For Small Rental Property Owners
The Small Rental Property program provides incentives to property owners to repair their storm-damaged, small-scale rental properties and make their units available to low- and moderate-income tenants at affordable rates. Federal funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development is being offered in a series of competitive rounds.
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Round 1 closed on March 15, 2007 and received over 6,500 applications. Of these, 2,693 small-scale rental property owners were conditionally awarded over $202 million in federal funds.
Round 2 closed on July 31, 2007 and issued $375 million in new conditional awards to help small Louisiana based rental property owners restore their storm-damaged properties. 5,032 properties received conditional awards for the restoration of approximately 9,504 units. Of those units, 8,261 units will rent at affordable rates for low- to moderate income level working families. The other units will be occupied by resident landlords in two- to four-unit rental properties and by market rate tenants in mixed-income properties.
Applicants on the Round 2 Waitlist were funded on February 4, 2008 when the Rental program issued an additional $130 million in new conditional awards. Round 2 applicants who submitted incomplete or contradictory information were placed on a Waitlist while they were given an opportunity to complete or correct their applications. Their applications were then scored so they could receive conditional awards as additional funding became available. Through the Round 2 Waitlist, 1,996 properties are receiving conditional awards to restore 3,587 units. Of these, 2,762 units will rent at affordable rates for low- to moderate income level working families.
All told, the Rental program has nearly $594 million in outstanding conditional awards, which will produce 12,792 units, including 10,951 affordable rental units in a total of 6,835 rental properties. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) approved the use of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds for the Louisiana Disaster Recovery plan. The Road Home program was developed by the Louisiana Recovery Authority and is implemented by the Louisiana Office of Community Development.
- Property owners whose incentive loan awards are in process may now receive case-by-case authorization to rent vacant, fully repaired units to certified income eligible tenants before they go to closing. To request authorization, call The Road Home at 1.888.ROAD.2.LA (1.888.762.3252) and press the Rental program prompt #1 to speak with a Rental program expert.
- Property owners who received an award from the Homeowner Assistance program for their home are eligible to apply for a rental award for separate structures on the same tax parcel. The other structures must contain affordable rental units and must meet all other Small Rental Property program requirements. Units that share a roof with the owner’s home are not included and are not eligible.
- A property owned by a nonprofit organization that applied for assistance in the set aside can undergo a change in ownership before closing and still be eligible as long as the new owner is a nonprofit organization registered to do business in the State of Louisiana (see Nonprofit Owner Program for more details).
- If an owner evicts a tenant in a manner that qualifies the tenant for permanent displacement benefits, the Small Rental Property program will deduct the permanent relocation costs from the owner's award while allowing the owner to continue in the program.
