Blue-collar New Orleans endures cost squeeze

Prospects are bleakest for those earning $15,700 to $26,150. Only 16 percent of housing affordable to them is scheduled for federally funded redevelopment, according to Policylink.

Anisha Washington earns $19,200, half the average U.S. per capita income. Before Katrina, she rented a two-bedroom apartment for $260 a month in the business district. Rental listings there now exceed $1,000.

State officials say new apartments will be of much higher quality than the decaying gingerbread shotguns destroyed by the storm. But they acknowledge rents will rise.

Government subsidies may be the only solution, but no one has an estimate of taxpayer cost.

"In pre-Katrina New Orleans, you might have had more affordable housing for low-income households, but guess what? It was substandard," said Wil Jacobs, housing policy director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority. Jacobs said there may be no choice for working people but to accept government help. "There is no shame in that," he said.

Powell's wife, Atonia, sees plenty of shame in the notion.

"They talk about the housing projects. But the thing that bothers me is that the rest of the people who are trying to do right are struggling," she said.

She earns $38,000 as a retirement plan processor and Troy Powell earned $10,000 last year as a singer. They spent 18 months in Baton Rouge after Katrina with their three children. Now back in New Orleans, the higher cost of living is making it tough to pay bills.

Before Katrina, the Powells paid $760 monthly for a three-bedroom apartment. In the same complex, they now pay $835 for a two-bedroom.

As costs rise, the Powells face a painful decision.

Troy Powell grew up in the Lafitte housing project. His 17-year-old brother, James White, was robbed and killed in the neighborhood. Rather than return to government reliance, Powell would give up his dream of a big break in music for a more conventional job, or leave New Orleans altogether.

"I'd love to be part of New Orleans rebuilding," he said. "But right now, when I think about family and think about security, and think about getting ahead in the future, I just don't know."

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