Katrina-hit Dillard Univ. gets $2 million for student housing

NEW ORLEANS – Dillard University is receiving $2 million from the federal government to rebuild off-campus housing damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
The grant announced Monday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development comes under a program meant to help historically black colleges and universities, such as Dillard, further address the needs of their communities.
HUD Deputy Secretary Roy Bernardi, who visited the city Monday, called the money important and “a source of hope for the community, if you will.”
Katrina, which hit in August 2005, left the private school’s campus under up to 8 feet of water, some of which stayed in buildings for several weeks, said Karen Celestan, Dillard’s senior director for university communications. Since the storm, just one of Dillard’s dorms has re-opened, and it has limited space for co-eds, she said.
Before the storm, Dillard had several dorms, plus co-ed housing and apartments for upper-level students, according to the school’s Web site.
Bernardi said the $2 million will go toward renovating and bringing on line 42 apartments. He said the project could help provide space for up to 150 students.
This year, HUD has awarded $10.4 million in grants under the program to 13 historically black schools nationwide, including Dillard and Xavier in New Orleans and Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, a HUD spokesman, Steve O’Halloran said.
Xavier also was awarded $2 million, which it plans to put toward rebuilding or demolishing about nine buildings damaged by Katrina, said Kyshun Webster, special assistant to Xavier’s president, working in the office of community affairs.
For example, the building that housed the school’s art department will be renovated, he said. Xavier does not yet have the HUD money, but hopes to have it and to be able to start work before year’s end, he said.
Southern got $600,000 for work such as the renovation of low- to moderate-income housing and plans to clean up and maintain neighborhoods, according to HUD.
At Dillard, which held its first post-Katrina graduation in May, classrooms are open, but the library isn’t and neither is the administration building, Celestan said. The school plans to have its first, campus-wide homecoming since the storm this week.