$846 million of Katrina aid unclaimed

$846 million of Katrina aid unclaimed

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Rents rise in New Orleans despite federal program to help landlords

updated 6:30 p.m. ET, Mon., Nov. 24, 2008
NEW ORLEANS - The four-unit shotgun house that Sandra Marshall bought after decades of double shifts has sat untouched since the flooding of Hurricane Katrina, while nearly $850 million in federal aid for her and thousands of other mom-and-pop landlords sits on a bureaucratic shelf.

"I have old tenants calling me all the time asking when I'm going to get the place back up and running. I wish I knew," said Marshall, 56, who worked days as a postal clerk and nights as a housekeeping manager to buy her property.

She has applied for a repair loan from the nearly forgotten Louisiana Small Rental Property Program, created in the aftermath of Katrina to provide financial help to as many as 13,000 live-in owners of the shotgun and cottage conversions that kept rents cheap here for generations.

So far, it has put money in the hands of only 352 landlords. The hurdles have been its flawed implementation, limited financial resources among applicants, and lately, the national credit crunch. Now, the state is seeking to overhaul the program and divert the funds.

40 percent spike in rents
Housing advocates say the program's failure has contributed to a 40-percent spike in rents citywide. That has forced the federal government to pour even more Band-Aid relief into the recovery, including a $28-million-a-month Disaster Housing Assistance Program that helps 31,000 families pay the inflated rents.

"The rental market in New Orleans will never be the same," said Annie Clark, co-author of a New Orleans housing report released in August by the research group PolicyLink.

The failure of the small rental program is one reason why, three years after Katrina, many blue-collar New Orleans residents find themselves no longer able to afford life in their beloved hometown. It also illustrates how the billions of taxpayer dollars thrown at the hurricane recovery effort have yielded limited progress.

The rental program was launched under former Gov. Kathleen Blanco as a companion to the $10.3 billion Road Home program, which has issued 120,000 rebuilding grants to Gulf Coast homeowners despite its own persistent errors and bureaucratic delays.

But if the Road Home has moved glacially, the Small Rental Property Program is dead in the water.

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Oh my ! What to do,What to do ?

Anybody got any Idea's on what should be done with the leftover $846 million that is about to be diverted into some other 'Go Nowhere Do Nothing Aid Program' ?

I guess 'Throwing' money At a problem does not come anywhere near to helping fix it.

The "Small Rental Property Program" never issued even "1" rebuilding grant in its first year.


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(visit the link for the full news article)

They plan on diverting the $$ to help meet budget shortfalls, since they still can't get lenders here either - like CA.

Screw those of us who lived her before during and after Katrina, and still love our City, the state made it practically impossible for anyone to re3ceive rebuilding $$, whether through this program or that other Joke, the Road Home Program.

But hey, at least our kids now have a reason to be offered Spanish in school now, as we have become a mini south-centro america

We still have new trailers in Ar waiting to be given to victims of Katrina (1000's of them)!

The handling of Katrina is one of the worst black marks on American history.

I suspect as years go by and we learn more things like this, it will only get worse.

Terribly sad.