victories in helping the state," said Kirby Goidel, a professor of political science at Louisiana State University. "He probably feels safe enough to hold it up as long as it's not too obviously political and he has some policy-related cover. He's a pretty hardball political player."
Vitter still says he hopes he can reach a deal with Landrieu, and the senators' staffs continue to discuss the matter. But they would have to overcome some significant disagreements.
Widening Alliance
Landrieu has broadened support for the plan by promoting it as a necessary component of New Orleans' economic revival. The ranks of advocates have expanded from non-profits, affordable-housing groups and religious groups to include developers, mortgage bankers, and groups such as the Chamber for Southwest Louisiana and Greater New Orleans Inc., a coalition of businesses.
"The shortage of affordable workforce housing really is straining our economic recovery," said Barbara Johnson, chief operating officer for Greater New Orleans Inc. "It's a combination of housing and worker shortage. One is related to the other. You have employers that are not able to fill contracts, work orders, take on new contracts."
The state of Louisiana -- led by the Louisiana Recovery Authority -- supports the bill, as does New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and the New Orleans Tourism and Marketing Corporation. The New Orleans City Council on Nov. 1 unanimously passed a resolution in support of the bill -- albeit qualified to recognize lingering concerns of some members.
Councilwoman Stacey Head, who represents the higher-income uptown area, said her concerns generally track with Vitter's and that her support is contingent on promised changes. But she said about 15 percent of the bill is the subject of concern and should therefore not hold up the whole package.
Local officials and housing experts worry that any delay will widen economic disparities and labor shortages. Fair-market rents in the city have risen 45 percent since Katrina, because of rising costs and federal restrictions on how housing aid can been spent, experts say.
While New Orleans has regained 68 percent of its pre-storm population, it has recovered just one-quarter of its health, education, leisure and hospitality workers, according to figures compiled by The Brookings Institution. Other workers slow to return include firefighters and other first-responders.
"When you go to the hospital, who's going to take care of you? When you go to the dry cleaners, who's going to greet you?" said Jan Robert, executive director of the St. Tammany Healthcare Alliance, who has struggled with labor shortages. "All we talk about is entry-level workers -- where we get them, where we find them and how we find them housing."
But even supporters of the plan say local officials and residents will have to adjust to a new reality: Katrina aid is no longer immune from political gamesmanship.
"Politics tends to seep into everything," said GOP Rep. Charles Boustany Jr. "But we're talking about people's lives and people in need. Politics should not stand in the way," he said. "If this continues to stall, I'll talk to some more members. . . . Clearly, we need to get the Senate moving again."
For Further Reading: Louisiana Senate race, CQ Weekly, p. 2453; hurricane relief, 2005 Almanac, p. 15-6.
Source: CQ Weekly
The definitive source for news about Congress.©2007 Congressional Quarterly Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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