BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Gov. John Bel Edwards announced nearly $600 million in HUD allocation will be used for disaster recovery from hurricanes Laura and Delta.
News release from the governor’s office:
Gov. John Bel Edwards announced today that Louisiana will receive $594,931,000 in Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the state’s long-term recovery from Hurricanes Laura and Delta in 2020.
“This is a step in the right direction and we are thankful to our congressional delegation for their help in securing this funding,” Gov. Edwards said. “However, we don’t think the allocation for Hurricanes Laura and Delta is adequate for a full, sustainable recovery of Southwest Louisiana and the other impacted areas of the state, especially when it comes to housing. We will continue to work with our delegation and the White House to get the additional money we need.”
The funds are part of a $5 billion supplemental disaster appropriation Congress passed in September that includes money for all disasters that occurred across the country in 2020 and 2021. It also includes a “down payment” for Hurricane Ida that has not yet been allocated but is expected soon.
“HUD has not yet published the rules that govern this allocation, but as soon as they do we will submit our plan for investing these funds into recovery from the hurricanes that devastated our state more than a year ago,” Gov. Edwards said. “We have been working with the communities in Southwest Louisiana for months now to develop a recovery plan that will put these funds to use quickly and effectively.”
HUD’s notification is for funding appropriated Sept. 9 in Public Law No: 117-43, the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act.
