[StBernard] Louisiana to buy 19,000 ruined homes

[Westley Annis]

Louisiana to buy 19,000 ruined homes 

By Brad Heath, USA TODAY
NEW ORLEANS - Areas of Louisiana devastated by Hurricane Katrina could
remain deserted as the state acquires nearly 19,000 storm-damaged homes in
the nation's biggest post-disaster buyout, a USA TODAY analysis shows.
The mass of deserted land - derelict homes and empty lots, most of them in
neighborhoods where Katrina's flooding was most severe - poses a significant
new obstacle for communities struggling to rebuild. Most still aren't sure
what they'll do with all the property.

"It's going to be a tremendous burden," says Walter Leger, housing chairman
of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, which has overseen the taxpayer-funded
buyouts. Averaging about $75,000 apiece, the buyouts are part of the state's
$11 billion Road Home rebuilding program that gives homeowners the option of
rebuilding or turning their homes over to the state.

The number of buyouts comprises almost as many homeowners as a city the size
of Providence, according to the newspaper's analysis of state property
records. The government could end up owning a majority of homes on dozens of
blocks that were nearest to failed levees and the deepest flooding, the
analysis shows.

If state and local officials can't find a way to clean up and redevelop that
land, it will create new roadblocks for a region still struggling to recover
from Katrina, says Gregory Rigamer, president of the New Orleans planning
firm GCR & Associates. "It's going to be a real challenge to keep them from
blighting the neighborhoods where they're located and to keep them from
discouraging local property owners from reinvesting," he says.

Homeowners can opt to rebuild and are eligible to receive a combination of
state and federal grant money. Those who choose to allow the state to buy
out their properties are paid based on a formula that calculates the value
of their home before the storm hit, minus any insurance compensation they
have already received. Louisiana will ultimately have to give homes back to
local governments to redevelop.

The buyouts are concentrated in places such as St. Bernard Parish and
neighborhoods of New Orleans that suffered the worst flooding.

In St. Bernard alone, nearly 40% of the 16,000 homeowners who have sought
aid from the program said they plan to take a buyout, according to Road Home
records. Even in New Orleans' Lakeview section, widely regarded as the
city's rebuilding pace-setter, more than 1,000 homes are likely to be bought
out.

Areas with the most buyouts could be "turned into open space," says Recovery
Authority Executive Director Andy Kopplin. The advantage, he says, is that
as a consequence of the buyouts, some of the areas around New Orleans most
imperiled by hurricanes will not be rebuilt.

The rebuilding program has already pledged more than $770 million for the
buyouts, but the final price could grow to almost $1.3 billion.
 
  
Find this article at: 
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-17-inside-buyout_N.htm