BATON ROUGE - The Louisiana Housing Corporation in partnership with the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness has activated the Louisiana Disaster Housing Task Force to help displaced residents impacted by the recent flood.

The Task Force advises for displaced residents to first apply for disaster assistance at www.disasterassistance.gov or calling 1-800-621-3362. Residents are also encouraged to pre-register for DSNAP benefits at www.dcfs.la.gov/preregister.

The task force is working to locate homes for those displaced and also advises property managers with vacancies to log in to www.LAHousingSearch.org and update their current property listings or call 1-877-428-8844. Management and landlords will also be able to list any new vacancies on the website and are asked to consider offering short-term lease options along with permanent housing.

Displaced residents will be able to search the LAHousingSearch website to look for affordable rental vacancies.

"It is critical to get single and multi-family properties listed and/or updated on LAHousingSearch.org so displaced Louisianans can begin to relocate as necessary," Buddy Spillers, chairman of the LHC Board of Directors, said. "We strongly encourage short-term lease options and accessible features be listed in the description where applicable," Spillers said.

The corporation will also continue to operate programs to assist residents needing more permanent housing solutions such as:

- Tenant Based Rental Assistance: temporary housing assistance providing 12 to 36 months of rental assistance for emergency housing as a result of a declared event

- Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP): utility assistance for low-income families

- Market Rate GNMA and Preferred Conventional mortgage programs offering 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages with up to 4% down payment and closing cost assistance

- Low Income Housing Tax Credit: incentive that increases the availability of low income rental housing

- HOME Investment Partnerships Program: financing to private developers, non-profit groups and community organizations to provide affordable rental housing.