Cora Reddix, 86, has lived in Biloxi for over 50 years. A mother of two grown children, Jean and Juanita, she now lives in a small FEMA Trailer parked in the North corner of her property on Elmer Street. And though she has several of them, Cora says that she forgets to bring her 'walking stick' every time she leaves the house. But most of the time, she waits, like so many others in East Biloxi, for a roof over her head.
Her former home was decrepit before the Hurricane in 2005. After the hurricane, crooked but still standing, the home was deemed totally unsound, held up solely by the vertical siding. It was demolished in the middle of March 2006, with the promise that a new one would be built by a contractor, volunteers, and $20,000 of Ms. Reddix's money.
But at the end of April 2006, Ms. Reddix found that her $20,000 had been mishandled by the contractor and that there was nothing left-no money and no home.
Bounded on the South by the railroad and to the West by a historical home, Cora's lot is 70ft wide by 48ft deep. The ranch proportion-wide along the street, shallow in depth-is rotated in comparison to the other properties along the narrow street and to East Biloxi where the typical lot size is approximately 50ft wide by 100ft deep. The required setbacks (20ft. front, 25ft. rear, 5ft sides) for the site do not match the character of the street. A variance provides a more confident setback of 10ft. The frequency of trains gives the site a dynamic, urban quality, but frequently and abruptly pauses conversation. The private spaces, therefore, act as a buffer to the social spaces. The home must meet the International Building Code and the Standard for Hurricane Resistant Residential Construction, be easy to build with volunteer labor and be accessible.
