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| Paulette Lindsey (center) and her two children, Tiron, 12 and Tonisha, 9, were the first Habitat family to move into a house built as part of Habitat's Katrina recovery effort, Operation Home Delivery. She stands in front of her house in Slidell, La., with her children, her sister Marion Boston and former NFL New Orleans Saints player Maurice Spencer. |
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In the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the housing need along the Gulf Coast is staggering, but the recovery must start somewhere.What better place than flood-ravaged Slidell, La.?
Right before Christmas, mother of two Paulette Lindsey became the first Habitat homeowner to move into a house built as part of Operation Home Delivery, Habitat's long-term recovery effort. Begun as a containerized house in New York's Rockefeller Plaza during "Make a Difference TODAY" last September, the framework for Lindsey's house was shipped to Slidell, where volunteers reassembled it into a permanent dwelling.
"I've seen where a lot of people, even some celebrities, have signed their names to the 2" x 4"s, and it's just nice to know that so many people I don't even know cared enough to help like that," Lindsey says.
"It's not just people I know who helped, but a lot of people I don't know helped, too, and that means this house has come along with a lot of support and love."
Lindsey's house provides stability for her family, including 12-year-old son,Tiron, and daughter, Tonisha, who is 9, but it also symbolizes the hope that decent housing can provide families throughout the Gulf region. And hope is exactly what Habitat seeks to foster as its building efforts intensify in partnership with families whose lives were turned upside down by Katrina and Rita.
As Operation Home Delivery transitions from its first phase of containerized houses to actual homes on ground, progress is being made:
- 221 Habitat OHD houses have been framed and containerized.
- 60-plus containerized houses were under construction on the Gulf Coast as this report was being written in December.
- 20-plus Global Village groups have worked in the affected area.
While the numbers thus far may pale beside the enormous housing need, Habitat's is a long-term commitment in the region. The massive disaster has demanded a massive planning effort.
To that end, Habitat has staffed an office whose charge it is to prepare and execute a lasting building plan that ultimately will result in thousands of houses along the storm-ravaged coast.
"Operation Home Delivery is working on programs and structure, and is making some progress in the hurricane-affected areas," says Ken Meinert, senior vice president for Habitat's OHD program. "We have supported affiliates who are recovering and have new homes under construction in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas. Longer-term planning efforts for an aggressive building plan for 2006 will be implemented soon."
Habitat World will keep readers apprised of those plans as they take shape.
--Shawn Reeves
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