Mayor Broome announces City Parish's $11 million disaster recovery plan, public meetings planned

Originally published by BR Proud.

Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome announced details of the $11 million amended disaster recovery plan for the City of Baton Rouge and the Parish of East Baton Rouge Wednesday.

The Mayor also released information regarding public meetings that will be held to solicit input regarding the new plan.

“We believe our new plan better meets the needs of our residents who have been impacted by the flood,” Mayor Broome said.  “We’re excited to share it and get  feedback.”

The money was awarded last year by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through the Community Development Block Grant funds after the great August 2016 flood.  The flood damaged more than 44,000 structures in the City Parish. The previous administration developed a plan that was approved by the Metro Council, but the plan was amended by Mayor Broome’s team to help leverage the dollars more effectively and efficiently. 

The plan will address homelessness prevention, rental repair, and home ownership.  It will increase funding for rental housing repairs and leverage the state’s homeowner assistance program to serve homeowners who may not otherwise qualify for rebuilding assistance. The new plan also reduces the city parish’s administrative costs so more money can go towards households that need it most.

As part of the rollout, the Office of Community Development (OCD) will host two public meetings. Public input is required before the plan can be finalized and resubmitted to HUD for final approval.

The meetings will be held:

• March 16 at 5:30 p.m. at the Eden Park Branch Library, 5131 Greenwell Springs Road, in Baton Rouge
• March 20 at 5:30 p.m. at the Carver Branch Library, 720 Terrace Street, in Baton Rouge

Details of the proposed amendment can be found at www.brgov.com/dept/ocd/announcements.htm. If you can’t make the public meetings, comments can be submitted to the Office of Community Development, P.O. Box 1471, Baton Rouge LA 70821-1471 or emailed to ocd@brgov.com. 

For more information, contact the Office of Community Development at (225) 389-3039.