Miss. Looks to Speed Up Delivery of Katrina Housing Grants

The state of Mississippi is trying to speed up the processing of housing grants to get checks faster to homeowners in Hurricane Katrina damaged areas, according to aides to Gov. Haley Barbour.

“(Barbour’s) not happy about the slow pace of the process,” spokesman Buddy Bynum told The Mississippi Press. “We’re doing everything we can to speed it up. The governor wants to get as much money to homeowners quickly.”

Some insurance companies have slowed the complex process of verifying which homeowners are eligible for grants, according to the Mississippi Development Authority.

Bynum said the MDA will now ask homeowners to sign affidavits saying they had insurance coverage rather than waiting on their insurance company verification.

“That should shake 1,600 cases down the line,” Bynum said.

As many as 600 grant applications that were on hold because MDA could not verify Mississippi State Tax Commission homestead exemption records will also be dealt with more efficiently.

“We will allow those people to sign an affidavit and set up a closing,” said Donna Sanford, head of MDA’s Katrina Recovery Program.

Bynum said the state will also waive some judgment liens that homeowners may have on their properties.

“For example, if Wal-Mart has a lien on your property because of unpaid bills, we’re not going to hold up the grant based on that,” Bynum said.

As of Monday, 242 checks totaling $11.7 million have been delivered to homeowners, Bynum said. About 17,118 homeowners applied for grants.

Almost 9,000 “closing packets” have been sent to homeowners, he said, along with 1,600 insurance affidavits.

Some 2,602 letters were sent Monday to residents who do not qualify for the Homeowners Grant Program, Bynum said.

Although the changes to the program are designed to speed up the distribution process, the state is not telling homeowners when to expect their grant checks, MDA chief operating officer Gray Swoope said.

Instead, updates of the grant program’s progress will be posted on MDA’s Web site every Wednesday, Swoope said.

MDA officials also denied homeowners’ suspicions that the $3 billion is sitting in a bank, gaining interest.

“The federal government will not allow that,” Sanford said. “As we write a check, we draw that money from the federal government.”

Any money left over from the Homeowner Grant Program will be rolled over into future grant programs to help other residents, Bynum said.

“We don’t anticipate there being any money left over,” he said.