(chron.com) Houston may be hot, unfriendly and frustratingly difficult to navigate, but more than two-thirds of the poorest New Orleans evacuees who fled to the city after Hurricane Katrina plan to stay, a Rice University survey released today shows…
Almost half have no health insurance. Nearly a third lack a high school diploma. Three-fifths reported they held jobs in New Orleans, but almost half earned less than $15,000 a year. At present, less than 20 percent are employed and about 74 percent earn less than $15,000.
“This means a couple of things,” Wilson said. “One: They have little to go back to. Most of the group were renters, and the rental situation in New Orleans is pretty bleak. Second: Many of them had been working in the service industry, and that is still a little rocky there. … Houston is looking at continuing to shelter a population that didn’t want to be here in the first place. The chances of finding something to go back to are pretty slim. That raises questions of how they are going to be integrated into the city.”
One of the few bright spots noted by the evacuees was the state of education. Fifty-seven percent of respondents found Houston schools superior to what they left behind. Only 13 percent considered Houston schools worse. (more…)
Unless the situation improves, Houston could very well become a continuation of what New Orleans was before Katrina on a permanent basis. At least Ray Nagin’s job will be a little bit easier 
.
