Just one question. How much responsibility do I, as a resident of Oklahoma, have for your bad judgment in home location?
You have zero responsibility to me and my personal property or possessions. This plan is not about that. It is a loan, not a give-away plan. This is not even a loan to the "corrupt" politicians of Louisiana. It is a loan to an agency which would help hundreds of thousands of your fellow Americans begin the process of rebuilding their lives as well as spark redevelopment efforts. The redevelopers would foot the cost of this loan, not you. The only risk factor lies in what is paid for the properties of the current land owners versus what is received for the same properties by the future redevelopers.
Everything I've heard seems to indicate that the property owners would receive 60% of the pre-Katrina value of their property and the banks who hold those mortgages would drop the mortgage claims. Then, as property is redeveloped, the previous owners would have first options to repurchase their property at whatever the value is determined to be. Might be more than the 60% pre-Katrina, or might be less. Overall, the values should come close to balancing on another out as properties that ARE redeveloped will certainly be worth much more than pre-Katrina and properties deemed unsuitable for redevelopment will be worth less than pre-Katrina.