[StBernard] Answers sought on housing

[Westley Annis]

Answers sought on housing

By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON
Capitol news bureau 
Published: Apr 25, 2006 

Homeowners in hurricane-affected areas can thumb through a 26-page overview
on how the governor plans to spend billions of dollars to restore housing.

But here is what they really want to know: How does it apply to me? 

Louisiana Recovery Authority member Walter Leger fields that question once a
week on a New Orleans radio station.

The question finds him while he is mowing his lawn, as he was doing Saturday
when a van rolled up and a driver asked how much money he stood to receive
under the plan. 

On the way to a meeting Monday morning, Leger's cell phone chirped. It was
his brother, who wanted to know what his in-laws would get if they sold
their house in St. Bernard Parish to the state. 

There is a lot of confusion, Leger and other LRA members conceded Monday
during a meeting with The Advocate's editorial board. 
Part of the problem is that rebuilding is complicated by questions about
elevations, mortgages and property titles, they said. 

The LRA is scheduled to vote on the proposal Wednesday. The plan then will
go to the Legislature and the federal government for approval. Homeowners
likely won't start receiving money until late summer.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed or severely damaged 122,000 homes
owned by the occupants. 

Gov. Kathleen Blanco wants to spend $7.5 billion to rebuild, repair and buy
out homes, plus $1.5 billion to create affordable rental units.
The ceiling on homeowner assistance would be $150,000. Owners who sell to
the state would get 60 percent of their homes' pre-storm value. In
calculating assistance, insurance payments and aid from the Federal
Emergency Management Agency would be deducted. 

Critics want to change the proposal. 

The Louisiana Republican legislative delegation wants more details on the
program, the process and the big picture.

U.S. Rep. Richard Baker, R-Baton Rouge, recommended four pages of
modifications, including raising the ceiling from $150,000 to $400,000 and
establishing a statewide agency to package blighted property for
redevelopment.

Baker is concerned that the LRA is moving too fast.

"We are moving toward taking an action that will literally change the course
of Louisiana history in incredibly important ways, but without having given
sufficient reflection to what we are about to do," he said in a statement
that accompanied his suggestions.

The LRA's executive director, Andy Kopplin, said the question of whether to
create a state housing entity does not have to be answered today.

That can be sorted out down the road without delaying the housing proposal,
he said.

Some want the state to wash its hands of homeowners in flood plains who did
not have flood insurance. The proposal currently penalizes those homeowners
by 30 percent. 

Leger pointed out that many homeowners interpreted not being required to
carry insurance as not needing it.  

"There's irresponsible and there's irresponsible," he said. "They were told,
'You don't need flood insurance.' "

The LRA's own members disagree on whether the proposal will make storm
victims whole.

Leger thinks it will come pretty close to doing that.

Kopplin said the middle class is better off than it was in January, when the
state thought it would only have about $3 billion to spend. 
"The message in January was go borrow money," he said.

LRA member Sean Reilly said commercial property owners will have to wait for
the market to rebound rather than getting a piece of the housing pie.

"It's not a compensation plan," he said. "It's a reinvestment plan."