Critical Housing Shortage

Affordable rental housing on the Gulf Coast was in short supply and considered a major issue prior to Hurricane Katrina.  Approximately 98 percent of the housing units severely damaged by Katrina were in Louisiana and Mississippi.  The damage done to residences in these states however was very different.  The damage to the housing stock in the city of New Orleans was primarily a result of the flooding of the city after the levees collapsed after the storm.  Damage to the housing stock along the Mississippi Gulf Coast was a result of the storm surge and flooding caused by the storm itself. 
After Katrina, the state commissioned a report RAND report that documents FEMA and ACOE damage estimates that 65% of the rental units were destroyed or damaged.  The report goes on to note that the highest damage is to multi-family structures – virtually all of which were rented.  Most of these multi-family structures were located in Biloxi and Gulfport both of which sustained substantial damage as a result of the storm. 

 

Katrina left thousands homeless and slowly residents are rebuilding their homes, but the most acute problem is the lack of affordable workforce housing. Alleviating this problem is the key to the economic recovery of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. 

From the RAND report:
“The very tight market for affordable housing pre-Katrina; the loss of a significant portion of the rental stock, a 20% increase in rents after Katrina and a substantial drop in employment have created a very tight market for those households that the storm displaced.  The problem is particularly acute in the affordable-rental sector.  Alleviating this problem is important not just to the recovery of the housing market but also to economic recovery more generally. “

Post-Katrina Recovery of the Housing Market Along the Mississippi Gulf Coast ©Copyright 2008 RAND Corporation.