Katrina housing money slowed

[deadparrot]

WASHINGTON - State officials in Louisiana are still struggling to ensure that money to rebuild houses hit by Hurricane Katrina is fairly distributed, the Bush administration's Gulf Coast coordinator said Tuesday.

Nearly a year after Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, only $44 billion has been spent to get the battered region back on its feet, coordinator Don Powell said. Over $110 billion has been designated for the massive rebuilding project — $17 billion of which is to help rebuild an estimated 204,000 homes in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Money has begun to reach Mississippi homeowners, Powell said. But in Louisiana, state plans for distributing the dollars were delayed, in turn holding up the funding flow.

"There is always a balance and tension between getting the money out fast and getting the money out responsibly fast," Powell told reporters at a White House briefing.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060822/ap_on_go_ot/katrina_washington