My Latest Interview
Yesterday I went out on another interview. This time it was with a man named Wayne Woods, HANO General Counsel. The whole interview was about the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) and issues with residents of New Orleans who were on a Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP) after the storm (Katrina). The whole purpose of this program was to house residents of southeast Louisiana for a portion of their income so that they could make it through tough times. However, this program is only a temporary solution. The permanent being a Section 8 Voucher. In March the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which oversees HANO, implemented a $100 increase in resident’s rent who were using the DHAP. This was a sort of motivational action because we all know that nothing is more motivating than money. However, now that a total of 4000 (only for the time being, it will increase) DHAP users have started the transition to the more permanent section 8 voucher HANO is swamped with applications and is not able to get the job done as quickly as they would like. The DHAP program ends on Aug 31st and residents are fearful that they are going to slip through the program and be left with no assistance. On HANO’s side, they have brought in extra staff to account for this terrifying amount of applications. What I don’t agree with here is that those residents who have filled for the section 8 voucher and have not been approved are still seeing a $100 increase in their rent each month, even though it is up to HANO to process their paperwork. (Sorry for my rant)
So at the interview I probably came off a little strong, but it is disturbing that these people are not able to afford to live. I feel sorry for Wayne Woods because he is the spokesman *NOT the decision maker who implemented these durastic measures. Still he has to deal with the press (like me) and now protests and be able to keep his cool and speak on HANO’s behalf. Well, he did a great job at the interview, but I feel bad for him today with the hundreds of protestors outside his building who can’t afford the rent increases.
