The Student Hurricane Network and the FEMA Trailer Park Survey & Mapping Project

By Marisa Swank

The Student Hurricane Network has coordinated the efforts of thousands of law students in their quest to provide legal aid and support to the many victims of Hurricane Katrina. Formed soon after the storm struck in August of 2005, SHN got its start when law professors and students from Gulf Coast law schools realized that they could make a difference for so many people left displaced, destroyed, and abandoned by Katrina.

Since October of 2005, SHN has worked with local and national legal service and public interest law groups, matching law students with the organizations to conduct research, interviews, and physical cleanup. During our Spring Break alone, SHN has organized efforts with More than 550 law students. The sheer number of volunteers illustrates just how much work is yet to be done to repair the damage caused by the storm.

Eleven UI law students worked on a mapping and survey project for SHN. SHN created the FEMA Trailer Park Survey and Mapping Project in order to assess the needs of those living in FEMA trailers. More than 60,000 people are living in FEMA trailers, either on their property, or in trailer parks. While hundreds of thousands of people have yet to return to New Orleans, those living in the FEMA trailers choose to remain and rebuild. There are two groups of people living in the 240 square-foot FEMA trailers: homeowners and renters. While homeowners are living in the trailers with the hopes of receiving grants to rebuild and move back into their homes, former renters are faced with little choice of leaving the parks, as housing prices have increased by 100 percent since Katrina. Many Katrina victims lost their cars and their homes in the storm, making it difficult for them to get to and from jobs now. Many still are unemployed. Now, more than 18 months after the storm, many local officials are calling for the removal and evacuation of FEMA trailer parks and homes for renters.

As a result of the growing problems that trailer residents face, SHN created this survey and mapping project. Law students will travel to the trailers to interview residents. Many of these residents have been living with their families in these trailers for over a year, and the living quarters are very small. As many as eight people have been living in very cramped quarters.

SHN recognized that these families have very special needs and created the mapping project with four main goals in mind. The first goal is to assess the legal and other needs of residents of the FEMA trailers in Louisiana. The thousands of people living in the trailers are the most under-represented in New Orleans. These surveys will assess their needs, from the most basic health care, to grants to rebuild their homes.

The second goal is to map objective indicators of disrepair in Orleans Parish. Things we take for granted, like gas stations and paved roads are missing from many parts of the Parish, and we need to take account of what services residents need. The third goal is to widely disseminate the information that we gather through the survey and mapping project. Once all of the information has been gathered, it will be distributed to organizations that can reach out and help the trailer residents. The fourth goal is to assist these legal and social service organizations and institutions to determine: 1) how to better provide the residents access to existing services, and 2) what additional services are needed.

Overall, SHN and the law students who have partnered with them want to provide justice to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The notion of justice is something that all people can understand, and we hope to work together, in solidarity, as a community of human beings, to bring justice to the Gulf Coast.