Residents, volunteers clean public housing units

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KATC - Lafayette,LA,USA

http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=5014097

NEW ORLEANS A handful of residents and volunteers spent today

sorting through possessions and cleaning units at a New Orleans

housing project still shuttered more than nine months after

Hurricane Katrina.

Only about one-fifth of the 5,100 public housing units occupied

before Katrina have reopened to residents since Katrina struck and

the city flooded on August 29th. The others, including the

redeveloped Florida project, remain closed -- with their doors and

some windows boarded up, signs warning against trespassing.

But today, about two dozen volunteers and residents spent a second

weekend day in sweltering heat at the Florida project, a collection

of bright pastel three-story units. They sorted furniture and

clothes, removing debris and sweeping out homes that suffered

several feet of water and black mold.

Officials at the U-S Department of Housing and Urban Development,

which oversees public housing in New Orleans, said they are trying

to get residents back into public housing, but they note that mold

and other damage poses a safety risk in much of the housing. Some

developments were already in such disrepair they were slated for

redevelopment.

HUD Secretary Alfonso said federal officials are working

with the city to develop a plan to fix and repopulate some units

while redeveloping others.