Advocates aim to block Port of Gulfport aid

Advocates aim to block Port of Gulfport aid Housing and civil rights and groups are seeking to block the use of Hurricane Katrina relief funds to rebuild and expand the Port of Gulfport, Miss.
   A lawsuit was filed in federal district court on Wednesday to stop the distribution of about $600 million to the port, which has an ambitious plan to turn itself into a major container shipping hub.
   Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has supported the plan, which is opposed by groups such as the NAACP and Gulf Coast Fair Housing Center, which are reportedly plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
   In a letter sent on Sept. 24 to HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, a coalition of some 35 groups including the Mississippi Conference of the NAACP and various housing groups expressed “our deepest opposition to the Mississippi Development Authority’s Port of Gulfport Restoration Program.”
   Diversion of $600 million from $2.56 billion allocated for a homeowner assistance program “makes absolutely no sense at a time when the housing crisis on the Gulf Coast, especially for low and moderate income people, remains dire,” they said.