After major disasters, various federal agencies provide a range of assistance to individual victims; state, territorial, and local governments; and nongovernmental entities. This assistance is administered through various federal programs, and is generally made available after the President issues a disaster declaration under the authority of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (the Stafford Act). While the federal government provides significant financial assistance after major disasters, the federal role is primarily to assist state and local governments, which have the central role in recovery efforts. State and local governments have the main responsibility of applying for, receiving, and implementing federal assistance. Further, they make decisions about what priorities and projects the community will undertake for recovery. The Stafford Act also specifies that federal agencies providing financial assistance after a major disaster cannot provide assistance to an individual for the same loss for which another federal program or private insurance company has provided compensation. Therefore, homeowners that sustained damages from the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes must first seek assistance from their homeowner insurance or National Flood Insurance Program policies. Homeowners in the Gulf Coast area had varying levels of hazard and flood insurance coverage. Of the 331,070 homeowner units that sustained minor, major, or severe damage in Louisiana, 126,007 (38 percent) had hazard insurance only, and 118,928 (36 percent) had both hazard and flood insurance. Of the 157,914 homeowner units that sustained damage in Mississippi, 94,792 (60 percent) had hazard insurance only, and 11,481 (7 percent) had hazard and flood insurance. Insurance industry estimates indicate that homeowners in Louisiana and Mississippi received average payments of nearly $16,000 in each state for personal property claims related to Hurricane Katrina and average payments of $13,000 and $3,500, respectively, for personal property claims related to Hurricane Rita. For both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, our analysis shows that $9.7 billion was paid out through the National Flood Insurance Program to homeowners in Louisiana and Mississippi, with a median claim payment of $74,000. Less is known about the extent to which rental property owners had hazard and flood insurance coverage and the amounts paid out in claims after the 2005 hurricanes because data are not readily available. In addition, data are not available to determine the extent to which insurance settlements made to both homeowners and rental property owners addressed their damages. Through executive orders, the authority to provide disaster relief assistance has been delegated to FEMA. FEMA provides various forms of temporary housing assistance, such as direct financial assistance or a temporary housing unit after a disaster, typically for a period no longer than 18 months, as directed by the Stafford Act. HUD is the recognized federal authority for housing assistance (including permanent housing) and has provided assistance such as rental housing vouchers and grants for federally declared major disasters in the past and prior to FEMA’s creation in 1979. Over the years, Congress has provided several mechanisms for disaster assistance, including HUD’s CDBG program funds for recovery. After the 2005 hurricanes, HUD was responsible for providing assistance to clients that it had already been assisting and for providing CDBG funds. Through the Small Business Act as amended, SBA has the authority to provide home and business loans to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate not fully covered by insurance. According to FEMA’s National Disaster Housing Strategy, which was issued in January 2009, throughout the Hurricane Katrina response, responsibilities and roles that had seemed clear in previous events became less clear as FEMA and other federal departments and agencies provided increasing levels of support to state and local officials. For example, FEMA typically does not provide housing assistance for more than 18 months, and generally does not lead efforts to coordinate and deliver permanent housing assistance. However, in response to the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes, FEMA led the coordination with states and local communities and implemented many of the housing options, including permanent housing. According to a congressional study on deficiencies in post-disaster housing assistance, there was a lack of clarity in the long- term post-disaster housing-related responsibilities of HUD and FEMA, and concerns have been raised regarding HUD’s limited housing role after Hurricane Katrina and its role in future disasters. The National Disaster Housing Strategy states that HUD is uniquely positioned to assist those affected by a disaster and will be given lead responsibility for permanent housing when such assistance is needed in the future. After the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes, a variety of federal programs was made available to homeowners and rental property owners for the repair or replacement of permanent housing (see table 1). Four federal agencies have responsibility for these programs: DHS, HUD, SBA, and Treasury. DHS administers three different grant programs that can be used to repair or replace disaster-damaged housing and mitigate damages after disasters. HUD provides funding for two grant programs, including the CDBG program, through which states can develop post-disaster programs that benefit both homeowners and renters. The CDBG program has often been relied upon as a convenient source of flexible funding that can be applied to disaster situations to help states rebuild their communities. The SBA provides two different types of loans for homeowners and owners of residential rental properties. Both loan products can fund the repair or replacement of disaster-damaged properties. Finally, Treasury has responsibility for three programs that provide additional tax incentives to the states affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to encourage both housing and economic development. Congress established the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005 to provide tax incentives to individuals and businesses in certain presidentially declared disaster areas. In contrast with grant programs, where funds come directly from the government, GO Zone incentives provide investors with relief from certain tax liabilities. Affordable housing challenges existed for both homeowners and renters in Louisiana and renters in Mississippi before the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes, particularly in the areas most damaged by these storms. According to HUD, the generally accepted definition of “affordable” is for a household to pay no more than 30 percent of its income on housing. Families who pay more than 30 percent of their annual income for housing are considered cost burdened. Like renters nationwide, renters in Louisiana and Mississippi were generally more cost burdened prior to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita than homeowners. For example, according to the 2004 American Community Survey, for the areas most damaged by the hurricanes, in the New Orleans metropolitan area (St. Charles, Orleans, St. Tammany, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines parishes) 48 percent of renters and 24 percent of homeowners spent 30 percent or more of their income on housing costs, compared with 50 percent of renters and 21 percent of homeowners statewide. In the Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula metropolitan area in Mississippi—which includes Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson counties—48 percent of renters and 21 percent of homeowners spent 30 percent or more of their income on housing costs compared to 50 percent of the renters and 24 percent of homeowners statewide (see fig. 1). Hurricanes Katrina and Rita increased the need for affordable housing in both Louisiana and Mississippi. For example, of the 82,000 rental units that were damaged or destroyed in Louisiana, about 54,000 were affordable to individuals earning less than 80 percent of the area median income, according to state officials. Similarly, in Mississippi nearly one-fourth of the 25,000 affordable rental units in three Mississippi coastal counties were damaged, with Hancock and Harrison counties sustaining the most damage to their affordable rental housing stock. After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, federal assistance for the repair or replacement of permanent housing was made available to homeowners and rental property owners in three forms: grants, loans, and tax incentives. The largest source of assistance was the CDBG program. The majority of federal assistance was administered by the states, which designed the programs and used their discretion to prioritize beneficiaries. These programs made assistance available to applicants at different times, depending on the structure and requirements of each program. Ten federal programs that we reviewed provided grants, loans, and tax incentives after the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes for the repair or replacement of housing. Grants were made available through five different programs to assist with the repair of disaster-damaged housing; to fund hazard mitigation projects, such as the elevation of housing; and to repair or replace public housing or other housing owned by a public housing agency (PHA). Loans were made available through three programs (including one program that also provides grants) for the repair of disaster-damaged housing for homeowners and renters. Finally, three different tax incentive programs were made available to encourage the redevelopment of housing in the GO Zone for both homeowners and renters. While all of these programs could potentially be used to repair, replace, or develop housing structures, some could also be used for other activities, such as economic development. Of the programs we reviewed, two were available to homeowners only— the Individual and Households Program (IHP): Repair or Replacement Assistance and the Home Disaster Loan Program (see table 2). Several programs could have potentially served either homeowners or renters, including the CDBG program, the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), and some tax incentives. Finally, four of the programs we reviewed could have assisted renters by funding or providing incentives for the repair or replacement of rental housing. Some programs made assistance available for housing-related activities only. For example, Home Disaster Loans, IHP Repair or Replacement Assistance, and GO Zone Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) could only be used for housing-related activities. However, most of the programs we reviewed could be used for other activities as well. For example, CDBG funds could be used flexibly by states and were made available for economic development, infrastructure, historic preservation, and demolition.