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For Immediate Release

Louisiana Homeowners Receive Financial Assistance from The Road Home First Closings on Disbursement Accounts Today

BATON ROUGE, La., August 25, 2006 – Today, the first homeowners from The Road Home pilot program received financial assistance for their losses from Hurricane Katrina. It is estimated that 42 applicants will receive compensation of almost $1.5 million in the next few weeks.

“We are off to a great start, and thousands more homeowners will be served in the coming weeks. The Road Home program launched the day the State of Louisiana received federal dollars for compensation. We opened 10 Housing Assistance Centers statewide this week and are closing on the first disbursement accounts in record time,” said Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco. “The work that has been put into this historic effort will allow us to help Louisiana residents return home and start rebuilding our state as quickly as possible.”

The state has tapped banks and other financial institutions to assist their customers by establishing accounts that will hold and disburse the grant funds.  Lenders will implement 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.  In Phase 1 of the program, a registry was created to assist in designing the program based on homeowners’ locations and information. Now, in Phase 2, homeowners must fill out an application with detailed information about their homes. Once the application has been reviewed, a homeowner will receive instructions by mail on how to schedule an appointment to visit a Housing Assistance Center. 

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.

The Road Home, the largest housing recovery program in U.S. history, 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.

 

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