Governor Haley Barbour has announced Phase II of the Comprehensive Plan for Gulf Coast Housing.

Goals of the plan include;

• Compensation for homeowners who relied to their detriment on those who said they did not need flood insurance;
• Assistance for uninsured and underinsured lower income homeowners affected by the storm surge
• Lower borrowing costs to encourage new homeownership and
• Mitigates the increasing cost of insurance for homeowners;

Phase I of the Homeowners Assistance Grant Program is currently providing grants to approximately 13,500 homeowners who lived outside the federally delineated 100 year flood plain, had insurance, and suffered damage from the storm surge.

As a part of this program, about 1,500 of the grantees will receive additional assistance to cover the costs of elevating their home out of potential danger areas. In exchange for this grant, the homeowner agrees to rebuild to the International Residential Building Code, the Advisory Base Flood Elevation maps and to maintain flood insurance on the property.

Phase II of the Homeowners Assistance Grant Program will help 7,000-10,000 low to moderate income homeowners (less than 120% of the Area Median Income) whose homes were damaged by the storm surge. These homeowners are either uninsured or under-insured and can be either inside or outside the flood plain. These homeowners will receive a subsidy of up to $50,000 to fill the gap between the cost of rebuild/repair and the homeowner’s ability to pay. This subsidy also will be available to homeowners who choose to sell the damaged property and relocate somewhere else within the lower six counties in Mississippi. To be eligible for the subsidy, the homeowner must agree to stay in the home for at least five years, either on the pre-Katrina site or in the relocated home. An additional subsidy of up to $25,000 is available to homeowners with disabilities, special needs, etc. A significant component of this program will be financial counseling for the homeowners. This program will cost approximately $700 million.

Working with the Mississippi Department of Insurance, Governor Barbour set aside $50 million in Community Development Block Grants to offset the increased cost of reinsurance for the state-sponsored wind insurance program, making policies more affordable for Gulf Coast homeowners. This action made it possible for the Commissioner Dale to reduce the requested increase in wind insurance rates by more than 300%, saving a Gulf Coast homeowner more than $2000 a year on average.

To view the Press Release in its entirety, please click here.