SW La. making final push for more hurricane recovery funds

Published 5:14 am Thursday, February 24, 2022

 The next two to three weeks will be spent on a last-ditch effort to secure additional federal dollars to meet the more than $3 billion in unmet needs from Hurricanes Laura and Delta, Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter said Wednesday.

The final push for more disaster supplemental aid comes as Congress has until March 11 to approve a government funding bill.

Last fall, Congress allocated $600 million in disaster supplemental aid for recovery from the 2020 hurricanes, an amount the mayor called “woefully insufficient.”

“If that is all we receive as a community, it is going to be a very long, cumbersome and rocky road to recovery,” he said. “When you visit some of our neighborhoods in Lake Charles today, it looks like Hurricane Laura just hit yesterday. What we have been through over the last year and a half should be the poster child for why supplemental disaster aid exists.”

Hunter said he has asked executives with multiple industries in Lake Charles and Southwest Louisiana to reach out to congressional and White House leadership, along with federal lawmakers in other states, on the need for more federal disaster relief.

“Really, it is going to take that full-court effort at this juncture,” he said. “If we’re not successful, the door is probably shut permanently on additional supplemental aid. The timing is urgent, and the need is there.”

Hunter said he spoke with Gov. John Bel Edwards on a Zoom call Feb. 17 on the need for more federal disaster supplemental aid. That relief doesn’t take into account the winter storm that impacted Southwest Louisiana last February and the historic rainfall last May that left homes and businesses flooded throughout Lake Charles.

Before the state can deliver the $600 million in federal aid to Southwest Louisiana, it must put together an action plan and hold public hearings on how the money will be spent. Edwards announced Monday that the state has issued a proposed action plan and plans to hold several public hearings next month, including one in Lake Charles.

Hunter said the $600 million will likely be spent on restoring the affordable housing lost after Hurricanes Laura and Delta. Even that won’t be enough, as the state Office of Community Development estimates the housing need for Hurricanes Laura, Delta and Zeta at more than $900 million.

“We’re not talking about money to help City Hall or parish government,” he said. “We’re talking about money to help low to moderate income individuals reestablish themselves in sustainable housing.”

Hunter said the longer properties remain blighted from Hurricanes Laura and Delta, the bigger of an impact they have on the community.

“They have an effect on property values, on businesses wanting to return,” he said.

Louisiana’s congressional delegation signed a letter Feb. 18 that was addressed to the chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the chair and ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee. It called for “swift action” to appropriate more dollars to afford the unmet needs of hurricane-impacted communities in Louisiana.

“This is an urgent crisis,” the letter reads. “Families across Louisiana are struggling to house people and meet their basic life-sustaining needs today.”

The website, rebuildingswla.org, contains a link for residents to contact congressional leaders and express the need for more disaster supplemental aid for Southwest Louisiana. Sarah Judson, CEO of the Community Foundation of Southwest Louisiana, said contacting legislators is crucial.

“Now is the time to flood the phones and email,” she said. “This is the time for us to rebuild Southwest Louisiana, and we need federal dollars to do that.”

Hunter said he doesn’t see a scenario where Southwest Louisiana doesn’t eventually recover from Hurricanes Laura and Delta.