[StBernard] Homeowners won't get grants anytime soon? TP

[Westley Annis]

Yes, we can only pray for expedition of assistance: TimesPicayune says:

<"http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-5/114145759114
1580.xml">

Perhaps give a call on the Batphone to the winged wonder or spit on
Superman's cape to get him aroused enough to quicken the process that the
Feds will take to bring about recovery.

Jer

------------------------------
Homeowners won't get grants anytime soon
U.S. disaster aid tied to larger budget bill 
Saturday, March 04, 2006
By Laura Maggi and Bill Walsh
Staff writers 

BATON ROUGE -- Owners of flood-damaged homes deciding whether to rebuild
will likely have to wait until at least the summer before they see any of
the federal dollars the state wants to distribute in grants of up to
$150,000 per house. 

The most crucial obstacle to getting cash into people's hands is the fact
that a large chunk of the $7 billion to $7.5 billion program envisioned by
Gov. Kathleen Blanco and her Louisiana Recovery Authority has not yet been
appropriated by Congress. While state officials are hopeful that they will
receive the full $4.2 billion that President Bush recently requested for
Louisiana's hurricane-caused housing crisis, the allocation is in a larger
budget bill that federal officials don't expect will be given final
consideration until late May. 

That means homeowners looking to rebuild after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
will have to wait that long -- and probably awhile longer -- before they see
any money. State officials said it just doesn't make sense to begin handing
out checks until they are assured that the state can afford the level of
assistance being proposed. 

"My guess is that neither the governor or the Legislature is going to start
distributing funds until we have an extraordinarily high degree of
confidence that the money is in the bank," said Andy Kopplin, executive
director of the recovery authority. 

When the Bush administration announced its latest financing request in
mid-February, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin predicted that state officials
could begin dispensing grants from an earlier $6.2 billion appropriation in
as soon as two months. But that promise was simply unrealistic, said Walter
Leger, the St. Bernard Parish lawyer who heads the recovery authority's
housing task force. 


State mechanism needed 

Even if the money were in the state treasury, the state still is in the
beginning stages of setting up its housing program. Kopplin and other
officials said they hope to finalize the benefits and set up a mechanism to
distribute grants and affordable loans by the time the money becomes
available. If Congress does not appropriate the additional money for
Louisiana, the state plan calls for reducing the maximum amount of
assistance that will be offered. 

Blanco has said that she wants to begin taking initial registrations from
homeowners with at least $5,200 worth of uninsured damage this month, saying
the state will set up a call center and Web site to take applications. That
also will let officials get a handle on how many homeowners want to take
advantage of the program. 

The program is not yet final -- with many key details still being worked out
-- although the recovery authority could vote on the proposal as soon as its
March 16 meeting. The program also will need approval from the Legislature
and review by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which
oversees the Community Development Block Grants that will serve as the
primary source of financing. 

Under the housing plan unveiled last month by Blanco, grants would be capped
at $150,000, with the amount determined after factoring in insurance
settlements and grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Those
who repair a damaged house, rebuild in place or move somewhere else in the
state would be eligible for the full amount, while those who move outside
Louisiana could receive a buyout worth only 60 percent of the house's
prestorm market value. 

Homeowners with flood insurance and those outside the flood plain would be
eligible to receive a buyout or repair grant up to the home's pre-Katrina or
pre-Rita value, as long as they stay in Louisiana. The proposal would reduce
by 30 percent the benefit for those who lived inside the flood plain and did
not carry flood coverage. 


Hashing out the details 

While Blanco was careful to call the program a draft when it was announced
Feb. 20, state officials have said that they don't expect its broad outlines
to change much. On Friday, the recovery authority's housing task force met
with housing and banking experts to gather ideas about key details of the
program and how it should be implemented. 

That includes trying to figure out how to determine the prestorm market
value of a house, especially as tax assessments in Orleans Parish, where
more than half of the damage occurred, often vastly undervalue the worth of
homes. Some housing experts also have suggested that grants to rebuild or
relocate within Louisiana have a residency requirement for a set number of
years, Kopplin said. But state officials are not yet certain whether that
will be necessary, he said. 

Leger said he has heard complaints from a few local officials that the
proposal should include a bonus incentive for owners to rebuild in their
home parish to ensure that the program not only benefits individuals but
redevelops the areas devastated by the storms. But Kopplin said that concern
was not voiced by New Orleans area leaders, including Nagin, in a meeting
about the housing proposal this week. 

It is not yet clear how money actually would be distributed to homeowners,
as the Legislature balked at a Blanco proposal during the recent special
session to create a state housing trust for that purpose. 

Kopplin said the administration is working on figuring out how the money can
flow into state coffers without the trust and how it can be disbursed. It is
likely that most of the work of taking applications and granting aid will be
contracted out to a private company, he said. 

Leger said that many groups have suggested tapping local banks to distribute
the money. But he cautioned that some state entity will need to ensure that
banks are giving advice on rebuilding or repairing damaged houses that helps
homeowners and not just financial institutions. 

State officials said they hope some state mechanism will be in place by the
time Congress gives final consideration to the supplemental appropriations
bill for 2006 that includes the necessary $4.2 billion. 

Measured in congressional time, the disaster spending bill is scheduled to
move on a fast track. 

The House Appropriations Committee is expected to hold a hearing on the
measure Wednesday and the full House could vote as soon as the following
week. A spokeswoman for Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate
spending committee, said the bill could be voted on by the Senate as early
as the first week in April. Since the House and Senate are likely to pass
different versions, they would have to be reconciled by an ad hoc conference
committee. Cochran's aide said that the final bill could be sent to the
president's desk before the congressional Memorial Day recess May 29. 


Turbulence forecast 

The House already has complicated the political outlook, however, by joining
the hurricane package with Bush's request for extra military spending in
Iraq and Afghanistan. The new $92 billion spending request could "lead to a
full-scale assault" by critics of the war and skeptics of further financial
outlays in the Gulf Coast, said Norm Ornstein, a political analyst at the
American Enterprise Institute in Washington. He said he expects Congress to
ultimately approve money for the troops, but the bill could get held up in
debate. 

If Congress approves the money, there still will be a bureaucratic process
before it can become available, on both the state and local level. 

The state plan for spending the initial $6.2 billion was approved by the
recovery authority in February. But it has not been sent to the Legislature
or the federal housing agency for consideration, because it first must
undergo a public comment period, state officials said. This kind of
overarching proposal to spend billions of dollars will need not only the
approval of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget, but also the full
House and Senate. This can be done by a mail-in ballot or after the
Legislature comes into session March 27. 

Once a plan receives approval from the Legislature, it must then be sent to
HUD, whose professional staff will look to see whether Louisiana's spending
proposal conforms with the rules for the Community Development Block Grant
program as well as the legislation Congress passed when it approved the
$11.5 billion in disaster spending for five Gulf Coast states in December. 

By law, HUD must approve regular block grant applications within 45 days.
Spokesman Brian Sullivan said the process generally takes less time than
that. 

"We understand that everyone is concerned about putting this money to work
as quickly as possible," Sullivan said. 

. . . . . . . 


Laura Maggi can be reached at lmaggi at timespicayune.com or (225) 342-5590.
Bill Walsh can be reached at bill.walsh at newhouse.com or (202) 383-7817.