WASHINGTON - U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today recognized the HUD partners who worked together over the past two years to successfully complete the Katrina-Rita Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP), a rental assistance and case management program that helped 37,000 families who were displaced by the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes find a permanent housing solution.
Representative from nearly 20 housing authorities, a Louisiana non-profit organization, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and HUD Headquarters and field office staffs joined Donovan today in Washington to celebrate DHAP's conclusion. DHAP was developed in 2007 by FEMA and HUD to provide up to 18 months of rental assistance and case management to families who were displaced by the devastating hurricanes and were not previously HUD assisted.
The program was scheduled to end in February 2009. When Donovan became HUD Secretary in January, he and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced a six-month transition program to ensure families had an opportunity to move on to self-sufficiency or to obtain a rental assistance voucher that
allows them to rent housing from private landlords. The program ended October 31, 2009 after assisting 37,000 families. Approximately 12,000 of those families obtained a HUD Housing Choice Voucher.
