By Murray Wennerlund published 5-3-2023 updated 5-3-2023
Make a contribution
Print
Grants
LA
Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR HUD)
Hurricanes and tropical storms
336 views
Once you enter the realm of temporary shelters provided by HUD or FEMA you will soon be pressured to return to your home no matter if it is repaired or not. The goal of the state GOHSEP and FEMA is to provide shelter just long enough for you to make repairs to make your disaster damaged home livable. FEMA's policy regarding shelter includes sheltering in place in your home. This is very different from what HUD states which is to have a safe and healthy living environment.
For many hurricane Ida survivors your rents may go from $0 or $50 to $780 and $1,428 depending on the size of shelter that the FEMA program offered you.
Many of you that are using the FEMA trailers or manufactured homes on your private property could offer to purchase the home and it would be up to your local municipality to allow you temporary housing permits while you repair your primary home. For many since 2016 living in trailers for 6 or more years has been the only pathway to disaster recovery.
FEMA will allow their sheltering program to go as long as 32 months. After 18 months everything seems to be a battle of housing and cost for the housing. You should be contacting the states HUD office for housing assistance and you should have enrolled into the states grant program called Restore Louisiana Homeowners Program (RLHP). The RLHP is funded by HUD and offers Grants to homeowners so they can repair, rebuild or replace their damaged home. The program focuses on incomes of low-income to moderate-income (80% AMI) and as the program progresses they open up for all income ranges.
So your first step is to appeal the rent increases to keep your overhead below $50 per month for rents while you do what you can to repair your primary home. The current FEMA program is scheduled to end August 29, 2023 for Hurricane Ida survivors. And most likely will be renewed if their are still hundreds of families in need.
But it's your efforts that are going to lead you to your recovery. The state will not take your hand and guide you, you have to seek out the programs that offer billions in federal taxpayer dollars for you to use to recovery when your insurance wasn't enough or you didn't have insurance at all.
Read about the Restore program in Louisiana and apply. If you need help, browse the section for HUD, CDBG-DR and OCD-DRU which are all formal names for disaster recovery assistance with federal dollars.