MISSISSIPPI DISASTER RECOVERY
Soon after Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. Congress and the President appropriated more than $5 billion to assist Mississippi’s storm recovery. Composed of flexible Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), this recovery program is specifically targeted at rebuilding housing, repairing public infrastructure, and rejuvenating the local economy.
No stranger to the federal CDBG program, MDA was tasked with administering this recovery package at the state level.
The largest piece of this package, some $3.8 billion, is targeted specifically toward housing recovery initiatives.
To date, the Disaster Recovery Division has approved more than $1.8billion in direct assistance to more than 25,000 homeowners whose houses were either damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge.
To aid renters and provide more low and moderate income housing stock, MDA is leveraging capital from private investors to build multi-family housing. With the Small Rental, Long Term Workforce Housing, and Public Housing initiatives, $700 million of the CDBG package will help build 20,000 to 25,000 affordable housing units in Mississippi’s coastal counties.
On the community infrastructure side, the CDBG package is funding almost $1.4 billion in various locally-driven recovery initiatives, including job creation through economic revitalization projects, restoration of public buildings and critical public infrastructure including the severely storm damaged Port of Gulfport.
Equal Housing Opportunity Statement: We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.