Katrina’s tenth anniversary (August 29th) brings many important stories about levees, wetlands, demography, entrepreneurs, venture capital, corruption convictions, and resiliency. JSRI’s interests and Gospel focus on the “least among us” cause us to examine in this issue what happened—or not—in terms of poverty, housing availability, and criminal justice. Next month we focus on public schools, health care, and new immigrants. The picture, like much of the past ten years, is a blend of good and bad, success and failure.
Poverty and Jobs. In brief, the income gap has widened, and New Orleans ranks second in income inequality among 300 U.S. cities.
[1] Poverty is entrenched, and the percent of children living in poverty in New Orleans, 38% in 2005, has risen to 39%.
[2] The racial income divide continues growing: white median household income in metro New Orleans, on a par with households nationwide, grew by 22% between 2005 and 2013 to $60,553. That was three times the 7% growth rate of black median households (to $25,102).
[3] The disparity in 2013 incomes between white and black households was 54%, compared to 40% nationally.
[4] This worsened despite $71 billion dollars received by the State of Louisiana for rebuilding. Closely tied was the fact that employment rates for white men in metro New Orleans was 77%, compared with 57% for black men.