| Louisiana.gov > Louisiana Recovery Authority | Text Size |   |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 25, 2010
Contact: Christina Stephens, christina.stephens@la.gov
Houma Workshop for Affordable Rental Housing Program Moved to Terrebonne Parish Library
BATON ROUGE, La. - The March 2 venue of the Houma workshop for the state's Affordable Rental Program has been changed to the Terrebonne Parish Library. Ongoing construction at the Council Chambers has required moving the workshop to the main branch of the parish library at 151 Library Drive in Houma. The time remains the same, from 9 a.m. to noon.
The $50 million Affordable Rental Program is part of $1 billion in disaster recovery Community Development Block Grant dollars awarded to Louisiana by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for damages inflicted by hurricanes Gustav and Ike. As part of this allocation, HUD is requiring the state to dedicate 11.2 percent of the total funding to affordable rental housing.
The Affordable Rental Program will restore and create affordable rental housing for individuals with low and moderate incomes in impacted parishes through the new construction of rental housing, or acquisition or rehabilitation of existing facilities. The competitive grants program is open to municipalities, parishes, nonprofit organizations and developers in the 53 parishes affected by the storms.
To register for the workshop, please e-mail info@louisianarecoveryauthority.org or call (225) 342-1700 and provide the following information: your name, physical address, e-mail address, phone number, parish in which your project will be located and date of the workshop you wish to attend. Please indicate "Workshop RSVP" in the subject line of the email. The workshop is free and open to the public. Attendance, although voluntary for participants, is strongly encouraged.
The Affordable Rental Program guidelines are available online at http://lra.louisiana.gov/assets/docs/searchable/Gustav%20Ike/Parish%20Docs/AffordableRentalGuidelines2-17-2010.pdf. The formal application period will begin March 8. The application deadline is close of business May 7. Awards will be announced in June.
Created in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita in 2005, the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) is the coordinating and planning body leading the most extensive rebuilding effort in American history. The central point for hurricane recovery in Louisiana, the LRA works closely with the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) and partners with state and federal agencies to oversee more than $20 billion worth of programs, speed the pace of rebuilding, remove hurdles and red tape and ensure that Louisiana recovers safer and stronger than before.
###
