JACKSON, Miss. – After several months of exhaustive efforts to clear federal environmental and regulatory hurdles, the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) has begun closings and initial check disbursals pertaining to its Small Rental Assistance Program (SRAP). 

With the first awards, initial projects totaling $6.5 million to help construct almost 200 low and moderate income housing units for renters have now cleared all eligibility requirements and closings have begun with property owners.

“This is a major milestone in our Hurricane Katrina recovery initiative, and in the coming months we’re poised to see this program accelerate rapidly,” said Gray Swoope, Executive Director of the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA).

SRAP, which provides rental subsidies and forgivable loans for renovation of storm damaged property and new construction of single family units and duplexes, is funded with $262 million sourced from a total $2.7 billion federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) package earmarked to rejuvenate housing stock throughout Mississippi’s lower counties, hardest hit by the unprecedented August 2005 storm.

Qualifying SRAP applicants can receive up to $40,000 per rental unit, provided they sign agreements with MDA pledging they’ll rent to low and moderate income people for five years.  If they do, their SRAP loan is forgiven entirely.  The SRAP program seeks to build upwards of 7,000 rental units in Mississippi’s Coastal counties.

“MDA’s $2.7 billion housing commitment, including the Small Rental Program, is entirely geared toward replacing housing stock so that people who want to stay in South Mississippi or move there for new opportunities can do so, thanks to a variety of housing options,” Swoope concluded.

Other programs making up Mississippi’s $2.7 billion federally sourced CDBG housing plan, include the Homeowners Assistance Program (HAP), Long Term Workforce Housing Program and Public Housing Program.

The largest program, HAP, is providing almost $2 billion in direct assistance to individual homeowners whose property was damaged by Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge.  Through HAP, the state has disbursed more than $1.6 billion to more than 21,000 qualifying homeowners in Mississippi’s Coastal counties.   HAP will finish by fall 2008, with projected disbursements for remaining applications expected to total more than 1.9 billion.

In addition to SRAP and HAP, remaining programs funded with the $2.7 billion federal CDBG housing package include the $105 million program to reconstruct traditional public housing.  Of the 3200 projected public housing units along the Coast administered by various local housing authorities, a third of those are currently under construction or reconstruction with more than 270 units complete. 

Finally, the $350 million Long Term Workforce Housing (LTWH) Program has awarded 14 projects totaling more than $150 million to companies, non-profits and other entities to implement their respective workforce housing proposals. Another two LTWH rounds totaling $200 million are pending.  The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) last week approved the LTWH action plan, clearing the way for final program implementation.

“Though SRAP and the other programs continue to face specific federal red tape and regulatory challenges which we’re working with our Congressional delegation and HUD to resolve, overall our housing initiatives are poised to provide 20,000 to 25,000 low and moderate housing units along the coast,” said Jon Mabry, Chief Operations Officer of MDA’s Disaster Recovery Division.  “This will be a diverse mix of traditional public housing as well as apartments, single family houses and duplexes that are specifically constructed to meet the Coast’s post-Katrina need for attractive and livable low and moderate income housing. “