Applicants on the waiting list for public housing in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina have an extra week — until Friday, July 3, 2009 — to notify the Housing Authority of New Orleans if they still want to obtain public housing.
HANO has been running newspaper ads since June 5 in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Memphis asking pre-Katrina applicants who may have been on the waiting list to confirm they want to remain on the list and provide updated contact information.
The deadline to notify HANO originally was Friday, June 26. But because HANO officials want to make sure all pre-Katrina public housing applicants have an opportunity to update their status, the agency extended the deadline to Friday, July 3, 2009.
After that date, HANO plans to update its public housing waiting list by removing people who did not respond to the request and open the waiting list to new applicants.
“It’s important for pre-Katrina public housing applicants to respond as quickly as possible so we can update our waiting list,” said Tracy Mercadel, HANO’s vice president of asset management.
“We realize that many residents left the New Orleans area immediately following Hurricane Katrina,” Mercadel said. “That’s why we are reaching out to other communities where a large number of applicants may have relocated after the storm.”
Interested pre-Katrina applicants must complete a detailed questionnaire. The questionnaire may be obtained as follows:
• HANO headquarters, 4100 Touro St., New Orleans, LA 70122
• HANO website, www.hano .org.
Completed questionnaires can be sent by e-mail to hanowaitlist@smartinc1.com or mailed through the U.S. Postal Service to Smart, Inc., Attn: HANO Application Update Questionnaire, P.O. Box 57346, New Orleans, LA 70157-7346.
All questionnaires must be received via email or postmarked no later than Friday, July 3, 2009.
This article was originally published in the June 29, 2009 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper |
