The Clarion-Ledger Editorial, 12/14/8
Gulf Coast housing advocates – with the support of the Mississippi NAACP – filed a lawsuit Wednesday in as Washington, D.C., federal court challenging the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s approval of the state of Mississippi’s plan to spend $600 million in Hurricane Katrina recovery funds on rebuilding and expanding the Port of Gulfport.
The lawsuit contends the $600 million of the state’s total $5.4 billion in Community Development Block Grant funds was diverted from housing programs in violation of requirements that at least 50 percent of HUD funds be spent on lower-income residents.
But the Barbour administration has said that of the $5.4 billion in the federal Hurricane Katrina Recovery Package, $3.8 billion was dedicated to housing recovery, including almost $2 billion already disbursed to more than 27,000 households in the three coastal counties .
Magnolia Tribune
