FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 24, 2016
Contact: govpress@la.gov

Gov. Edwards Announces Additional Housing Solutions for Flood Survivors; Introduces Shelter at Home Program

BATON ROUGE - Today, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced several additional housing solutions for the thousands of Louisianans impacted by the historic flooding in the recent weeks.

One of those solutions includes the Shelter at Home Program, a program new to Louisiana that will allow people to shelter at their own home while they continue to rebuild.

“We know that many people are anxious to get back to their homes, churches, schools and communities,” said Gov. Edwards. “Working alongside FEMA, we have identified several assistance programs that citizens can take advantage of in order to return to some sense of normalcy as soon as possible. I know it can’t come soon enough, but my administration is doing everything possible to make sure that help is available. I encourage everyone to explore these solutions and make the best decisions for themselves and their families.”

The additional housing solutions announced today include:

• The Shelter at Home program: Beginning Monday, this program will allow homeowners and their families to stay in their homes while they rebuild, rather than relocate to a shelter, hotel or rental.
• Manufactured Housing Units (MHUs) program: FEMA will provide mobile homes for up to 18 months to eligible applicants. Unlike the old FEMA trailers, these mobile homes are built according to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development standards.
• Multi-Family Lease and Repair Program (MFLRP): In this program, FEMA identifies larger scale rental property currently not on the market where the property owner, with some financial assistance from FEMA, can make the property ready to rent within two months. The property owner agrees to make these rentals available to eligible FEMA applicants. 

Last week, the governor announced that eligible flood survivors may also take advantage of the following transitional housing assistance:

• Transitional Shelter Assistance (TSA) is a temporary program for survivors displaced from their primary residence that allows eligible disaster survivors to select from a list of partner hotel rooms.
• Access to available rental property listed on www.lahousingsearch.org.

Gov. Edwards again encouraged everyone impacted by the flooding disaster to register with FEMA for Individual Assistance at www.disasterassistance.gov. The Small Business Administration (SBA) will also make loans available for individuals and businesses that were damaged during the flooding. For more information visit www.sba.gov.

Click here for details on the Shelter at Home Program.

Click here for details on the Manufactured Housing Units program and the Multi-Family Lease and Repair Program.

Pictures of the mobile homes available through the Manufactured Housing Units program can be viewed here, here, here and here.

Click here for a full list of all help available to flood survivors.

###