[StBernard] Governor Blanco outlines housing recovery plan at LRA meeting

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Mon Feb 20 19:33:27 EST 2006



Governor Blanco outlines housing recovery plan at LRA meeting


Text of Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco's addres to the Monday, February
20, 2006 meeting of the Louisiana Recovery Authority. The meeting was
convened in Lake Charles, LA.

I want to thank Dr. Francis, Andy Kopplin and the members of the Louisiana
Recovery Authority for your leadership in charting a vision for our
recovery. The legislature wrote the LRA into law last week, so
congratulations are in order. We will all benefit from your continuing focus
as we rebuild.

And I want to say a special thanks to Walter Leger and the Housing Task
Force for leading our housing recovery effort. Today, I know you will be
giving us your best ideas on rebuilding.

A special note of recognition is in order. LRA members Laura Leach, Tom
Henning and John T. Landry are the Southwest Louisiana representatives who
keep this area's needs on the front burner.

I am delighted to be in Lake Charles and to be joined by my friend, Mayor
Randy Roach. Mayor Roach, thank you for traveling with me to Washington, DC.
Mayor Roach took the stories of Hurricane Rita victims in Southwest
Louisiana to Congress. And he saw the challenging uphill battle we were
fighting to get our fair share of housing funding.

Some of you may have noticed that over the past few weeks I turned up the
heat over our housing needs. We played a little hardball.

Last week, these efforts resulted in a resounding victory for our state.
Washington reversed course, admitting that we had insufficient funding to
repair our houses and safely rebuild our communities.

I deeply appreciate the decision of the President and Chairman Don Powell to
call for an additional $4.2 billion in Community Development Block Grant
funding. This will go a long way towards rebuilding safely and mitigating
hazards.

In dealing with Washington, DC most of us felt like we were riding a roller
coaster of emotion. There were dark days of frustration when it was hard to
believe that our voices were being heard. We began to doubt that anyone
cared.

But the evidence was on our side. I want to give special thanks to LRA
members Dr. Francis, Walter Isaacson our Vice Chair, Sean Reilly and David
Voelker. They were an invaluable part of my negotiation team. We presented
compelling data and persuasive arguments. Our persistence paid huge
dividends. Again, I want to thank Commissioner Don Powell for backing our
case and carrying the message to President Bush.

I must add a note of caution. This extra money is not yet in the bank.
Congress has to approve this request from the President. I hope that soon
they will see fit to agree with his recommendation and understand that this
investment in homes for our people is desperately needed.

I know that we can count on our Congressional delegation to continue their
efforts to ensure that Congress approves this additional $4.2 billion in
funding. I hope that they will not allow any extraordinary strings to be
added as we have seen in the past. I will fight hard to prevent this. We do
not need hindrances. Let us get to work and move full speed ahead with plans
for rebuilding our state.

We had another victory last week, and that was the Legislature's decision to
consolidate our levee boards. The creation of the Southeast Louisiana Flood
Protection Authorities will help us to improve maintenance and oversight of
our levee system.

It will also send a strong message to Washington that Louisiana is serious
about reform. We will be good caretakers of a sustained investment in
improved federal levees.

With the exception of security, there is no greater issue facing our
recovery than the need to rebuild our homes. Katrina and Rita destroyed well
over 200,000 houses. No state has ever faced a catastrophe of this
magnitude. The old saying, "there's no place like home," has new meaning for
so many of our displaced families.

Of the $6.2 billion in CDBG funding that we have already been guaranteed, I
have committed that the lion's share will go to housing.

And now I commit to adding the additional $4.2 billion to fund a program to
develop affordable housing and repair homes safely. I will prioritize
repairing and rebuilding our damaged homes in a way that protects against
future storms.

In creating our housing plan, I envision a Louisiana where every person who
wants to return home can return home.

We must tackle our rebuilding with the pace of a sprinter and the heart of a
distance runner. I promise that we are going to move as quickly as possible
to put the federal funding to work for our homeowners.

But this process is an arduous one. It will require the endurance, patience
and heart to rebuild in a way that takes all of our families across the
finish line.

It would be easy to say that we are going to hand out compensation checks
and wash our hands of all accountability. This would be simple and
politically expedient, but it would not rebuild our state. After all, we
never asked for a handout. We always wanted a hand-up.

As we begin to debate the plan I am proposing, I insist that our program be
grounded in a commitment to rebuild our state safer and better than before.
And I am going to also insist that we prioritize relief to families
determined to rebuild in Louisiana.

Early in March, we will launch a website and a call center to initiate
direct contact with homeowners who may be eligible for assistance in
rebuilding. We will be asking homeowners who have previously registered with
FEMA and have uninsured damage costs in excess of $5200 to complete a
pre-application registry. As we are waiting for Congress to approve our
additional housing funding, we want you to register so we can begin to open
case files.

Over the next few months, decisions will be made at the parish level to
determine safety considerations. These safety decisions will dictate areas
where funding through our program will not be permitted.

As safety considerations are finalized, housing counselors at local recovery
centers will begin scheduling appointments with individuals eligible for
relief.

I envision our homeowners having four options to consider in utilizing the
federal funding:

Repair;
Rebuild;
Relocate; or, if no other options are appropriate, Buyout.

In navigating these options, I propose that assistance be capped at $150,000
per homeowner.

Insurance and FEMA payments received for repairs will be counted against the
calculation of total needs. Contributed funds will be fully forgiven after
5-years of occupancy of the repaired, restored, or relocated home. I believe
this significant investment should give homeowners a step-up in their
recovery.

Our program envisions covering damaged houses both outside and inside of the
floodplain. So many Louisiana families were counting on the federal levees
to protect them, whether they lived inside or outside of the floodplain. No
one expected that the levees would breach in a storm they were designed to
withstand.

Many of our homeowners inside the floodplain played by the rules and paid
for flood insurance for years. Some did not. For those who lived inside the
floodplain and were not insured, assistance will be reduced by 30%. This is
only fair. And I am going to insist that any person rebuilding in the
floodplain must build to new standards and carry flood insurance.

The repair program applies to homes that are in need of rehabilitation and
mitigation assistance. Our program will contribute up to the pre-storm home
value for each of these properties, and assist homeowners in securing
affordable options to compensate for any gaps in coverage. Our goal is to
get families back into their homes as quickly as possible. The repair
program will jump-start this process.

The replacement program will operate similar to the repair program.
Homeowners with homes too damaged to repair will be assisted in building an
equivalent replacement house. This house will be rebuilt on the same
property if it is safe to do so. Our program will contribute pre-storm home
value to build the replacement house, with affordable loans available to
cover any gaps in financing.

We will also help homeowners who are unable or choose not to rebuild to
relocate within the state. The pre-storm value for a comparable home up to
the maximum of $150,000 will be provided, with gap financing options.

For homeowners who opt not to repair, rebuild or relocate within the state,
Louisiana will offer to buyout the property at 60% of the pre-storm home
value up to the $150,000 limit.

Many people displaced by the storm are renters. Although the individual
applications are limited to homeowners, we are committed to investing in
rebuilding rental units. Through gap financing, low-income housing tax
credits, and other measures, we will be working to guarantee affordable
housing in mixed-income communities.

In our eagerness to rebuild, I must again stress patience.

I predict that the demand on the construction and labor industries will be
great as individuals secure their private contractors. I promise, however,
to move this process along as quickly as possible.

I will ask Walter Leger and Andy Kopplin to go over these proposed programs
in more detail. But before I do, I want to reiterate that this is a proposed
plan. I am committed to soliciting input from various sources, including
impacted communities, as we move forward.

I am also planning to hit the road for a series of Town Hall meetings to
discuss our rebuilding plan and begin registering people in our homeowner
registry. This is one of the most important programs our state will ever
run. It deserves broad consideration, but we must be ready to move forward.

To all of the families who are displaced or unable to live in your homes,
please know that you remain my top priority. We have been hard at work to
secure the funding necessary to assist you. We are meeting with success in
that arena. I have great confidence that we are turning the corner and
moving towards a safer, stronger and brighter future for Louisiana.

In the not too distant future, I predict the sounds of hammers and saws will
be ringing through all of our communities as our homes are rebuilt. And not
too long after that, we will hear the voices of children returning to our
neighborhoods. That will be a great day for Louisiana.


###


The Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation Louisiana's Fund for Louisiana's
People

www.louisianahelp.org





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