HUD OKs Coast housing plan

The Clarion-Ledger, 6/26/8

The federal government has approved Mississippi’s $350 million plan to produce thousands of housing units on the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast.

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston approved the proposal Wednesday. The money comes from the $5.4 billion in Katrina aid authorized by Congress after the August 2005 storm.

HUD said tens of thousands of Mississippi homes were damaged or destroyed by the storm, and the vast majority of the displaced earn low to moderate incomes. The long-term work-force housing plan is designed to ensure affordable units are created in mixed-income neighborhoods, HUD said.