[FoCHAT] CHATNews: Project on Govt. Oversight RH Blog Excerpts

Wed Oct 28 04:10:08 CDT 2009

Oct. 27, 2009 
CHATNews: Project on Govt. Oversight RH Blog Excerpts 
Below are the three comments from former ICF employees and one of the comments from 24 applicants posting at the blog from the Project on Government Oversight (POGO). This blog is entitled “The Far Too Long and Winding Road Home Program,” and was written by a POGO Investigator, Ingrid Drake 
To read the rest of Ms. Drake's statement and the rest of the blog, see 
http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2009/09/the-far-too-long-and-winding-road-home-program.html 
http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2009/09/the-far-too-long-and-winding-road-home-program/comments/page/2/#comments 
ex road home advisor 
As Road Home Advisor I assisted thousands of applicants and can relate to their fruitless efforts to get their funds. They were told to call the Baton Rouge office that hardly if ever returned phone calls. Whenever I gave out phone nos to persons that worked in Baton Rouge it raised all kinds of hell and I was told never to give out any more phone nos. When I worked at the title company files were always getting lost..whenever they didnt know what to do with a file it was just dumped into bins similar to the ones that the post office uses....sort of a black hole so to speak..Evaluators refused to change their evaluation of a damaged home even when presented with flood information on areas from Stennis Space Center employees who wanted to help the many applicants...it was impossible to get an evaluator to even come into the center to explain how or why they did wrong evaluations. They said that they could tell the amount of damage by just counting the
 doors and windows within a home...some evaluators 
didnt even get out of their automobile in order to do a damage assessment. Even when presented with indisputable evidence of the amount of damage the Baton Rouge refused to change their evaluation values..they just made the applicant turn in different damage information....Some of the applicants still call me for assistance long after my center closed down...Why give the money to someone other than the people who still havent gotten theirs. 

Posted on: Oct 22, 2009 at 12:29 PM 
Compliance Agent 
I was Compliance agent for the New Orleans office of The Road Home Program’s Small Rental Property Repair Program. During one visit to the corporate office in Baton Rouge, I along with 63 others, witnessed thousands of applications and requested documents recklessly thrown over the floor. This explained why applicants were being asked to provide duplicative documents four, five and often six times before being assisted. By the end of September of 2007, not one landlord received any assistance from the program, although we opened our doors earlier that same year. 
ICF’s 2008 own financial report indicates that their core business revenue was “…up 61.6 percent from the previous year of 2007 due to revenue it had received from obtaining the Road Home contract.” http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS208284+11-Mar-2009+BW20090311 
Incredible!!! 
As a seasoned compliance agent, at one point monitoring over $5.3 million in federal funding to 12 sub-recipients, I have extensive knowledge in advising and engaging in strategic development, conceptualization, program policy and project development concerning HUD housing programs and the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). 
Once I realized that a simple face to face was being discouraged from happening with the Small Rental Property Program, along with countless other procedures, I forwarded a 6 page memorandum to senior management at the corporate office in Baton Rouge on Goodwood. The response that I received after forwarding that document which outlined some serious problems, to say the least, was overwhelming. 
We MUST change the bureaucratic inertia and corruption that permeates our State. Unfortunately, there will be another Katrina. It’s up to us to demand that we do not continue to go down the same paths. Mississippi did not follow the same pattern. When you continue to do the same thing, you continue to get the same results. 
"Change your thoughts and you change the world.” Vincent Norman Peale 

Posted on: Oct 11, 2009 at 04:46 PM 
Housing Advisor 
I worked for the Road Home Program as a Housing Advisor.
CHAT's accusations are both true and accurate. The way our government treated Louisiana (and USA Citizens) is cruel and immoral. For many of the citizens, the emotional damage is done. Hopefully, those individuals that perpetuated these injustices will be held accountable. 

Posted on: Oct 05, 2009 at 02:28 PM 
>From a Former RH Applicant 
Marie Carianna 
Thank goodness for us we were able to privately sell our ruined property and avoid more wrangling with the joke-of-a-Road-Home program. At the time of our sale, we had already gotten a low ball figure from RH and were in the process of an endless appeal. No phone number to call, no contact person, no email address. Nothing. It was like looking into a black hole. 
We have friends who were denied, denied and denied very unfairly over technicalities. One family of friends who are now nearly in bankruptcy and another who still aren't back in their home as they have to do all the work by themselves or with volunteers. Neither "qualified" for RH money. No good reasons. These people were among those who the money was meant for. Many I know gave up and stopped appealing because they were beaten down by too many rejections and RH roadblocks. The LRA should go back to review these closed cases and contact people, reopen cases unfairly closed or at least let people know they may still qualify for money. DO THE RIGHT THING. 
The program was wrought with waste, inefficiency, and 'guidelines' that were constantly changing. The people of CHAT worked tirelessly to make things fair and right, but many injustices still remain. The fact that there is leftover money is a bad joke that speaks for itself. So many are still suffering because the money never arrived. 

Posted on: Oct 09, 2009 at 12:07 PM 

You are welcome to post at the POGO blog too either anonymously or not. 
http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2009/09/the-far-too-long-and-winding-road-home-program.html 

Best wishes, 
Melanie Ehrlich 
Founder, Citizens’ Road Home Action Team (CHAT); http://chatushome.com ; chatlra at yahoo.com
Member, LRA Housing Task Force
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