On a recent Friday morning along the storm ravaged gulf coast, Atlanta Regional Director, Bob Young led a delegation of senior HUD officials that included Assistant Deputy Secretary for Field Policy and Management, Jo Baylor on a tour of the storm ravaged Mississippi Gulf Coast, and in a seminar to help educate and inform local officials and leaders of faith based and community based organizations that are involved in the recovery effort, on HUD's current contribution to the recovery effort, and on HUD initiatives in response to the disaster, that might assist their local rebuilding efforts.

Assistance Deputy Secretary for Field Policy and Management, Jo Baylor listens to input from a Gulf Coast developer.

Handouts were provided and individual consultations were given during the seminar on the following subjects: America's Affordable Housing Initiative, Energy Star Programs, HUD Healthy Homes Program, HUD Community Planning and Development Programs, HUD Single Family Housing Programs/FHA, and HUD Multifamily Assistance Programs. There was also an extended question and answer session where audience members expressed their appreciation for what had been shared, and also shared some frustrations at what had not been shared. Chief amongst the concerns expressed by local elected officials and PHA Directors was the lack of a response from government officials on a source of funding to aid in repair and rebuilding of damaged, assisted units in the area. Atlanta Regional Director, Bob Young assured participants that he was aware of the issue from a previous visit and that he would again raise their concerns with HUD officials in Washington with that program responsibility who had shared with him that they felt a response would be forthcoming very soon.

HUD Regional Director Bob Young announced the opening of HUD Katrina Disaster Assistance Centers located in the Mississippi Gulf Coast affected Katrina disaster areas. Young made the national announcement on Wednesday, November 16, 2005 at an event in Decatur/DeKalb County Georgia. The Mississippi Regional Housing Authority VIII Center in Gulfport is located at: 2909 26th Avenue, Gulfport, MS (228-863-6272). There are also two satellite offices of the Mississippi Regional Housing Authority VIII available to assist Katrina Disaster Victims: 4692 US Highway 49, Hattiesburg, MS (228-475-8211) and 4901 Tanner Street, Moss Point, MS (228-475-8211).

In an effort to give Hurricane Katrina evacuees more long-term housing options, HUD has opened 12 housing assistance centers in areas with the greatest concentration of evacuees. The centers were established to get more HUD assisted families housed who were displaced after Katrina. The objective is to house those families through HUD's Katrina Disaster Housing Assistance Program (KDHAP). In this region, there are Katrina Disaster Center Assistance Team (KDCAT) Centers in Gulfport Mississippi (228-863-6272), Decatur/DeKalb County Georgia (404-270-2105), Memphis Tennessee (901-544-4248), and Birmingham Alabama (205-214-3964).

Young also announced in conjunction with Biloxi Mayor A. J. Holloway, the coming opening of a HUD Satellite Office in Biloxi, Mississippi to be staffed with technical assistance specialist from HUD's Birmingham, Alabama and Jackson, Mississippi Field Offices. Young committed that the Office would provide hands on technical assistance 24/7, and that it would be in the business of finding answers.

After the technical assistance seminar HUD Officials went on a tour of the storm damaged area organized by Mississippi Governor, Haley Barbour's Office. Assistant Deputy Secretary Baylor was amongst the HUD officials who were overwhelmed at the magnitude of the damage Hurricane Katrina and other recent storms has caused along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

As you drive along the coast line you look to where a row of stately historic homes used to look out over the beach and all you see is shell's of the former structures and piles of rubble that represent much of what used to be people's lives. You can read about the storm and even see pictures on television but it is something else again to be there, to experience the National Guard check points still in place in areas where people cannot return to their homes, to literally see trees full of peoples clothes and other belongings is a completely new experience. You feel sad in ways as you watch families sort through the rubble or take pictures for memories sake or insurance documentation, but you also feel the resilience of the area, as you see truck loads of lumber and roofing materials rolling into the area, and you hear a husband whisper to his wife, to not worry because, "he is gonna build it back just like it was."