Housing problem? Gee, what housing problem?

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"The challenge of rebuilding New Orleans and providing housing for its residents is immense, with tens of thousands of families displaced, their former homes destroyed or damaged beyond repair. Across the metropolitan area, nearly 228,000 homes and apartments were flooded, including 39 percent of all owner-occupied units and 56 percent of all rental units (Brookings 2005). Residents have returned to some relatively unscathed areas, such as the French Quarter and Algiers, but the devastation in more hard-hit areas is overwhelming and it is not yet clear whether or how these areas will be rebuilt."


Barely 30 minutes outside New Orleans on our way to Jean Lafitte National Park there is a massive housing boom. One giant brand new cookie-cutter home after another, only several yards apart, some in gated communities, some freestanding, few lived in. They're going up so fast I was pretty sure there were new ones finished by the time we drove back home.

You know what's being built/rebuilt in New Orleans? Seemingly nothing. Where are regular working folks supposed to live?