La. to Get $75M for Katrina Cottages

By MELINDA DESLATTE
The Associated Press
Friday, December 22, 2006; 12:56 AM

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Louisiana will receive $75 million in federal funds to pay
for the construction of "Katrina cottages" that can be quickly built and are
more spacious and durable than the trailers many residents have lived in since
Hurricane Katrina, Sen. Mary Landrieu said Thursday.

The sum is far less than the state had sought, though, and Louisiana officials
are accusing the Federal Emergency Management Agency of shortchanging
the state after Sen. Trent Lott said his state, Mississippi, would receive
$280 million of the $400 million allocated for the pilot program.

Landrieu said hurricanes had destroyed more than 205,000 homes in Louisiana
compared to 61,000 homes in Mississippi.

"Under FEMA's upside down decision-making, Louisiana gets the short end of the
stick for alternative housing programs by almost 4-to-1, despite suffering more
than three times the housing loss," she said in a statement.

LinkHere