Almost three years after the Great Flood of 2016, frustrated Louisiana flood victims filed suit today in federal court, arguing that the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development is violating the law by holding up grant money. Last year, Congress passed a law that the President signed that disaster grants are not a duplication of benefits of SBA loans provided to flood victims to rebuild their homes. The lawsuit filed in the Middle District of Louisiana asks the court to rule that HUD must follow the law as passed by Congress without further delay.
J. R. Whaley, one of the lawyers representing the flood victims, said that the lawsuit was necessary because his clients are stuck with paying a note on a $280,000 SBA loan that would be knocked down if they were provided access to grant funds that they have already been approved to receive. Whaley said, “The process is simple. Congress passes a bill. The president signs it into law. The executive agencies then implement that law. But despite that very simple process, HUD refuses to do that. Louisiana’s congressional delegation, particularly Representative Garret Graves and Representative Cedric Richmond did a wonderful job passing a bill and getting the President to sign it. That law resolves the nonsensical ‘duplication of benefit’ trap that flood victims, like the Meyers, are caught in. But HUD refuses to allow the funds to be disbursed. We are simply asking a federal judge to make HUD follow the law.”
If the lawsuit is successful, not only will the individual plaintiffs be allowed immediate access to grant funds, but so will other Louisiana flood victims, as well as those recently impacted by Hurricane Matthew in Florida and North Carolina.