Betting the House

It's no secret that the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina has yet to be fully repaired, or that all of its citizens have returned to something resembling home.

But when in doubt (I guess) the best thing to do is...rely on the gambling industry?

While Gov. Haley Barbour (R) has hailed the casino openings as a harbinger of Mississippi's resurgence and developers have proposed more than $1 billion in beachfront condos and hotels for tourists, fewer than one in 10 of the thousands of single-family houses destroyed in Biloxi are being rebuilt, according to city permit records. More than 10,000 displaced families still live in trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Now, long-standing resentment over the way the state has treated displaced residents has deepened over a proposal by the Barbour administration to divert $600 million in federal housing aid to fund an expansion plan at the Port of Gulfport. The port's recently approved master plan calls for increasing maritime capacity and creating an "upscale tourist village" with hotel rooms, condos, restaurants and gambling.

Fortunately, not everyone in Mississippi is casino-crazy (at least to the point where it trumps homes for the people of the state):

"We fear that this recent decision . . . is part of a disturbing trend by the Governor's office to overlook the needs of lower and moderate income people in favor of economic development," 24 ministers on the Mississippi coast wrote in September in a letter to state leaders. "Sadly we must now bear witness to the reality that our Recovery Effort has failed to include a place at the table . . . for our poor and vulnerable."

So what will prevail? Homes or casinos? Time will tell. In the meanwhile, will the displaced people still living in FEMA trailer homes get at least one free round of Blackjack? It's only fair.