Mark's Notebook

Among Elderly Evacuees, a Strong Desire to Return Home, but Nowhere to Go

New York Times

by Rick Lyman

Thousands of elderly evacuees like the Lindseys still struggle every day to get by in cities hundreds of miles from their homes in New Orleans. But it is the elderly who want most to return, say social service workers, and who have the hardest time doing so.

“There is simply no place for them to go in New Orleans,” said Walter L. Jones, director of community-based initiatives for Neighborhood Centers of Houston, which has worked with about 2,200 families displaced by last year’s hurricanes.

“There are no nursing homes — none,” Mr. Jones said. “There are no plans to rebuild the public housing where many of them lived. And those apartments that are available are priced way, way beyond the means of anyone on a low, fixed income.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/24/us/24elderly.html

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Last updated Tuesday 13 May 2008