http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071010/ap_on_re_us/katrina_home_buyouts_3;_ylt=AptZbsAZ5QDlDRQA6o.HH9AE1vAIBAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. - The federal government is considering buying out as many as 17,000 homes along the Mississippi coast and remaking the land into a vast hurricane-protection zone, raising anxieties that it could destroy the waterfront lives many residents are struggling to rebuild after Katrina.
The Mississippi Coastal Improvement Program could cost $40 billion, including buying the homes, building levees and restoring barrier islands. The land could be converted into wetlands or other public uses, such as golf courses or bike trails, but could not be sold for private development.
For Finley Williford, a 42-year-old boat captain, a buyout offer would have been tempting if it had come shortly after Hurricane Katrina destroyed his Bay St. Louis home on Aug. 29, 2005.
But instead of leaving, he invested countless hours of labor and more than $400,000 in two new houses for his family and his father.
<more>