The Biden-Harris administration has moved to provide debt relief for Louisiana homeowners impacted by Hurricane Katrina nearly 20 years after the deadly natural disaster left mostly Black communities devastated.
“We ended a nightmare that has been going on for almost 18 years,” Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge told theGrio about the corrective action taken to help thousands of Katrina survivors who rebuilt their homes and their lives after the August 2005 tragedy.
While on the ground in Louisiana to announce the end of the Hurricane Katrina-era Road Home Program, Fudge said during an interview: “This is one of the most significant things I believe I have done as secretary of HUD.”
The federally-funded program that was administered by the state of Louisiana provided grant money to help Louisiana residents rebuild or sell their homes that were severely damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Disbursements for each homeowner grant will be capped at $30,000.
Fudge said the latest action by HUD, which takes effect in April 2023, is about “equity and making things right.”
HUD officials say the debt forgiveness for the Road Home Program will potentially impact up to 3,300 Louisiana homeowners. In the aftermath of Katrina, almost 130,000 Louisiana residents received more than $9 billion through the Road Home Program.
The Bush administration provided much of the billions of dollars to impacted homeowners. Former Bush HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson told theGrio that the administration wanted to focus their recovery efforts on homeowners; however, Bush officials later discovered that those most affected by the hurricane were renters.
“Many of the people lived in subpar homes that they were renting,” said former Secretary Johnson. Though the recent move by HUD appears to be for homeowners and not renters, Johnson said he supports Secretary Fudge’s efforts…
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