BATON ROUGE, La. - The state of Louisiana is launching a $25 million "gap financing" loan program to create additional mixed-income and Permanent Supportive Housing in the 53 parishes damaged by hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008.

The funding is part of $1 billion in disaster recovery Community Development Block Grant dollars awarded to Louisiana by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for damages inflicted by hurricanes Gustav and Ike. As part of this allocation, HUD is requiring the state to dedicate 11.2 percent of the total funding to affordable rental housing.

The $25 million Gustav-Ike Piggyback Program will award zero-interest loans to developers who "piggyback" the CDBG money with other funding sources to create mixed-income housing for market-rate and low-to-moderate income tenants, and for the creation of Permanent Supportive Housing units.