7,803 households have benefited so far
The state's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program has paid out more than $402 million for home elevations, reconstruction and storm-proofing, the state announced. It's a key threshold for a program that struggled to get off the ground for years, then was beset by graft and shoddy work once grants began to flow.
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View full sizeHome-elevation work has been plentiful in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. Financed by a $750 million grant from FEMA, the program has $650 million it can pay to homeowners. It pays Road Home recipients and their contractors up to $100,000 for house-lifting or to rebuild from the ground up. At one time, the FEMA grant was also used to reimburse up to $7,500 for window coverings, roof tie-downs, lifting heating and cooling units and other storm-proofing.
The state expects the $650 million to cover 10,500 projects. The other $100 million will go to cover administrative costs, mostly for a "staff augmentation" contract with Shaw Group.
The $402 million paid so far has gone to 7,803 households.
Several thousand more homeowners qualified for FEMA funding but have been told that there isn't enough money for them now. However, many of the 10,500 in the queue for funded projects have ended up dropping out or being disqualified, so applicants on the outside looking in may yet make it into the funded pipeline.
The state also announced another mitigation milestone Thursday: It's now paid more than $1.5 billion for mitigation overall. That combines the $400 million paid in Hazard Mitigation grants, the $937 million paid in $30,000 "elevation incentive" grants through the Road Home program and the $162 million in $7,500 storm-proofing grants paid out of the Road Home.
Road Home grants come from U.S. Housing and Urban Development funds and the Hazard Mitigation grants come from FEMA.
David Hammer can be reached at dhammer@timespicayune.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @davidhammerTP
