Poverty: The Elephant (or Giant, Bloodthirsty Rat) in the Room

Among more pleasant things, like snoballs and crawfish, it seems that summer in post-Katrina New Orleans is marked by horrific, nearly unbelievable local news stories involving some sort of gory death or injury.  In 2006, for example, Zachary Bowman strangled, dismembered and cooked his girlfriend before committing suicide by jumping from the roof a French Quarter hotel. Ideally, these hair-raising stories might spark more informed conversations amongst both our elected leaders and everyday residents about issues ranging from mental health to recreational activities for our young people to policing and crime prevention.

Recently, another horrifying news story surfaced in the New Orleans area.  On July 18, three-month old Natalie Hill’s parents awoke to find Natalie dead in her crib, with hundreds of what looked to be rat bites all over her.  Her nose and part of one of her legs had been completely chewed off.  There were bloody rodent footprints in the crib and on the floor around it.  Since then, the Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office has ruled that Natalie did indeed bleed to death from rat bites.

Although many people jumped to conclusions about the quality of Natalie's parental care in the wake of this horrific death, this is really a story about poverty and the quality of our affordable housing stock.

Much to the detriment of common decency, intelligence and compassion, the Times-Picayune newspaper website left the blog section open after most of the articles about Natalie and her family.  Following the initial story about the incident, there are 200 comments- the vast majority of which malign Natalie’s parents and make presumptions about their drug use.  For example, “texasexpat” writes, “Definitely more to the story than what has been put out so far. I hope the police have drug tested the parents.”  A local radio station had listeners call in, and many had similar sentiments.

In this instance, blaming the victim seems particularly cruel and unproductive.  We should leave Natalie’s family to grieve in peace and start asking ourselves how it is that we live in a place where this story happens.

According to news reports, Natalie’s family was living in a house that a relative owned.  They paid $500 a month in rent, and there were holes in the walls and floors.  Other relatives say that the family’s landlord received money from FEMA to repair the house, but still hadn’t done so. The family and neighbors were aware of a rodent problem in the neighborhood, and had put out traps and pellets to try to get it under control.

In the New Orleans area, there are many issues that would allow a situation like this to unfold.  Laws governing landlord/tenant relations are so biased in favor of landlords that many tenants face lawful evictions if they try to demand a decent standard of habitability from their landlords.  In Orleans Parish, code enforcement officials literally will not inspect properties that are inhabited, only abandoned or blighted properties.  Rents have risen astronomically in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and many people live in abandoned, gutted houses. All of this occurs in the context of a city where 80% of the buildings flooded at once.  However, I would imagine that poor families around the country face similar obstacles to attaining quality affordable housing.

Not surprisingly, one article I came across noted that the incidence of rats attacking humans is more common than we think, particularly in poor neighborhoods.  Young children who are sleeping are more vulnerable to rodent bites, and as with just about every other measure of social inequality in our country, incidences occur inequitably along racial lines.

Regardless of what parents are doing, all children deserve to live in safe houses free from hazards like rodent infestations, mold, and other environmental risk factors. Terrible incidences like Natalie’s death should drive policy that ensures a child’s right to live in a safe house that is up to code, rather than policy that demonizes poor people and makes their lives more difficult.

(Photo of Banksy Rat Plaster by Infrogmation)