The Restore Louisiana Task Force approved a plan Friday to make more state homeowners eligible for recovery dollars, and to grant recipients more money.
The new guidelines, as requested by Gov. John Bel Edwards, were passed unanimously. They would open the pool to all homeowners with flood insurance who still have an unmet need after insurance proceeds. If all goes as planned, roughly 12,000 homeowners previously deemed out of phase will be told they are eligible after all.
The proposal would also increase awards to recipients. The program currently pays 50 percent for repairs not yet completed, to those making at least 120 percent of the area median income. Now 100 percent of their remaining costs would be covered.
This deal would also reimburse homeowners for repairs already made, from 25 percent compensation to 50 percent.
“The reimbursement piece is huge, because so many people in the state have drained their savings accounts, drained their retirement accounts, run their credit cars up to try and rebuild their homes,” said Pat Forbes, executive director for the state’s Office of Community Development. “It reduces that drain on the wealth of the areas that were flooded, and it makes us better prepared for a better long-term recovery.”
More than 41,000 homeowners have completed the Restore Louisiana survey, not as many people as Forbes had expected. In Livingston Parish alone, only about 7,800 surveys have been filed. That’s compared to the 7,556 homes with FEMA-verified loss who have still not filed a survey.
“The people most likely to miss our on the benefits are the most vulnerable people in our community,” he added.
The expansion still needs approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. If the agency does not reject the proposal outright before the middle of next week, it will formally take effect.
So far, $16 million have been allocated to more than 500 homeowners through the Restore Louisiana program.
Homeowners can fill out the Restore Louisiana survey at restore.la.gov or over the phone at 866-735-2001.