[StBernard] Walter Leger Issues Statement on Road Home Program Surpassing 10, 000 Closings

[Westley Annis]

Walter Leger Issues Statement on Road Home Program Surpassing 10,000 Closings

BATON ROUGE, La. (April 25, 2006) - Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) Housing Task Force Chairman Walter Leger issued the following statement today in light of the Road Home housing assistance program surpassing 10,000 closings. 

"Today, the Road Home program reached an important milestone with more than 10,000 homeowners having completed their closings. Although all of us are frustrated with the pace of this program, we still ought to acknowledge this progress. While we wish this had happened months ago, we fully expect this pace to continue with ICF making good on their promise to close an additional 10,000 homeowners by the end of May. We are also looking forward to the next milestone of $1 billion being paid out to Louisiana's homeowners through this program. Again, ICF has assured us they will complete all closings by the end of 2007 and we are prepared to hold them to that."

The LRA developed the Road Home program, which is administered by the Division of Administration Office of Community Development (OCD) through a contract with ICF International. 

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated South Louisiana, claiming 1,464 lives, destroying more than 200,000 homes and 18,000 businesses. The Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) is the planning and coordinating body that was created in the aftermath of these storms by Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco to lead one of the most extensive rebuilding efforts in the world. The LRA is a 33-member body which is coordinating across jurisdictions, supporting community recovery and resurgence, ensuring integrity and effectiveness, and planning for the recovery and rebuilding of Louisiana.

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