<p>Recently, a representative of Archbishop&nbsp;<span>Gregory Aymond of New Orleans asked me&nbsp;</span><span>this question from the archbishop, &ldquo;How&nbsp;</span><span>much does it cost to live in New Orleans these&nbsp;</span><span>days?&rdquo; It was a question that had haunted me&nbsp;</span><span>as an employer in the years immediately after&nbsp;</span><span>Katrina as reports and rumors mixed together&nbsp;</span><span>about rising prices of food, housing, utilities,&nbsp;</span><span>and other basics. The census does not give us&nbsp;</span><span>this information, nor do other reports from&nbsp;</span>state, local, or federal governments, even in&nbsp;the traditional measures of &ldquo;official poverty.&rdquo;&nbsp;Yet the questions about cost of living in&nbsp;New Orleans and other cities persist, as do&nbsp;the realities of so many families coming to&nbsp;churches and social agencies across our state&nbsp;for food, utility assistance, and other financial&nbsp;help&mdash;especially near the end of the month&nbsp;when paychecks, social security, and other&nbsp;financial support have been exhausted.&nbsp;Thus the report that follows. Staffed&nbsp;by our new Economic Policy Specialist Al&iacute;&nbsp;R. Bustamante, assisted by our fellows and&nbsp;student researchers, and made possible by&nbsp;a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation,&nbsp;the Jesuit Social Research Institute set out to&nbsp;study just what it costs typical families to live&nbsp;a modest but dignified life in Louisiana and&nbsp;its major cities. Put another way, what does&nbsp;&ldquo;economic security&rdquo; mean for families in our&nbsp;state? The question has critical implications&nbsp;and significant moral import for employers,&nbsp;policy-makers, and all of us concerned with&nbsp;the common good.</p>
<p><span>-Fred Kammer, S.J.</span></p>
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<p><a href="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/JSRI SPECIAL REPORT Too Much for Too Many.pdf"><span>FULL REPORT&gt;&gt;</span></a></p>
<p><a href="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/JSRI SPECIAL REPORT Too Much for Too Many Charts.pdf"><span>ADDITIONAL CHARTS&gt;&gt;</span></a></p>