The 17-year-old Road Home hurricane recovery program has come to an official end, and with it the state says it will drop lawsuits against thousands of people accused of misspending grants for elevating their homes after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Many used the grant money to make repairs instead, then were faced with government legal action; attempting to claw that money back. At a press conference Thursday in New Orleans, District 2 Congressman Troy Carter says the suits threatened the American dream for many homeowners…:
“The one threat that, curiously and sadly, threatened that dream was the very thing that was created to save and protect that dream.
The event was held to herald the official closure of the $10-billion Louisiana Road Home Program; a problem-fraught recovery plan that did its best to make homeowners whole again, after the twin storms destroyed their homes 17 years ago. Governor John Bel Edwards says over 3000 persons were sued over allegedly misspending Road Home elevation grants…:
“That was the biggest hurdle to overcome, were the elevation grants…that I think everyone acknowledges now…were insufficient in size to actually elevated people homes, but they awarded these grants anyway.”
Congressman Carter and Governor Edwards say all lawsuits seeking recovery of alleged misused grant dollars are officially being dropped with the official end of Road Home…:
“We will release all the judicial mortgages and liens that are on peoples’ homes. There will not be any further collection efforts.”
Carter says a ”long bad dream” is over for thousands of south Louisiana homeowners.
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