State asks feds to OK funds for N.O. hospital

• By ALLEN M. JOHNSON JR.
• Advocate New Orleans bureau
• Published: Nov 19, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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The Louisiana Recovery Authority on Tuesday voted to ask Congress to allow the state to use money left over from the Road Home program for other purposes — such as replacing flood-damaged Charity Hospital in New Orleans.

“We could have $300 million to $500 million — unallocated,” LRA Executive Director Paul Rainwater told authority commissioners.

Rainwater was estimating the unexpended remnants of $3 billion in tightly targeted housing help allocated by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

If Congress approves the LRA resolution, the authority would need to craft an “action plan” for spending the money, pending a public comment period, and approval by the Legislature and HUD, authority spokeswoman Cristina Stephens said.

In a separate vote, commissioners approved developing a plan to spend up to $1.5 billion in additional federal disaster aid, from hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008.

“We’ll know about the first allocation on the day after Thanksgiving,” Stephens said.

The authority will craft a plan for spending the Ike and Gustav aid by its Dec. 18 meeting, she said.

Meanwhile, the authority’s request to Congress about unallocated Road Home funds — coupled with a first appearance by state health Secretary Alan Levine — added to a drum roll of anticipation over a proposed $1.2 billion hospital complex in New Orleans.

Katrina’s flood waters shuttered state-run Charity Hospital and crippled the federal Veterans Administration hospital.

For months since then, officials from both governments have been conferring on the proposed LSU/VA teaching hospital on 71 acres in the city’s downtown area — while separately pursuing hospital rebuilding projects. Proponents of the LSU/VA plan have been trying to lock in funding and site selection before the change of presidential administrations Jan. 20.

Asked about widespread speculation that the VA would make its site selection on Friday, Levine, secretary of the state Department of Health and Hospitals, said: “I think an announcement is fairly imminent.”

Levine also told the authority that FEMA and Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration remain more than $400 million apart on how much the federal government owes the state for rebuilding Charity hospital.

FEMA asserts the state is due $23 million in damages. Citing four separate studies, the state insists FEMA owes $492 million to replace Charity.