§600.66. Powers and responsibilities of the Road Home Corporation and the Louisiana Land Trust

A. In addition to the powers granted it by the general Nonprofit Corporation Law, Title 12 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, as amended, the Road Home Corporation shall have the power to undertake any project, in adherence to the policy guidelines for rebuilding, recovery, and land use management set forth by the Louisiana Recovery Authority, to provide for the financing thereof as administered by the office of community development, and in connection therewith:

(1) To receive and accept from any agency of the United States or any agency of the state of Louisiana or any municipality, parish, or other political subdivision thereof, or from any individual, association, or corporation, gifts, grants, or donations of monies or other property for achieving any other purposes of this Chapter.

(2) To finance, own, lease as lessee or lessor, sell, exchange, donate, or otherwise hold or transfer a property interest in housing stock damaged by Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita, including contracts for the acquisition, purchase, construction, disposition, sale, exchange, donation, renovation, improvement, or expansion of such housing stock property interest by the Road Home Corporation.

(3) To receive and accept from any source, loans, contributions, or grants for or in aid of a project, or the financing thereof in either money, property, labor, or other things of value.

(4) To mortgage all or any portion of its interest in a project and the property on which any such project is located, whether owned or thereafter acquired, including the granting of a security interest in any property, corporeal or incorporeal, and to assign or pledge all or any portion of its interest in property, corporeal or incorporeal and the revenues therefrom.

(5) To obtain, or aid in obtaining, from any department or agency of the United States or the state or any private company, any insurance or guarantee as to, or of, or for the payment or repayment of, interest or principal, or both, or any part thereof, on any lease or obligation or any instrument evidencing or securing the same, made or entered into pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter and to assign any such insurance or guarantee as security.

(6) To enter into any and all agreements or contracts, execute any and all instruments, and do and perform any and all acts or things necessary, convenient, or desirable for the purpose of the Road Home Corporation or to carry out any power expressly given in this Chapter.

(7) In connection with Road Home grant post-closing regulatory compliance reviews being conducted by the Louisiana Recovery Authority and the office of community development, as to any Road Home applicant who has on or before June 10, 2008, exhausted his remedies of appealing to the Road Home Appeals Panel and further to the office of community development and for whom a decision was issued by the office of community development on or before June 10, 2008, denying the relief sought by the Road Home applicant through his appeal, the Louisiana Recovery Authority and the office of community development shall provide the applicant the opportunity to have the applicant's grant file reviewed by the third person or agency contracted by the division of administration to conduct the post-closing regulatory compliance reviews. The applicant shall be afforded the opportunity to receive any grant award or additional disbursement which the review process discloses were eligible amounts which should have been awarded.

B. Housing assistance rendered by the Road Home Corporation or the Louisiana Land Trust or rendered through any other housing assistance program under the provisions of this Chapter shall be subject to the following:

(1) Any certified property appraisal or market analysis conducted by the Road Home Corporation or the Louisiana Land Trust shall be binding on the corporation. If more than one certified property appraisal or market analysis is rendered, the property owner shall receive assistance based upon the higher certified appraisal value or the analysis most favorable to the property owner.

(2) No individual shall be required to sell property in excess of five acres if the property was unimproved land or was regularly used in farming operations immediately prior to hurricanes Katrina or Rita.

(3) No individual shall be required to sell property in which the individual holds an undivided ownership interest with family members as legal heirs to such property.

(4) No individual shall be required to sell property in which the individual has a divided interest in the property which is contiguous to five or more acres owned by the individual and his immediate family.

Acts 2006, No. 654, §1, eff. June 29, 2006; Acts 2008, No. 872, §1, eff. July 9, 2008.