Looking for Home after Katrina

Abstract

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, more than a million Gulf Coast residents were forced to flee, nearly 250,000 to Texas. New Orleans lost more than half its population. Four years later, many low-income residents had yet to return. Through qualitative research with low-income survivors relocated to Austin, Texas, and the caseworkers and service providers who worked with them, this article describes the experiences of low-income households. Disaster housing policies were a particularly poor fit for the needs of low-income survivors and, combined with a preexisting shortage of affordable housing in Austin, impeded their recovery.