For Immediate Release

BATON ROUGE, La., August 22, 2006 – The Road Home, the largest housing recovery program in U.S. history, is opening 10 Housing Assistance Centers this week across the Louisiana.  Beginning this week, the program is taking applications from Louisiana homeowners and plans to make initial disbursements from its pilot program.

The Road Home is designed to help residents of Louisiana affected by Hurricane Katrina or Rita get back into their homes as quickly and fairly as possible.  Working together, Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, the Louisiana Recovery Authority and the Office of Community Development created The Road Home programto afford eligible homeowners up to $150,000 in compensation for their losses to get back into their homes. Funding for The Road Home program is provided by a $10.2 billion allocation from the Federal Government in the form of Community Development Block Grants.

“There is nothing more important to our recovery than returning citizens to their homes.  I fought hard for the funding to run The Road Home program so our homeowners can get the help they need,” said Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco. “We encourage them to participate fully in the program.”
To craft a sound and cost-effective program, the State of Louisiana consulted with many audiences, from consumers to financial institutions.  A key detail of the plan is that the state has tapped financial institutions to assist their customers by establishing accounts that will hold and disburse the grant funds. 

The State has established firm consumer protections for the program.  To participate, lenders have agreed to follow disbursement guidelines that have been reviewed by the State for their effectiveness in maximizing homeowner awards and defending against fraud and misuse of funds. Participating lenders will shoulder the cost of helping the State disburse the funds and have agreed to waive most fees associated with implementation.

More than 100,000 people initially registered for the Governor’s Road Home program; calculations estimated that as many as 120,000 people could qualify for assistance. To become eligible for assistance, The Road Home requires a review of the homeowner’s application. Once the application has been reviewed, homeowners will receive instructions by mail on how to schedule an appointment to visit a housing center. 

The program’s 10 Housing Assistance Centers will serve as the places where eligible homeowners with scheduled appointments can speak one-one-one with trained housing advisors who will guide homeowners through the process and help them make informed decisions about their options. During a homeowner’s initial appointment, housing advisors will collect records about ownership, flood and homeowners' insurance, mortgage balances and recovery estimates.  This information and any other personal information will be stored at a secured data center and will be protected for privacy. Once the housing advisors verify the documents, homeowners will learn if they are considered eligible to receive financial assistance through The Road Home.

Homeowners can start their applications to The Road Home by visiting www.road2LA.org or by calling 1-888-ROAD-2-LA (1-888-762-3252 or TTY: 1-800-566-4224).  Homeowners who have already registered with The Road Home will receive an application in the mail to complete as part of the next phase of the process, but may apply online immediately.

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