Seems we can GO TO WAR at the DROP of a HAT, so WTF?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Katrina recovery program seeks to alter distribution of funds" by John Moreno Gonzales, Associated Press | December 18, 2008
BATON ROUGE, La. - An $849 million Hurricane Katrina recovery program, hobbled by red tape and the national credit crunch, will seek to issue rebuilding money directly to small landlords without the involvement of banks, officials said yesterday.
Yeah, do everything you can to keep those blood-sucking leeches OUT of it!
The Louisiana Small Rental Program was designed to restore 18,000 properties, but has distributed only 433 grants so far because of existing bureaucratic restrictions. The program had required banks to issue rebuilding loans to small landlords, who then applied for reimbursement grants through the program.
So WHO STOLE the $$$$?
The owners of shotgun homes and cottages that kept rent cheap in New Orleans for generations found it virtually impossible to obtain the loans and the credit crunch only exacerbated the problem. Beset with a shortage of affordable housing in New Orleans, especially after demolition began on public housing projects, state officials were pressed to get the rental program funding flowing.
The Associated Press reported in November that not a single financial lender recommended by the program was still issuing the loans. Meanwhile, a housing shortage in New Orleans has contributed to a 40 percent spike in rents, pushing the federal government to distribute $28 million a month in rental aid to hurricane victims....
--more--"Related:
FEMA Knew Katrina Trailers Were Poisonous
FEMA Seeks Immunity for Willful Negligence and Poisoning of Americans
Also see: Mississippi Port More Important Than People
