A community journey to emotional wellness, sponsored by the Red Cross.

The purpose of the event is to help demystify mental health treatment for the residents of New Orleans and encourage them to seek help for post-Katrina emotional challenges.

Participants will be able to take part in discussions on: “Dealing with the Blues,” “Parenting Children with Post-Katrina Emotional Challenges,” “Caring for the Elderly with Post-Katrina Emotional Challenges,” “Emotional Challenges in the Faith-based Community” and “Helping the Helper.”

Free parking, free admission, free lunch, free childcare.

Location:UNO Lindy Boggs Conference Center, 2500 Lakeshore Dr., New Orleans

Contact Information:
For info: (800) 814-1477 or www.redcross.org/goodbyeblues

Eligible families must register for temporary program by September 1st to get housing help

HOUSTON - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has extended its temporary disaster housing assistance program for 11,400 families who were displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita who are currently registered in the program. HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson made the announcement today with Guy Rankin, the executive director of the Harris County Housing Authority, at Primrose at Heritage Park, a senior housing apartment complex in Houston where 80 relocated families are using HUD’s Disaster Voucher Program (DVP).

“As we approach the second anniversary of one of this nation’s worst natural disasters, I’m pleased HUD can extend the program for families who still need help,” said Jackson, who greeted low-income New Orleans’ evacuees living at the facility. “We want all families who benefited from HUD’s housing programs before Katrina and Rita struck to continue to get assistance.”

DVP, which covers housing costs for families who lived in public housing or received other HUD rental assistance but were displaced by the hurricanes, was originally scheduled to end on September 30th. Eligible families must register by September 1st, 2007 to receive this temporary housing assistance.

The DVP extension announced today is being implemented as follows:

Families who lived in public housing prior to the storm are projected to continue receiving DVP assistance until June 30, 2008, based on current available funding and the number of families assisted. This extension also covers families who are assisted by other HUD housing programs, including those in senior and disabled housing, those in multifamily housing and families who were homeless prior to the storms. There are 3,800 families who will continue to receive assistance in this category.

Families who participated in HUD’s regular housing voucher program, known as Section 8 or the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCV), prior to the storms will return to the HCV program that covered the cost of their housing. These families were transferred to DVP assistance temporarily to ensure they continued to receive their housing subsidy during the recovery period. These 7,600 families will be reverted to the original program.
Families who were displaced by the hurricanes who have not registered for a disaster voucher must do so as soon as possible by contacting the public housing authority (PHA) where they currently reside or where they want to live. While new admissions for the DVP end on September 1st, PHAs that administer the DVP program in local communities need time to process new families in their systems to meet a September 30th deadline to use the DVP funding Congress appropriated. Families who were receiving HUD rental assistance or those who were homeless prior to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are eligible for DVP assistance. More on HUD Extends DVP Housing Assistance for 11,400 Families Displaced by 2005 Hurricanes

The Katrina Disaster Housing Assistance Payment Program (KDHAP), which was funded by FEMA and operated by HUD, expired on January 31, 2006. KDHAP was replaced by the Disaster Voucher Program (DVP). DVP is available for persons who were displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and were previously assisted by HUD.

There are no income eligibility or tenant contribution requirements for DVP’s temporary rental vouchers. A family’s KDHAP assistance will be converted to DVP by amending the existing KDHAP rent subsidy contract and lease, which must be completed by March 1, 2006. The rent currently charged by an owner will not be affected, nor will the term of the lease unless the initial KDHAP lease was less than 12 months and needs to be extended. Unlike KDHAP , however, DVP does NOT provide for the payment of security deposits.

HUD has established Referral Call Centers (RCCs) with a toll-free number (1-866-373-9509) to help families scattered around the nation. For families that lived in public housing or project-based Section 8 before the disasters, an RCC counselor can tell them whether their project is ready for occupancy. If their project is not ready, they will be assisted under DVP. If a family does not want to return to their project-based unit, they can receive DVP assistance until September 30, 2007, at which time they must re-apply for permanent assistance.

RCCs can also help voucher families determine whether there are available units of suitable size administered by their home Public Housing Authority (PHA) or another PHA if the family prefers to move elsewhere. Families can also directly contact a PHA regarding DVP assistance. PHAs are responsible for providing intensive housing search assistance for families.
Both RCCs and PHAs will rely on the Disaster Information System (formerly the KDHAP information system) to verify whether families lived in HUD-assisted housing or were homeless prior to the disasters, and to provide HUD with subsidy information once a family is leasing a unit with DVP assistance.

A family returning to its former voucher unit or a replacement voucher unit in a Louisiana or Mississippi pre-disaster PHA can be assisted with DVP. Unlike regular vouchers, there is no family contribution to monthly gross rent. DVP monthly housing assistance payments are the lesser of monthly gross rent or the voucher payment standard. Monthly gross rent is the rent to the owner plus any utility allowance for tenant-provided utilities. A family may rent a unit with a gross rent greater than the payment standard, but the family must pay the difference even if it exceeds 40% of income. If the rent to the owner is less than the payment standard and the lease requires the family to pay utilities, the PHA will reimburse the family an amount equal to the difference between the housing assistance payment and the rent. After September 30, 2007, a family’s assistance will be recalculated according to regular voucher rules on the first day of the 19th month.