Gov. Edwards Announces the State has Signed a $600 Million HUD Grant Agreement for Recovery from Hurricanes Laura and Delta

BATON ROUGE, La. — Today, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced that the Louisiana Division of Administration has signed a grant agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development establishing a $600 million line of credit for recovery from Hurricanes Laura and Delta. Already, the state has offered nearly $16 million in grant awards to 193 qualified homeowners through the Restore Louisiana Homeowner Assistance Program.

“With the execution of this grant agreement, the state can begin implementing the programs that will assist the residents, businesses and communities affected by these devastating storms,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said. “Not wanting to cause any further delay for those impacted, I directed the Office of Community Development to begin proactively processing homeowners’ applications early so that immediately upon execution of this grant agreement they would be able to start the process of repairing or reconstructing their homes. The survey to determine eligibility remains open, and I encourage anyone who has not started the process to do so now.”

HUD approved the state’s initial action plan for spending $600 million in federal funding for recovery from Hurricanes Laura and Delta on July 14. The state followed up with an amendment to spend an additional $1.27 billion in federal funding for recovery from Hurricane Ida and the May 2021 Severe Storms, as well as an additional $450 million for recovery from Hurricanes Laura and Delta. HUD approved this amendment on Sept. 20. Once the grant agreement for the additional funds included in the amendment is executed with HUD, OCD can launch recovery programs for all eligible storms.

On Jan. 31, the state’s early launch of the Restore Louisiana Homeowner Assistance Program survey helped expedite the application process for homeowners. Taking the survey is the initial step toward receiving assistance. Restore Louisiana has already invited eligible homeowners who took the survey to complete the next step—submitting an application—and has started processing those applications, as well as providing award determinations. To date, more than 7,900 homeowners have completed the survey with more than 2,200 invited to submit applications.

“We wanted to issue award determinations as soon as we had access to the federal funds, so our eligible homeowners could immediately begin their repair process,” OCD Executive Director Pat Forbes said. “Now that these funds are available, OCD will continue its efforts to reach as many eligible homeowners as possible, in addition to rolling out the programs of economic revitalization, infrastructure and community planning so vital to our recovery.”