News Release

HUD AWARDS $27 MILLION TO FIVE MISSISSIPPI HOUSING AUTHORITIES TO HELP REPAIR HURRICANE DAMAGED PUBLIC HOUSING
Long Beach Housing Authority to receive nearly $96,000 during "Roofing Blitz"

LONG BEACH, Miss. - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will give $27,320,120 in funding to help five Mississippi housing authorities to continue repairing thousands of public housing units damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

"We want Mississippi public housing residents to know we will continue to assist in rebuilding their lives in the wake of Katrina," said HUD Assistant Secretary Orlando Cabrera, who made the announcement today at the Long Beach Housing Authority. "HUD, through our field offices, is working with public housing agencies along the coast in meeting community needs to rebuild, recover and provide safe, decent and affordable housing."

Cabrera joined representatives from Fannie Mae, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) at the Long Beach Housing Authority's "Roofing Blitz," where volunteers from all over the U.S. are spending this week replacing roofs on 22 of the Long Beach Housing Authority's (LBHA) 75 public housing units.

While there, Cabrera presented a $95,954 check to LBHA Executive Director LeNelle Davis, as volunteers were busy fixing roofs that have blue tarps covering them.

The funding announced today was made possible through the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations to Address Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and Pandemic Influenza Act of 2006, which permits eligible public housing agencies (PHAs) to combine their HUD funding to assist families who were displaced by Hurricanes Katrina or Rita. To help housing authorities get maximum benefit from this law, last year HUD also issued additional guidance that allowed eligible PHAs to convert regular Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) funds to the Disaster Voucher Program, which made voucher program funding available. PHAs were then permitted to use these funds to repair public housing units.

The approved housing authorities can use the funding to cover the purchase of materials and labor costs to repair and renovate interior or exterior vacant public housing units; they can then make the repaired units available for residents receiving housing assistance before the hurricane who were displaced by Katrina.

Other Mississippi housing authorities that will receive this funding include the following:

• The Mississippi Regional Housing Authority VIII in Gulfport that covers Harrison County will receive $24,061,224 to do public housing upgrades, roofing, renovations, repairs and site improvements.
• Biloxi Housing Authority will receive $1,093,885 to cover unanticipated fees incurred to protect and restore nearly completed HOPE VI public housing developments, repairs, construction, related fees and costs, financing, and increased insurance costs.
• The Mississippi Regional Housing Authority V in Newton that covers Newton County will receive $1,275,008 to pay the debt service on a market-rate, elderly, PHA-owned development. The funding will also be used to buy down cost to make units more affordable.
• MS Regional Housing Authority VII in McComb that covers Pike County will receive $794,069 to purchase and fireproof the housing authority office that suffered Katrina-related damage. Funding will also replace aging water and sewer lines in 17 public housing units and install flooring in 44 public housing units.

HUD is the nation's housing agency committed to increasing homeownership, particularly among minorities; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS. The Department also promotes economic and community development, and enforces the nation's fair housing laws. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov.

###