Call for Volunteers - August 29 is Deadline to Have Homes Gutted

August 29 is Deadline to Have Homes Gutted
By: Steve Cannizaro

May 29, 2006

Aug. 29 is deadline for residents to have damaged homes gutted and secured but it’s not likely everyone who signed up for free gutting will be reached; council working on plan to list contractors who agree to do work at going rate, which is 99 cents per square foot.

For a number of reasons, many St. Bernard Parish residents who signed up for a free gutting of their home by volunteers under a unique parish government program that began in January, simply won’t be reached, Parish Council members are acknowledging.

Instead, only the handicapped and elderly - those 60 and over – will likely be reached on the list at this point, council members said this week.

The council has set Aug. 29, the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina flooding the parish, as the deadline for residents to have their damaged homes gutted and secured, even if they have to do it themselves.

That deadline would hold even if their name hasn’t been reached on a list homeowners who signed up to have volunteers remove storm debris from their homes. Some 1,500 homes have been gutted by volunteers who have come to St. Bernard from many other states but there are still 5,000 homes on the free list to be gutted while officials estimated volunteers may be able to reach only 1,500 to 2,000 more by Aug. 29.

The Aug. 29 date, the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina flooding nearly all of the parish’s 27,000 homes, was set as a means to deal with blighted housing created by people who have abandoned their damaged homes in the parish and haven’t done anything with them.

People who don’t have their homes gutted by the deadline face the possibility of the parish taking bids by private contractors to do the work and putting a lien on the person’s home for the amount involved.

The going rate by private contractors is about 99 cents per square foot to gut a residence – for example, roughly $2,000 for a 2,000 square-foot-home.

While council members are insisting the public must get the gutting done one way or another by Aug. 29, they are also working toward a system of encouraging contractors not to raise prices.

The plan would involve letting contractors who agree to keep prices at the going rate be listed free on the parish website, www.sbpg.net, and listed on a sheet of referrals to be handed out to residents.

Council member Kenny Henderson said he is concerned contractors, knowing of the Aug. 29 deadline, will raise prices for gutting work if the parish volunteers can’t reach everyone who signed up to have their homes cleaned of storm debris.

Council member Craig Taffaro Jr. acknowledged that in setting up the free gutting program by volunteers and asking residents to sign up, it created “a false sense of assistance we can’t fulfill.’’ He also said, “I don’t want to create a market where the price will rise.’’ But the best way to deal with that is to create a system in which contractors are encouraged not to raise prices by letting them be on a referral list, several council members said. Council member Mark Madary said he hopes residents will understand parish government set out to do something to help as many people as possible. But in the end, Madary said, it comes down to, “Santa didn’t come this year. If you want the train set you have to go buy it yourself.’’

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In response to this deadline, the CCRP has undertaken a media and volunteer drive. It is estimated that half a million man hours are needed before the 1st anniversary of the storm.

We have managed to source food and housing for up to one thousand volunteers simultaneously.

If you want to come down to New Orleans and help these people keep their homes by giving of your time gutting houses, please call (204) 779-3113 and leave a message. Or, you can contact Geoffrey by email at geoffrey@groovy.net or by phone at (303)572-4396 or (504)210-6998. Kent Davies can usually be reached during business hours at CKUW in Winnipeg, (204) 986-9782. We have networked with several relief organizations who are working on gutting and can likely match accommodations to volunteer needs bearing in mind the city is still a disaster situation.

Although we only have weeks left down south, we will continue this volunteer drive through to the and of August.

- Geoffrey Young