As the rain fell Tuesday afternoon, a small group of people huddled underneath a tent set up in the parking lot of a mall, some with tears streaming down their cheeks.
Former residents of New Orleans’ housing developments, and concerned citizens wanting to help them get back home, assembled in the Gentilly neighborhood to protest the “illegal evictions” from the housing units and lack of affordable housing.
Leslie Berzat, who lived in the B.W. Cooper Housing Development with her mother prior to Katrina, said she was now living in Houston and it was time to come home.
“I am homeless right now!” Berzat said. “And I haven’t gotten any help.”
Geneva Seals said she lived in New Orleans East before Katrina before evacuating to Atlanta, now she’s ready to come home.
“I have made 17 trips back here, and the money is starting to run low,” Seals said. “I lived in some apartments before Katrina and my landlord has rebuilt and raised the prices. I can’t afford it now.”
The rally concluded with the audience boarding busses and heading to the Lafitte Housing Projects to help residents “take back” their units.
Ironically, President Bush was scheduled to have dinner at a restaurant directly across the street from the development.
