Louisiana flood victims ‘re-victimized by bureaucracy’; federal shutdown delays work on SBA issue
As many as 6,000 Louisianans who took out loans from the
But state officials and impacted homeowners have continued to wait for the
Guidance from HUD was expected by the end of March but could be delayed another month due to the shutdown,
"The 35 days of shutdown probably adds at least 35 days to that timeline because those were days people were going to be writing this guidance," Forbes said.
Prior to October, there was a policy in place that said any loans approved by the SBA had to be deducted from potential grant assistance.
That policy was widely criticized by homeowners and state officials because it left flood-impacted homeowners who otherwise could have qualified for Restore Louisiana grants on the hook for years of loan repayments.
Sullivan said he couldn't comment on whether HUD will give
Graves, in a phone interview with The Advocate on Friday, said that the law change he helped push into law months ago is clear and that federal officials agree. Graves said the holdup is the frustrating result of a slow-moving bureaucracy that's kept affected
"I've spoken to attorneys from four different federal agencies that are all involved in this debacle that all agree the law fixes this problem," Graves said.
Graves has sharply criticized officials from the agencies involved -- HUD, the
Graves said he's scheduled to speak with HUD Secretary
"Regardless of the shutdown, HUD's delay is simply unacceptable," Sen.
Rep.
Though the SBA issue remains outstanding, Restore Louisiana has otherwise nearly completed its grant-making process related to the March and
Forbes announced Friday that the state program distributing
The program has nearly finished distributing money to people seeking reimbursements or using a state contractor to fix their homes. But only 37 percent of the people who are fixing their own homes with a federal grant have completed their projects, according to information provided at the meeting.
In total, about 16,000 people have been offered
Officials on the task force largely applauded Forbes and Gov.
The task force agreed to write an urgent request to HUD asking for a timely response.
"To me, it's just unacceptable that we don't have these regulations to know how these dollars will be spent," said task force member
Forbes said the state is holding enough money in its homeowner assistance program to accommodate a reading of the federal law that would allow the state to distribute the maximum amount of money to SBA loan holders, about
But there will be money left over in the Restore Louisiana program, especially from the homeowner assistance program that drew fewer successful applicants than state officials anticipated.
About
Another
"These are all things we're tweaking at the end here to address those last folks who are having trouble getting across the finish line," Forbes said.
The remainder of the
Also on Friday, the task force received an update on the
There remain 323 households living in
Tingle said the state is holding daily calls with nonprofits and federal agencies to review the remaining cases and how to move people out before a final
About 190 of those families are working with the Restore Louisiana program to get back into their homes, while 40 more are negotiating with
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