[StBernard] Loan Program to Help Residents Rebuild

[Westley Annis]

Parish Home Mortgage Authority proceeding with a loan program to help St.
Bernard residents rebuild; will meet with governor to seek grants to lower
interest rates 


St. Bernard's Home Mortgage Authority has gotten approval from the State
Bond Commission to issue bonds for a loan program for parish residents to
rebuild and now board members will seek a meeting with Gov. Blanco to ask
for community block grant money to help get a low-interest rate for
borrowers, perhaps as low as 2.7 percent.
The Home Mortgage Authority, which has five members - Parish President Henry
"Junior'' Rodriguez, Council Vice-Chairman Joseph DiFatta Jr., Sheriff Jack
Stephens, lawyer Danny Dysart and banker Norris Delamore - has been working
for months to develop mortgage revenue bond program for low-interest loans
for parish residents.
The board met Friday and after hearing the state had approved its plan said
they will ask Blanco for up to $100 million in community block grants to
help keep interest rates low. Lawyer Walter Leger of the Louisiana Recovery
Authority met with the group.
 
Bonds would be issued to finance the loan program, under which a maximum of
a $250,000 loan could be available. The program would be open to applicants
earning less than $78,000 a year. Applicants would also have to be able to
qualify for a loan, have lived in St. Bernard Parish at the time of
Hurricane Katrina and the residence involved must be owner-occupied. 
 
Loan rates haven't been fixed but could be comparable to U.S. Small Business
Administration loans, which are about 2.7 percent. 
 
All but a handful of homes out of the parish's 27,000 residences were
flooded in the hurricane and the point of the loan program would be to help
those residents rebuild.
  
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