37,000 evacuees to permanently relocate to Houston?
Well, that's according to the math in a recent Washington Post poll. 125,000 evacuees in town (I think that number is low) x 44% want to relocate x 2/3 want to stay in Houston = 36,667."The poll vividly documents the immediate and dramatic changes that Hurricane Katrina has brought to two major American cities. It also suggests that what may be occurring is a massive -- and, perhaps, permanent -- transfer of a block of poor people from one city to another. That may have social, economic and political consequences that will be felt for decades, if not generations, in both communities."
There are also stats on why they didn't leave earlier, how they got out, what they experienced, their religious faith, and who they blame, if you want to read the whole thing.
I have a feeling that the President's inspiring speech plus the promise of reconstruction jobs will lure more back home over time. It'll be interesting to see how the numbers change if another poll is conducted post-speech.
posted by Tory Gattis @ 10:37 PM
2 Comments:
They were only drawing from the population at the shelters, not from those who were staying in private homes with family/friends/whatever.
A total of 680 randomly selected evacuees living temporarily in the Astrodome, Reliant Center and George R. Brown Convention Center, as well as five Red Cross shelters in the Houston area, were interviewed Sept. 10 to 12 for this Post-Kaiser-Harvard survey. More than 8,000 evacuees were living in these facilities and awaiting transfer to other housing when the interviewing was conducted.
It may be that the non-shelter folks feel the same way, but I don't think you can unequivocally draw that conclusion.
-- Kuff
I suspect that who and how many relocate to NOLA will be driven by the nature of the relocation assistance. If it takes the form of subsidized insurance and tax benefits, I’d suspect the returnees will be wealthier. If it takes the form of brand-new townhomes, educational assistance, and cash payments, it will be the poor. I suspect that business interests will want the former, local politicians the latter.
Either way, I suspect that the “Old Guard” will return and the middle class, employed by large corporations, will not.
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