The New Orleans City Council unanimously passed an ordinance on Thursday that allows $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to be used as homeowner grants for residents in homes built by Habitat for Humanity facing foreclosure. The grant will go directly to homeowners to help them, in part, deal with spiking insurance costs

Monique Blossom, director of policy and communications at the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center, spoke in support of the resolution during the City Council meeting.

“We have a crisis over at Habitat for Humanity where their homeowners are at risk of losing their homes through foreclosure due to increasing insurance rates. So to me, it just makes sense that we get this money out of the door and keep their homeowners in their homes,” Blossom said in an interview after her comments to the council.

Since the ordinance passed yesterday, New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity has contacted  the city’s ARPA team to begin planning how to use the newly secured funds. New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Marguerite Oestreicher said the organization wants to use the money to set up one-on-one counseling to support homeowners facing foreclosure and for direct assistance grants to homeowners through an application process.

Oestreicher said she hopes the council grant could be a pilot program for a broader program to assist homeowners in the city who are strained by the insurance crisis. 

“The idea is that this could potentially be a prototype to help others, right? Because we know there are many, many other people who are struggling and suffering too because they can’t afford their insurance,” Oestreicher said. 

There are not currently any confirmed dates or details of when homeowners will have access to the newly approved funds. Oestreicher said Habitat will inform homeowners of the relief that is available to them through this funding within the next month.

There are currently 450 active mortgages under New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity. Foreclosure proceedings have begun on 15 of them, according to a late July report by The Times-Picayune. Oestreicher said the nonprofit will not take any action on current or prospective  foreclosures until her organization has received guidance from the city.

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