Low-income people rarely benefit from roof grants

Louisiana offered grants to strengthen roofs. Low-income people rarely benefited.

Grants for the wealthy? Homeowners with higher incomes benefited the most from the state's fortified roof grant program, Sam Karlin reports. That's likely because people who received the grants had to pay a $500 evaluation fee and cover any costs above $10,000.

Ricks out: Livingston Parish president Layton Ricks is retiring after three terms in office, Jacqueline DeRobertis reports. Under his tenure, the parish weathered the 2016 floods, Hurricane Ida and COVID-19. Ricks recently reflected on his legacy.

Bridge gets funding: The federal government has agreed to lend Louisiana $88 million to pay for a connector between two Baton Rouge-area highways, a project aimed at easing traffic congestion in the capital city, Meghan Friedmann reports.

Numbers to Know

The state awarded $30M in grants this year to help homeowners strengthen their roofs to better withstand storms

_____

3,000 people received those grants

_____

Roughly two-thirds of the grant recipients were from areas where the median income was above the state's average, $58,000 a year

_____

People who got the grants had to pay a $500 evaluation fee and cover any costs above $10,000

_____

Source: Louisiana Department of Insurance

Note: We deliver Inside Louisiana Politics three times a week. Got this email from a friend? Click here to be added to our list!