US to offer 2 housing programs to Katrina evacuees

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government said on Saturday
it would distribute two types of housing assistance to people
displaced by Hurricane Katrina based on the type of housing
they had before the storm.

The Homeland Security Department and Housing and Urban
Development Department said evacuees from Louisiana,
Mississippi and Alabama fall into four categories — previous
homeowners, renters, people who lived in public housing, and
those who were homeless before the hurricane.

Under a Federal Emergency Management Agency program,
previous homeowners or renters will receive an initial
three-month rental assistance payment of $2,358. That sum was
calculated based on the average fair-market rent rate for a
two-bedroom unit nationwide, and can be increased if needed, a
FEMA spokesman said.

People who lived in public housing or were homeless before
Katrina will qualify for a Housing and Urban Development
Department program that will be administered by its network of
local public housing authorities.

The departments said most evacuees will receive housing
assistance under the FEMA program, and said the HUD assistance
was “comparable.”

Thousands of homes were destroyed when Hurricane Katrina
battered the U.S. Gulf Coast in August.

“Our goal is to use existing resources in an innovative way
to help all displaced individuals and families move from
temporary shelters to more stable, safe and sufficient
housing,” said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in
a statement.

FEMA spokesman Michael Widomski said FEMA began processing
the assistance Saturday. He said FEMA had received 16,000
applications and had committed $37 million so far.