[StBernard] Governor Blanco celebrates full funding of The Road Home

[Westley Annis]

Governor Blanco celebrates full funding of The Road Home 


Governor's remarks on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development fully funding The Road Home Tuesday, July 11, 2006 

Thank you, Deputy Secretary Bernardi, for bringing us good news! Thank you for making available the long awaited funding we need to return people to their homes. Today's commitment of an additional $4.2 billion in housing funding seals the deal. For the first time we can guarantee that we have all of the funding needed to run our full program. With this investment, we will bring back our communities devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. 

Several weeks ago, Secretary Jackson joined me to announce the first round of Community Development Block Grant housing funding.

At that time, we were still fighting for Congress to approve our final housing package to fully fund The Road Home. We needed the additional $4.2 billion to offer our people the fair and equitable treatment they deserve! . Our efforts paid off - that is why we are here today. Congress and the American people handed Louisiana a tremendous victory. I want to thank Congress for delivering on the President's promise to help us rebuild. 

We are determined to honor this investment by rebuilding the two-hundred thousand homes lost. Never before in American history has any state been forced to rebuild so many homes so quickly. This is our mission. 

I am proud of the LRA's work to create a program that gives people real options to repair, rebuild or sell their homes. Walter Leger, Chair of the LRA's Housing Task Force, is here with us. He has been a great champion of this program. Walter, I thank you for your dedication. 

Our program will invest in restoring affordable rental housing so all of our people can return home. From New Orleans to Lake Charles - we will rebuild. We have Mayor Margo Racca with us from the town of Iowa, outside of Lake Charles. Iowa was devas! tated by hurricane Rita. Mayor Racca, we will rebuild Iowa! Kevin Davi s is with us from St. Tammany, and we will rebuild St. Tammany! St. Bernard, Jefferson, Orleans - all of our affected parishes - will come back. 

They say good news is contagious, and we have entered a time of good news for our communities. 
We are running full speed ahead with our housing program. Today's funding announcement fuels the momentum. 

We have already contacted hundreds of registrants from our housing registry. Tomorrow, we will open the doors of a temporary Housing Assistance Center located in Baton Rouge. Housing counselors will immediately begin holding pre-scheduled appointments servicing this first round of contacted registrants. We are testing our system and fine tuning it, making sure it meets the needs of residents.

By the third week in August, we will open centers throughout the affected parishes. I have asked for no less than 10 centers. Our team is working with local leaders to secure and prepare these facilities f! or operation. 

We will begin distributing financial assistance to homeowners in August. But I want to caution that it will take months to process thousands of applications. Our program is consumer specific, and it will be information specific to each homeowner. So it will take time to do this right. 

Homeowners, housing counselors are prepared to work with you to discuss options and verify your eligibility. We are required to verify home ownership and extent of damage. 

This will not happen overnight, but we will move forward as quickly as possible. 

I understand homeowners have been patiently waiting to receive assistance. We are a big step closer because of today's announcement. Remember, this is federal money and we want to do this right. 

If you haven't done so, I am urging homeowners to enroll NOW in the housing registry. You can register online at www.louisianarebuilds.info <http://keelson.eatel.net/websites/la.gov/action.cfm?md=communication&task=addClick&msg_ID=2139&ID=d%5Di%3FeviYnknw&redirect=http://www.louisianarebuilds.info>  or over the phone at 1-888-ROAD-2-LA. Now is the time to join the more than 90,000 homeowners who have already enrolled in the housing registry. 

Housing Advisors are contacting homeowners in the registry to pre-schedule appointments, so you must register to be contacted for an appointment. 

We will be accountable for this funding, and we will not tolerate fraud in this program. 
I have heard reports of schemes underway to misrepresent ! The Road Home program and defraud homeowners. 

Homeowners, please do not respond to any offers that require you to incur fees. Let me emphasize this - there are no fees for you to pay. The registry will call you to schedule an appointment at a well-publicized location. Do not fall for false requests asking you for money or personal information. 

The Road Home will never ask you for your credit card, or require you to pay to register in our program. We will go after any and everyone who attempts to defraud homeowners with the full force of the law. 

In closing, it is here folks!! We finally have the full federal funding commitment to return people to their homes. We will rebuild communities that will make us all proud. 

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The Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation Louisiana's Fund for Louisiana's People www.louisianahelp.org