The housing needs of Mississippi’s post-Katrina recovery compose more than $3.26 billion of the state’s entire $5.4 billion CDBG disaster recovery allocation. The Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) has sought to ensure its ongoing CDBG-sourced direct housing recovery initiatives are fully funded to meet homeowner assistance demand as continuously defined by eligibility determinations. The programs were designed to address a variety of housing needs such as:
- Construction of Affordable Rental Housing (Single and Multi-Family)
- Construction of Affordable Non-Rental Single-Family Housing
- Repair/Rehabilitation of Existing Housing
- Public Housing
- Homebuyer Assistance
In addition to direct housing assistance, MDA also established programs that provided an indirect benefit to the homeowners in the disaster area. These programs helped to cover the cost to ensure housing structures were built to new codes; to assist in the investigation of contractor fraud; and to defray excessive costs associated with damaged infrastructure and providing emergency response services which would have been passed on to the ratepayer.