Questions called in from cspan and cspan will now answer. Saturday march the 10th anniversary of hurricane katrina. Julianek, hud secretary castro and members of the housing and urban Development RecoveryTeam Presented a on the recovery efforts. This is one hour. Good morning. We want to welcome you for the Media Briefing ahead of the 10year anniversary of hurricane katrina. Today you will hear from secretary castro and senior policy experts who have worked tirelessly on the gulf recovery from day one. Before i turn it over to secretary castro, i want to let you know we will be taking questions from the media as well as viewers on the webcast and cspan2. Link urge you to send questions via twitter we encourage you to send questions via twitter or by email. That is h. U. D. Public affairs at. Gov. Please join me in welcoming secretary Julian Castro. [applause] Julian Castro good morning. Thank you for the introduction. Let me begin by thanking all of the journalists here today at headquarters as well as those i know are joining us over the internet. In the coming days, americans will turn to you as we commemorate the tragedy that the felt our befell our nation a decade ago. A disaster so terrible that for all of us, it will be remembered by one word. Katrina. They will turn to journalists to account with so many endured and what none of us can forget. Amid the devastating numbers, more than 1800 lives lost, more than one million americans displaced, one million homes destroyed across five states, 150 billion in economic damage. Amid all of those numbers, americans will also look for answers. How much progress have we made, particularly in new orleans . What are we doing to support the recovery in the affected communities . Today is about providing answers, but it is also about more than that. We are also reaffirming American History tv h. U. D. s commitment to the people of the gulf to continue working with them and for them until the job of recovery is complete. You see, as long as there are people who want to come home and communities that need to be rebuilt, our job is not done. That is the true meaning of commemoration. Not to simply mark a date on our calendars, but to ensure remembering also renews our devotion to those we lost, our dedication to support those who suffered, and our resolve to see the promise of our nation made to new orleans and the gulf fulfilled. 10 years ago, i was proud to live in a community that stepped up to support the evacuees in the earliest days of katrina. Roughly 25,00035,000 people fleeing the storm came to san antonio. We were just one of many cities whose residents opened their arms to families in need. Across the nation, h. U. D. Played an Important Role to help displaced families find housing and get back on their feet. H. U. D. Partnered with more than 300 public thousand authorities Public Housing authorities in 39 states to provide housing for nearly 39,000 families. In the gulf coast states, louisiana, mississippi, texas, alabama, and florida, h. U. D. Worked closely with Disaster Recovery leaders to support an ongoing recovery. Through our community develop me initiativen, we havet, initiative, we have devoted nearly 20 billion. Nearly 14 billion of that funding has gone directly to support the regions housing market. H. U. D. Has provided compensation for 158,000 affected households. We have also helped nearly 2900 families to buy new homes and have created almost 36,000 new units of Affordable Housing while rehabilitating another 13,000 Housing Units. H. U. D. Is also central in the redevelopment of damaged housing throughout the gulf, especially in what were known as new orleansbig for developments. Katrina displaced 3000 families living in those Public Housing buildings. Today, in 2015, four new, attractive, mixed income developments are a vital part of Community Life in new orleans. The new Orleans Housing authority, which once was the set beset by mismanagement and underreceivership by h. U. D. Has made an impressive turnaround and was returned to local control in 2014. As part of h. U. D. s to support the broader economic recovery, our agency invested 1. 6 billion to replace and improve streets, utilities, sewer lines, schools, hospitals, and dams. In new orleans alone, h. U. D. Has helped build 82 new schools as well as 11 colleges and universities. Our agency also helped open more than a dozen hospitals, clinics, and other health care centers. We have helped rehabilitate 20 parks and more than 20 fisheries and completed dozens of water and sewer projects. Im also proud to say that h. U. D. Has played a role to help nearly 5500 businesses, most of them small businesses, three open their doors to reopen their doors. This morning, you are going to hear from some of the men and women Whose Service was essential as h. U. D. Supporting families in the gulf. Earl randall is our new Orleans Field Office director, an outstanding leader. And right at the head of our response to katrina. Not only did earl and his team work around the clock to rick aid the recovery effort, they did so while grappling with their own personal loss. They were among the storms heroes. I want to personally thank earl for his excellent work in these last few years. He continues to represent the very best of our federal workforce. Earl is going to be joined by todd richardson, h. U. D. s associate Deputy Assistant secretary in our office of policy development. I have to say todd knows more about these issues than just about anyone. But even more importantly, he cares deeply about getting the policy right for those who count on us. I know he and earl have put together a great presentation for you about the human aspect of this tragedy. Following that, they will be joined on stage by three more of our colleagues, Mary Mcfadden serves as assistant secretary for Grant Programs in h. U. D. s office of Community Planning and development in she oversees a number of programs that were instrumental in the recovery effort. She has also done great work on the longterm Hurricane Sandy recovery, so be sure to ask her a lot of good and tough questions. Lynns executive director in our fair housing and equal Opportunity Office of enforcement. Lynn brings a wealth of knowledge concerning how we are working to ensure all families, no matter the background, regardless of what they look like or how much money they make, can take part in the gulf coasts economic future. And finally, they will be joined by the Deputy Assistant secretary for Public Housing and voucher programs. Milan was central to our work to not only rebuild damaged Public Housing but also to help turn around new orleans want struggling housing authority. I dont have to tell you that over the last decade, the road to recovery that they are going to discuss has been long and challenging. But i think you would agree with me it has also shown that while that storm was tough, the spirit of the people of the gulf coast has been even tougher. Their resilience continues to inspire us at h. U. D. Because as much as we have accomplished in the last decade, all of us are very aware our job is not done. Today, the city of new orleans, for example, continues to grow. More than half of the citys neighborhood have recovered 90 of their population from before katrina. And 17 communities are larger than they were before the storm. But there is still so much more work to be done. I am proud to say we have worked with local leaders to build a stronger new orleans and a gulf coast that all can be proud of for future generations. As we mark 10 years, our work continues. We will keep working hard every day until the gulf coast come back come back comeback is complete. Thank you. With that, i would like to turn things back over to jaime. [applause] thank you, mr. Secretary. We are going to take a brief artist prepare for the next part of the program and be right back. Jaime next, i would like to welcome will randow earl randall and todd richardson. Earl not only responded to the crisis, he lived through it. Todd is one of our data experts that when h. U. D. Works on something, it is not just about the output of dollars, it is about the impact those dollars make. Todd has vast knowledge about our work on the ground. So i will turn it over to them. [applause] todd the dust bowl of the 1930s, the chicago fire, the galveston hurricane of 1900 and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. These were catastrophic events that changed lives forever and transform leases. Katrina joins these disasters of the last century and our language about transformative events. As the secretary noted, over one million damaged of homes and tens of thousands of lives disrupted for many years. 1833 lives lost. Our colleagues at fema can tell you the story of response. H. U. D. s story shared with a number of federal, state, and local agencies is about the recovery of the last 10 years for the families and places most impacted by the storm. As noted in the introduction, im todd richardson. My role after disaster is to find the data and make sense of it. Earl im earl randall, iii. I provide the on the ground perspective behind the data todd presents. Todd the winds of caused damage over a large part of the southern u. S. But the catastrophic damage of katrina was in louisiana and this is a be. The storm was the same, the disaster manifested differently. For mississippi with the storm surge crushing houses along the oceanfront, pushing them up against the raised rail bed. Earl in new orleans, it leveled thousands of homes. The flood right floodwaters continue to rise until september 1. Todd the word we heard most often by victims and First Responders was devastation. Earl the slide you see now is the night toward where the levee breached and the floodwaters devastated all the homes in its wake. There were dozens of homes completely washed off of their foundations and people suffered a tremendous loss. Todd the debris removal effort led by the corps of engineers was massive. This is a transfer station for debris. As noted by the secretary, more than one million Housing Units were damaged across five states. Over 278,000 homes suffered major and severe damage. Earl you may have heard the statistic that 80 of the city of new orleans was underwater. Large portions of gulfport and biloxi were inundated with water due to the storm surge that approached. Todd more than 1800 people lost their lives and one million displaced residents. We are now going to pivot from the destruction of katrina to the recovery. These next at a points are made possible by the United StatesPostal Service. This slide from the New York Times shows one year after katrina where folks had relocated to using u. S. Postal service data. 270,000 households in the new orleans area filed change of address forms. One year later, 200,000 were still living still having their mail forwarded. Earl as a result of katrina, new orleans residents were spread across the country. In the immediate aftermath, these residents were placed in various modes of transportation and sent out to different parts of the country. What did this mean . This meant lives were changed forever, and stability had to become an essential factor in surviving. The prekatrina life of everyone affected was temperately frozen on 8 29. On a personal note, going back into the new Orleans Field Office three months later, i went to my desk. The calendar was set on the date we left. People had left coffee mugs in the same position. It was an eerie feeling walking back into the office and seeing it the way you left it three months prior. That was the symbol of what peoples lives were. When you left, when you evacuated whether voluntarily or you were involuntarily rescued, your life was frozen at that moment in time. Earl how long does recovery todd how long does recovery take . The Postal Service can tell us about active actresses addresses. My friends at the data center have been tracking the number of addresses taking mail by zip code. Account of active addresses is now 90 of what it was before the storm. When youre after the storm, it had been 50 . Two years, 67 . Three years, 72 . Gradually each year, until 90 at 10 years. The recovery has been at a different pace for different neighborhoods. In lakeview, it was 85 . That is the bottom line. In new orleans east, which had the most houses affected of any of the neighborhoods, the top line, the redline, 82 of addresses have returned. Earl in these two neighborhoods in particular, they both shared something in common. There was a higher rate of Home Ownership. There was also a higher rate of insurance in those areas. That is what attribute it to 85 and 82 of those residents coming back. Todd these two middle lines are the neighboring communities of st. Bernard parish and the lower ninth and bywaters areas. 72 of prekatrina addresses have returned. In st. Bernard parish, 63 . Earl they were the most devastated communities in the city of new orleans. They were inundated with a significant amount of floodwater. Their rate of return has been much lower due to the lack insurance as well as the Home Ownership ratio and mentors. The was a lower number of homeowners in those areas at a higher proportion of renters. Todd the Research Supports this. The more severe the damage, the greater the concentration of damage, the longer it takes to rebuild, the less likely to rebuild. If there is inadequate or no insurance, the Recovery Process is slowed years. We have a few aerial photos thanks to my colleague, dana. This is a picture of an area in the lower ninth ward. In 2003, it had 95 homes. Earl the aerial shot in october of 2014, there were 47 homes. If you looked at the previous slide and saw the cluster of homes, that was the cultural aspect, a way of living. My grandparents lived in the lower ninth ward. Both sets of my grandparents lived around the corner from each other, so we had cousins, aunts, in almost a commune setting. That was our way of life. That was our culture. Once katrina hit, that changed not only for my family but all the families that lived in the same type of environment in the lower ninth ward, all of the neighborhoods affected by katrina. Life changed at that moment. Things you used to do on a daily basis, you could not do any longer because of the change in the dynamics. Todd in st. Bernard parish, a few blocks away, this lowers borders on the lower ninth ward. In 2003, it had 84 homes. Earl 2014 shows only 15 homes returned to that area. Todd h. U. D. Is the Recovery Funding of last resort. We only provide funding when there is a sense the existing mechanisms, insurance, disaster loans, fema assistance, the corps of engineers, will not be enough recovery. H. U. D. Received three rounds of supplemental appropriations through the Disaster Recovery program to fill those gaps. We had an initial appropriation of 11. 5 million billion dollars. That was followed by 5. 2 billion and a final 3 billion when he realized the homeowner recovery programs in louisiana had more needs than anticipated. As this slide shows, private insurance played a big role. 41 billion, 18 billion for homeowners. The National FloodInsurance Program played a big role for 211,000 claims. Philanthropy has been very important to recovery, 6. 5 billion. Tax credits have been an important part of rebuilding. As noted, h. U. D. s program filling the gaps at 20 billion. This slide notes how much of the funds went to each state. The majority of the damage and returns went to louisiana followed by mississippi. Earl as todd mentioned, the disaster funds were the funds of last resort. On the ground, those funds were the driving force in recovery. It was with those funds that were flexible and caused the community to think how to meet their specific recovery needs. What it would entail and how we address the plight of homeowners, how we address the plight of renters, filling in the gaps for businesses that were shuttered due to the disaster. Our disaster dollars filled major gaps in recovery dealing with housing, economic development, and critical infrastructure. These funds still had to a tear to requirements that have the funds used had to serve low income. They must follow the environmental, civil rights, and labor laws. One of the most challenging aspects of dealing with disasters cdbg is it does not come with a preset structure. It is inherently incumbent on those communities to design and implement their plan of recovery. It gives them a template to address housing, infrastructure, and economic development. But they must design a criteria for recovery. To simplify a lot of these matters, louisiana and mississippi both adopted a Compensation Program for homeowners. It was providing substantial grants to homeowners to cover the gap in funding left by insurance and other resources. By accepting these grants, homeowners agreed to rebuild by a certain date. If homeowners chose not to rebuild, those homes would be deeded over to the state. In louisiana alone, 130,000 families received compensation. This was an average award of 69,224. 92 of those individuals selected the option to rebuild. 8 chose to deed their homes to the state rather than rebuild. Todd again, how long does recovery take . From its low point in july of 2006 of 98,000 active addresses to the 179,000 active addresses today, an increase of 80,000 active addresses over the decade. Most of these were likely supported in some form by the