About

Seven years have passed since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated New Orleans in 2005,
yet hundreds of families are still living in temporary housing - doubled or tripled up in family
homes, living in gutted or partially complete homes, trailers or apartments they cannot afford.
And now Hurricane Isaac has proven itself as damaging and costly as any other recent natural
disaster. The storm engulfed Louisiana and Mississippi in rainfall measured in feet, not inches. As a unique, slow-moving storm, Isaac created storm surges of up to 15 feet, overtopping levees and leaving a wake of havoc, destruction and disrepair, leaving thousands with their homes damaged or destroyed.

United Way and our recovery and rebuilding partners will be there to help families put their
lives, homes and communities back together. While we have only begun to assess what will be
tens of millions of dollars in damages, United Way and its partners are aleady working to help
families gut their homes and begin the rebuilding process. As we learned after Katrina, the
far reaching impact of a significant natural disaster requires that we work together to rebuild
lives, homes and communities.

NO Place Like Home (NPLH) is United Way of Southeast Louisiana’s Rebuilding Initiative, coordinating the return of families to safe, secure, and functional housing through partnerships with local nonprofit organizations, donors, companies, groups and government entities.

History

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a number of groups began working to help in
the recovery and rebuild process. United Way’s initial involvement was to support the
establishment of long-term recovery committees in each parish, facilitate case management
activities and financially support several organizations. Most of the national faith-based
groups have moved on to other disasters. So now we have fewer groups and fewer houses
needing rehabilitation, but those that remain are the more difficult and expensive projects.

Our focus now is to continue to work with and support non-profit rebuilding agencies by
raising funds to support pre-identified clients who are not back in their homes. These are
clients who were unable to secure sufficient funds from insurance, Road Home, and other
sources to complete their houses, and/or who have been victims of contractor fraud, were
forced to pay off mortgages with these proceeds, or who experienced other extraordinary
events. Before initiating any rebuilding work, we verify the client’s vulnerability and their
ability to sustain themselves once the rehabilitation work is completed.

Success

Since the storms of 2005, NPLH and its partners have successfully rebuilt nearly 2,000 homes. In the last year, United Way was able to facilitate the completion of 65 homes, utilizing over $1 million in donated funds and $1.2 million in leveraged funds for a total over $2.2 million.

NO Place Like Home partners include St. Bernard Project, Rebuilding Together New Orleans (RTNO), Phoenix of New Orleans (PNOLA), lowernine.org, Lower Ninth Ward Neighborhood Empowerment Network Association, East St. Tammany Habitat for Humanity, Habitat for Humanity St. Tammany West, Epworth Project and Project Homecoming.

We won’t give up on a better future for New Orleans.  Your participation is crucial to our success. Join us. Please get involved. Right here...right now.