Feds Settle Discrimination Case On Grants From Hurricane Katrina

Federal officials have reached a settlement with a group of Homeowners who claim discrimination in the way federal grants were dispersed after Hurricane Katrina. At issue was the formula used in Louisiana's Road Home grant program. Two fair-housing groups and five New Orleans homeowners filed the suit in 2008 on behalf of 20,000 black homeowners. They say the program paid people based on the pre-hurricane value of their home or the cost of rebuilding. Under that formula, they say, people in poorer neighborhoods received far less than someone with the same home in a wealthier neighborhood. The New York Times reports, the group agreed to drop the suit in exchange for the creation of a $62 million fund to help people who came up short on trying to rebuild their homes.