Major Project Focus

Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, recorded as the largest natural disaster in American History, displaced more than 780,000 people.  According to the Louisiana Recovery Authority, over 123,000 homes suffered major damage.  “More than 18,000 businesses were destroyed.”……”$25 billion in insured losses”……”25 times more debris removed from New Orleans than the World Trade Center Site.”  “Compared to other Gulf Coast States, Louisiana had more than twice the major and severe damage to homes as Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas combined (Louisiana suffered 75% of the Gulf Coast Housing damage.).”  In response to the Katrina and Rita destruction, the Governor of Louisiana has established the Louisiana Recovery Authority to plan and coordinate the long and short term re-building and recovery efforts in Louisiana.  The ‘Road Home’ plan designed and administered by LRA includes proposals established to provide the following options for home owners “to get back into their homes” and “help re-establish their lives in Louisiana”: 1) REPAIR 2) REBUILD 3) RELOCATE or 4) SELL their homestead.

Our mission is centered on option 3) RELOCATE, to build ‘hurricane proof’ modular homes for the population of homeowners who wish to sell their current homes and move ‘elsewhere in the state of Louisiana’.  Many residents have opted to relocate to other cities in-state, where there are new housing options, economic opportunities, and infrastructure.  Under the ‘Road Home Program’, the state will pay homeowners’ uninsured damages up to the home’s “pre-storm value.”  Mitigation grants and low-interest/ no interest loans are also available to those homeowners’ that qualify.  JBM’s vision is to engage in phased land development consisting of multiple single family home subdivisions of engineered pre-cast concrete AeroDwell manufactured homes which meet local and BOCA code requirements.  The first two phases, consisting of 25-50 modular homes, are planned for undeveloped acreage in New Iberia, Louisiana (80 miles southwest of New Orleans) and other areas near the city of New Orleans.  Our long range goal is to provide over 5,000 homes within a five year period.

The Road Home program offers incentives to Developers to attract new mixed income housing development, funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Community Development Block Grants (CDBG):

Housing Development Fund

• Provide seed funding for a contractor or state agency to establish one or more loan pools for acquisition and redevelopment financing with flexible terms.

Land Assembly Program

• Provide seed money to acquire properties in good locations for replacement housing.  To maximize affordable housing, these properties will be packaged to sell or grant to developers.
• Properties assembled through the buyout program may also be offered to developers.

Support for Faith & Community Based Housing Recovery Program

• Provide funding to strengthen support for non-profit and faith-based organizations providing housing recovery services.

Our goal is to partner with faith based and/or non-profit groups in a development partnership to ‘pave the road home’ by executing a comprehensive plan involving:

• Land Acquisition for new home sites
• Case Management/Financial Prequalification of Potential Customers for Home Purchase
• Construction of New Homes (Aero Dwell Units)