[StBernard] Baker: Raise ceiling on hurricane aid

[Westley Annis]

Baker: Raise ceiling on hurricane aid

Congressman has suggestions for Blanco plan

By MICHELLE MILHOLLON
Capitol News Bureau
Published: Apr 10, 2006

U.S. Rep. Richard Baker wants Gov. Kathleen Blanco to put the brakes on her
housing plan for storm victims and consider making it look more like his
stalled federal buyout plan.

Baker said Monday that he likes the grants and loans Blanco proposes to help
people whose homes were not decimated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

However, Baker wants to be more generous and raise the ceiling on assistance
from $150,000 to $500,000.

The Baton Rouge Republican also is skeptical of the state's buyout plan,
which would offer people up to 60 percent of their home's pre-Katrina value.

Months ago, Baker introduced legislation to create the Louisiana Recovery
Corporation to buy hurricane-damaged homes and sell the property for
redevelopment. The White House opposed the bill, effectively killing it on
Capitol Hill.

Blanco is pushing a plan to use federal funds to help people repair, rebuild
or sell off their damaged or destroyed homes.
The hurricanes destroyed or severely damaged 122,000 owner-occupied homes.

The public has until April 17 to comment on the plan before it goes to the
Legislature and then the federal government for approval.

Baker wants the governor to extend the public comment period to allow for
consideration of a study that supports his idea.

He predicted that more people could want a buyout than the state is
expecting.

There needs to be an entity to manage the  property that the state buys so
it can be redeveloped, he said.

Baker said the state has to get the housing plan right because the federal
government is growing tired of Louisiana's problems.

"Our rich uncle has passed away, and there's only one will," he quipped.

The governor's Louisiana Recovery Authority is overseeing the plan.

Andy Kopplin, the LRA's executive director, said the state plan already
borrows from Baker's legislation.

The state is advertising by today for a private firm to implement the plan,
he said.

Most of the land that the state buys from property owners will be turned
over to local entities for redevelopment, Kopplin said.

He said the study that supports Baker's idea comes at a perfect time because
public comment still is being taken on the state's plan.

Kopplin said it would be up to the governor to decide whether to extend the
public comment period.

However, he said the administration's top goal is to get a plan approved so
homeowners can start receiving assistance.

But the state's plan to get the program up and running hit a snag Monday.

The House temporarily sidelined a vote on Blanco's plan to spend $360
million in federal hurricane recovery block grant cash amid lawmakers'
complaints that the legislation was moving too speedily and that they didn't
understand the fine print.

"It's a pig in a poke," said Rep. Peppi Bruneau, R-New Orleans.

The Senate fielded similar complaints but passed a version of the
legislation.

The so-called "action plan" is a broad outline of how the state plans to
spend $6.2 billion in community development block grants. It only contains
specific details for spending $360 million, mainly on business loans and
repairs to state buildings and local towns' damaged infrastructure and hire
a firm to implement the housing program.

Baker had proposed to put the federal money in a revolving fund that would
partially be used to buy heavily damaged homes on property that could later
be resold.

Baker's idea was analyzed by Gerson Lehrman Group, which worked with Greater
New Orleans Inc. and the Baton Rouge Area Foundation.

The organization looked at the cost of buyouts, mortgage resolution, public
service restoration and environmental remediation.

Gerson Lehrman estimated buyouts could cost the state $8.26 billion but that
$6.53 billion could be gleaned through property resale.

Baker met with Blanco more than a week ago to tell her about the findings.
He said she took it under advisement.

The governor's press secretary, Denise Bottcher, said Blanco is still
reviewing the data.

"I don't believe she's made up her mind," Bottcher said.

In the meantime, the state is moving forward with its housing plan, she
said.

The governor's Louisiana Recovery Authority is overseeing the plan.

The state is holding "open houses" in Lake Charles and New Orleans Wednesday
to let residents look at the plan and comment on it.

It will likely be late summer before hurricane victims start receiving
housing aid because Congress has yet to approve an additional $4.2 billion
that Blanco is counting on.

If Congress does not approve the aid, the governor wants to limit assistance
to homeowners outside the flood plain or those who live on low incomes.

In areas where "a high proportion" of homeowners choose not to return, the
state or local authorities might limit or ban rebuilding. That would let the
state drive decisions on which neighborhoods to raze.

Advocate staff reporters Marsha Shuler and Will Sentell contributed to this
story

  
Find this article at: 
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/2612431.html