Programmatic Environmental Assessment for the Alternative Housing Pilot Program, Permanent Housing, Orleans Parish, Louisiana (April 2009)

The Alternative Housing Pilot Program (AHPP) represents a one-time exception to FEMA’s existing authority under the Stafford Act. The Stafford Act legally binds FEMA to a temporary housing mission, by providing an opportunity to explore, implement, and evaluate innovative approaches to housing solutions, and to address ongoing housing challenges created by the 2005 hurricane season in the Gulf Coast states. The Louisiana Recovery Authority has applied for FEMA funding under the AHPP to provide approximately 160 permanent housing units within Orleans Parish for eligible applicant families displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, a Programmatic Environmental Assessment has been prepared to analyze the potential impacts the AHPP would have on the natural and human environment in Orleans Parish.