Survivor Stories
Odessia Lewis, Lafitte public housing development
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Odessia Lewis in the FEMA trailer park where she now lives. |
Odessia Lewis has worked her entire life, including years as a New Orleans city bus driver. Prior to Katrina, she lived in the Lafitte public housing development, a collection of sturdy brick apartments with pitched slate roofs and low-rise construction.
Since the storm hit on August 29th, 2005, her neighbors, her community, and the social fabric of her life have been traded for a cramped FEMA trailer in a guarded parking lot full of the same approximately 2 miles from her former home, from which she will be evicted at the end of October. At 62 years old, the stress of being locked out of her apartment, living in a FEMA trailer and the possibility of being homeless have taken a severe toll on Ms. Lewis' mental health.
After the storm, Ms. Lewis went to her daughter's house in Florida and returned to New Orleans when the mandatory evacuation was lifted. Her zip code was one of the last that allowed people to re-enter. When she returned, she found that her apartment—with all her belongings inside—had been locked and covered with metal plates barring entry.
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Lafitte public housing development, after Hurricane Katrina. Note the white water ring on the red brick foundation marking the flood water level in the neighborhood. |
Ms. Lewis has asked repeatedly to be allowed to return to her apartment to clean and fix it up so she can move back in. She even offered to do all the work herself and with friends at no cost. She fears she will join the ever-growing ranks of the city's homeless population because there is no place for poor working people, many of whom are African-American, to live in New Orleans.
Tens of thousands of displaced residents staying in New Orleans or other cities across the Gulf Coast find themselves in the same predicament.
