Date: 2007-03-20
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Chairman. before I begin. I want to thank Mr. BARNEY FRANK. chairman of the committee. and MAXINE WATERS and other members of the Committee on Financial Services for doing such a fine job in crafting this bill. I rise in support of H.R. 1227. the Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act. I truly believe this bill is a tremendous victory for the gulf coast thaj was affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. I once again want to commend my colleagues. Before I start talking about my amendment. let me talk about what happened during the hurricane because I saw something during Hurricane Katrina that I have never seen in the 25 years I have been an elected official and certainly the 15 years I have been a Member of Congress. I saw something in the government that I have never seen before. I saw a government that was not just incompetent. but I saw a government that did not care about its people. I thought I was in a third world. and Ihave got to take a moment to commend my community because we all watched it on television and were horrified. We came together. I represent the Jacksonville area. and we came together as a community and we sent over 16 tractortrailers full of goods and services to New Orleans. We came together as a community. It was the business community. It was Democrats. it was Republicans. It was students. and we filled those tractortrailers and sent them in there until the government could kick in. What we saw was a government that was not capable of responding. Well. when you look at the top 20 positions. and one police officer told me that you dont put people in positions over disasters that have public relations backgrounds. You make them ambassadors. But you put people in to head up disasters that are life and death to your communities that have the background and experience to do the job. That certainly was not the position of FEMA or Homeland Security. I want to put that on the table before I begin. Now. this particular amendment would allow that residents returning would have the opportunity to include their utility bill into the payment for their rent. This is something.that was taking place prior to. and this would be something that would be permitted under my amendment. Many public housing residents are being forced into deeper debt because of utility bills. Public housing residents that lived in the areas of Rita and Katrina had their monthly rent included in their utilities. C4irrently. their vouchers do not include utilities. and many public housing residents are forced to make tough choices. I have three such examples. Bobby Jennings lived in C.J. Peete for 34 years prior to Katrina. She paid incomebased rent in the amount of $167 per month. which included utilities. Now she lives in another part and she pays $1.050 in rent which is not covered by her rent voucher. and she must pay $429 per month out of pocket. Well. her average income. she is a senior citizen on a fixed income. is $655 per month. So $300 per month she has to come up with. And that is the same for Mrs. Gloria Williams who was paying $185 per month. Now she pays $1.128 per month and she must come up with $406 per month. ( 1600 The last person is Mrs. Wright. She lived in public housing for over 20 years. She was paying the amount of $290 per month. She is in Houston. Texas. She now pays $625 a month. and she has to come up with an average of $250 a month for utilities. So utilities impose a disproportionate burden for the poor. And for the average American. utility bills only comprise 6 to 10 percent of household income. In this area it is 32 to 53 percent. Those receiving vouchers have already demonstrated" their great need for assistance. and they are being shortchanged. We cant allow this to continue. and we must provide proper funding to those receiving this voucher. This amendment would ensure that utilities are part of the housing voucher for residents returning to New Orleans. The Congressional Budget Office said that it would have no direct impact as far as spending is concerned. I urge the adoption of this amendment to help people like Mrs. Jennings. Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Wright receive the assistance they greatly deserve. I -yield to the gentlewoman from California.