February 23, 2006
Southern Good Faith Fund Report Offers Policy Ideas to Help Arkansas' Katrina
Evacuees Rebuild Lives
Report Makes Recommendations in Housing, Employment, and Transportation
LITTLE ROCK- Southern Good Faith Fund's Public Policy program today released its
latest report, Helping Arkansas' Katrina Evacuees Rebuild Their Lives. The report
proposes several strategies the state of Arkansas can adopt to help Hurricane Katrina
evacuees in the Natural State establish a stable and financially secure future.
This report is particularly timely given the recent deadline for Katrina evacuees to vacate
hotels in Arkansas and other states. Many evacuees have lost their homes in other states,
are still unemployed and do not have long-term housing for themselves or their families.
"There is a critical need for the state to shift its response from that of meeting evacuees'
immediate, basic needs to that of providing opportunities for evacuees to permanently
rebuild their lives in Arkansas," said Mike Leach, Director of Southern Good Faith
Fund's Public Policy program.
"The recommendations in our report offer simple strategies to help evacuees settle into
more permanent housing and quality employment, which are the biggest challenges
facing evacuees," Leach said. "The state has a great opportunity to implement some of
these strategies given the state's reported $105 million Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families funding surplus, and recent federal law changes that allow surplus TANF funds
to be used to assist evacuees."
A PDF of the report can be read here.
A key recommendation is to make Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) available to
evacuees. IDAs are matched savings accounts for the purchase of key assets such a home,
a college degree or starting a small business. IDAs offer an excellent strategy for helping
evacuees settle into permanent housing in particular. The state already funds IDAs, but
additional funding could easily be allocated from the state's surplus TANF funds to
provide IDAs to evacuees.
Similarly, surplus TANF funds could expand eligibility to evacuees for the Arkansas
Career Pathways Initiative, which is an existing, innovative job training and
postsecondary education initiative aimed at helping low-income Arkansans improve their
employment and career advancement opportunities.
Key recommendations in Helping Arkansas' Katrina Evacuees Rebuild Their Lives
include:
Housing




Increase TANF funding for IDAs to make IDAs available to evacuees.
Allocate Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) or HOME program
funds to provide housing assistance to evacuees.
Provide incentives for Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) to be used for
housing development projects aimed at Katrina evacuees.
Establish a state fund to guarantee innovative mortgage products such as
noncomforming loans, which are loans with no down payments required and
available to home buyers with challenging credit records.
Employment


Ensure that all funds from the U.S. Department of Labor National Emergency
Grant (NEG) are used for direct services to evacuees, and that job training
services be made available to any evacuees who choose this kind of assistance.
Increase TANF funding for the Arkansas Career Pathways Initiative to make
evacuees eligible for the initiative.
Other Recommendations



Expand access to credit counseling and tax preparation assistance. These services
are critical to helping evacuees reestablish their credit and access to basic
financial services. The report suggests ways in which such services could be made
available.
Market to evacuees their eligibility for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit
(WOTC).
Allow one-time, previously authorized TANF payments of $1,000 for Katrina
evacuees to be used for transportation expenses related to searching for permanent
housing and employment. Transportation has been identified as a key barrier to
finding housing and employment.
Southern Good Faith Fund's Public Policy program conducts research and applies the
knowledge and experience of other Southern Good Faith Fund programs to develop and
advocate for public policy change that expands access to quality education and other
asset-building opportunities.
Southern Good Faith Fund, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is an affiliate of
Southern Bancorp, Inc. and is committed to increasing incomes and assets of low-income
and low-skilled residents in rural communities. Southern Bancorp's non-profit family
also includes Southern Community Development Corporation, Southern Property
Corporation, and Southern Financial Partners. For more information, please visit
www.southernbancorpinc.com.