Many posters here are extremely worried that the poor of New Orleans will not be able to move back into the city, and that the New Orleans they grew up is gone forever.
Many poor New Orleans residents, on the other hand, have no desire to move back to the city.
They don't miss the grinding poverty and high crime. They certainly don't miss a half-century of state and local officials (largely DINOs) pouring money into convention centers and stadiums instead of levees. They don't miss corrupt and ineffective police, some of whom joined in the looting. They don't miss living in the nation's worst housing projects. They probably don't miss the Louisiana brand of racism and classism.
In contrast, their welcome in other cities has generally been outstanding, even if Barbara Bush disapproves. Who would blame an evacuee for developing a sudden love for Houston? Or for indefinitely postponing a return to unemployment in a slum after landing a job in St. Paul?
Yes, many of New Orleans' poor are probably gone for good. And they would have it no other way.