Mary Landrieu Gets It Right

From: T-P

U.S. Sen. David Vitter and U.S. Reps. Richard Baker, Jim McCrery and Rodney Alexander, all Republicans, today said that New Orleans does not need as many public housing units as it had before Hurricane Katrina.

Louisiana's Senators are at odds over the future of public housing, with proposed legislation by Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. calling for "one-for-one replacement" of the government-subsidized apartments with new mixed-income developments.

Landrieu said the need was unmet before the storm when about 6,000 low-income people were on a waiting list for the city's 7,000 public housing units -- of which only 5,100 were occupied while many were in a state of disrepair.

With rents up 45 percent since the storm, an estimated 12,000 homeless people in the city and low-wage service-industry workers struggling to find housing, Landrieu said the demand is as great as it has ever been.

Landrieu's Louisiana colleague, Vitter, has taken the lead in opposing the bill, saying that with just two-thirds of New Orleans' population back after Hurricane Katrina, the need for public housing has fallen off.

Listen to Mary.