[StBernard] Affordable Housing A Louisiana Priority

[Westley Annis]

Affordable Housing A Louisiana Priority
A column by Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco 

No state in history lost as many homes in one year to storm damage as Louisiana did during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Over 205,000 homes and rental units suffered major to severe damage in August and September of 2005. The magnitude of this destruction is hard to fathom, especially considering that every single destroyed home meant upheaval for an entire family. A large proportion of these homes were occupied by low-income families. This is why solving the housing problem continues to be one of my top priorities. 

Our challenge is twofold. First and foremost, we must continue to safely rebuild the destroyed housing to bring Louisiana's displaced people home. The Road Home program is finally picking up speed, with over 35,000 homeowners with checks in hand. It is my desire to see as many of these families as possible rebuild their homes and remain in state. 

Second, we must find new solutions to combat an increased demand on statewide housing. In the communities large and small that absorbed large numbers of displaced citizens, we are seeing new strains on both the availability and affordability of housing options.

I called on the Board and staff of the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency (LHFA) to be creative and aggressive in leveraging our resources to find new housing solutions. We have a long way to go, but we have seen significant progress. 

The LHFA and their partners have invested $3.4 billion in the recovery of our state's housing stock. This investment comes from a broad range of financing tools, including HOME funds, mortgage revenue bonds, Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and Community Development Block Grants. We are in the process of producing 26,056 units of affordable workforce housing through this effort. More than 17,000 of these units will be developed in the state's eight hardest hit parishes: Orleans, Jefferson, St. Tammany, Calcasieu, Cameron, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, and Vermilion. 

While we are making progress, we must continue plugging away to address the multi-facets of our State's housing recovery needs. Our team is working with communities experiencing overcrowding to find new ways to direct tax credits and other affordable housing resources their way. We are doing this while working with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other housing partners to develop long-term solutions to our housing needs. 

We are working towards the day when every Louisiana citizen who wants to return home has the ability to return home. And we are working to see that working families in this state have access to affordable and safe housing. Affordable housing is a key building block for the workforce stability needed to drive our recovery and move Louisiana forward. Our state must have affordable housing to grow, and I encourage all citizens and future governors to keep building on the progress we are making.

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The Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation
Louisiana's Fund for Louisiana's People