Article by Pamela Winston, Olivia Golden, Kenneth Finegold, Kim Rueben, Margery Austin Turner, and Stephen Zuckerman
This Article explores the key features of four essential federal-state-local programs that have offered support to low-income families and individuals in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina—housing, unemployment compensation, Medicaid, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. It argues that the complexity of those programs' structures and their limited scale have inhibited their ability to respond effectively and quickly to the needs created by Hurricane Katrina. It recommends that national policymakers develop a set of disaster-relief mechanisms better suited to address the large-scale, crossjurisdictional migration, diminished state fiscal capacity, increased demand for assistance, and the other challenges that major disasters present.
About the Author
Pamela Winston. Senior research associate in the Urban Institute's Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population.
Olivia Golden. Senior research fellow and director of the Assessing the New Federalism Policy Center at the Urban Institute until February 2007; Director of state operations for the State of New York.
Kenneth Finegold. Senior research associate in the Income and Benefits Policy Center at the Urban Institute.
Kim Rueben. Senior research associate at the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center.
Margery Austin Turner. Director of the Urban Institute's Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center.
Stephen Zuckerman. Principal research associate in the Health Policy Center at the Urban Institute.
Citation
81 Tul. L. Rev. 1219 (2007)