[FoCHAT] CHATNews: HMGP Mar. 10 Deadline & What Rules

Thu Mar 4 23:54:10 CST 2010

Mar. 4, 2010 
HMGP Funds for RH Applicants: Mar. 10 Deadline & What Rules? 
Dear CHAT Members, 
I have been trying to get for distribution the updated rules for HMGP (Hazard Mitigation; FEMA funds) grants for Road Home applicants elevating their homes or performing mitigation measures like raising air-conditioning. 
I wish that I could give the access to the current rules but not only were promises to send them made by Robin Keegan, Exec. Dir. of LRA, and Lara Robertson, Deputy Director of OCD, to me in a face-to-face meeting in January meeting broken, but also in January the State removed all previous descriptions of the rules from their website. 
Now there is a sudden announcement of a Mar. 10 deadline to apply for the HMGP elevation grant and the rather newly announced Individual Mitigation Measures (IMM) grant. We are hearing about hidden rules for the IMM grant that are severely and strangely excluding costs that we had been told all along would be covered. 
·         Request: please send an email ASAP (the day receive this email, if possible)  to chatlra at yahoo.com 
·         Please give information to share about what is or is not covered or your own experience with trying to get these grants. 
·         Please give your contact info, including a phone number (your contact information, any identifying information, and name will not be used in any CHAT posting without your explicit permission). 

Bottom lines 
The rules for the HMGP funding determinations were ambiguous and contradictory. 
LRA and OCD have not filled their promise to make new rules available. 
All descriptions of rules have been removed from the LRA/OCD website. 
Now what do you conclude about the intentions of a government agency if it is: 
·         hiding rules about sharing taxpayer money meant for disaster victims from those victims, 
·         victims are telling us (once again) about contradictory rules, inconsistent treatment, and being left in limbo, 
·         and suddenly the agency announces deadlines to apply for this money? 

Here is information that I have to share with you about these grants and the rules or lack of posted rules. 
First note that an applicant sent me a scanned copy of a memo signed by a state official leading the HMGP  program . The memo is labeled “Internal Memo, Feb. 22, 2010” 
It states that 

applicants who built their home after Aug. 29, 2005 are NOT eligible for IMM (but the Red Cross and LRA which are publicizing the IMM grant application deadline is NOT telling you that)
You cannot “mix and match” shutters and panels or panels and film (whatever that means!)
Plywood panels are not eligible
If applicants ask about this, they are to be told “OCD-DRU-HMGP is working with GOSHEP and FEMA on these issues. If anything changes we will notify applicants accordingly.” 

http://www.lra.louisiana.gov/index.cfm?md=newsroom&tmp=detail&articleID=612 
News & Events 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 03, 2010
Contact: Christina Stephens, christina.stephens at la.gov 
State Reminds Homeowners of March 10 Deadline for Declaring Interest in Post-Katrina and Rita Elevation, Mitigation Funding
More than 40,000 homeowners have expressed interest in HMGP program 
BATON ROUGE, La. - Homeowners affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita who wish to participate in the state-run elevation and Individual Mitigation Measures program have until March 10, 2010 to return forms showing interest in the programs. 
The Individual Mitigation Measures program, originally a component of the state's Road Home program, is now administered using Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) funds provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. 
In November 2009, the state mailed forms to more than 100,000 Road Home applicants who selected "Option 1" to rebuild or repair their homes, requesting that they opt-in to the IMM program by March 10, 2010. Homeowners also could use this form to choose to participate in the Office of Community Development - Disaster Recovery Unit's HMGP Elevation program, which offers eligible homeowners up to $100,000 to elevate their homes. 
Homeowners who submit their interest forms after March 10, 2010, may still receive funding, but only on a first come, first served, basis. March 10, 2010, is only the deadline for showing interest. It is not a deadline for completing or having started work. 
Homeowners will work with mitigation analysts from the OCD-DRU Hazard Mitigation program, and not the Road Home program, for this funding. Homeowners who need information about Individual Mitigation Measures should call 1-877-824-8312, not the Road Home hotline. 
Because of FEMA regulations surrounding how HMGP funds can be used, homeowners should not install or start work on Individual Mitigation Measures until they speak with a Mitigation Analyst and their home has been cleared by the program. Homeowners who cannot afford the upfront costs associated with the program should request funding through the "Advance Payment Option," which offers "upfront" funds to complete mitigation work. 
Homeowners who already completed work they think is eligible for reimbursement should collect copies of receipts and invoices for the work, which will be necessary to move forward with the program. Homeowners involved in the program should keep any contracts, receipts, invoices, building permits, elevation certificates and photos for review by program staff to establish eligibility. 
The state will base individual grant awards on actual project costs a homeowner takes. Because of federal law, the state also must ensure that it is paying homeowners for actual unmet needs and not duplicating a benefit, including Road Home funds or insurance settlements, already provided for the same purpose. 
WHAT IS AN INDIVIDUAL MITIGATION MEASURE? 
IMMs are small scale improvements homeowners can make to their properties to protect their investments in the event of future storms. Some examples of eligible work include: 

Strengthening doors; 
Protecting windows, including by installing storm shutters; 
Bolting roofs to walls and walls to foundations; 
Elevating electrical panels or air conditioning units; 
Raising washers, dryers, hot water heaters or furnaces; 
Anchoring propane tanks or heating fuel tanks. 
Mitigation Analysts can provide homeowners with more detailed information about eligible mitigation activities. 
DEADLINES 
Homeowners must notify the state of their interest in the IMM program and the HMGP elevation program by March 10, 2010. To show interest, homeowners must return their forms to the state postmarked by March 10, 2010. Homeowners who submit their interest forms after March 10, 2010, may still receive funding, but only on a first come, first served, basis. 
FOR MORE INFORMATION 
Any Road Home Option 1 homeowner with questions about participation in the OCD-DRU HMGP can contact the program toll free at 1-877-824-8312 or email hazardmitigation at mitigatela.org. 

Keegan: LRA Intentions 
Tuesday, March 2, 2010 12:51 PM 
From: 
This sender is DomainKeys verified 
"Melanie Ehrlich" <mehrlich8 at yahoo.com> 
View contact details 
To: 
Robin.Keegan at LA.GOV 
Cc: 
"Melanie Ehrlich" <mehrlich8 at yahoo.com>, " 

Robin, 

… how can LRA be promoting a suddenly announced an poorly publicized deadline of Mar. 10 for Road Home applicants to apply for two hazard mitigation programs for which I am still awaiting over one month your promised rules for grant eligibility and grant determination? 

 Moreover, the HMGP link at your website has had the prior posted rules ) withdrawn and is listed as "under construction" since Feb. 1, 2010. According to applicant reports and my own experience as an applicant left in limbo for a year, those rules have been changed to greatly decrease applicant access to the funds, and for many the result iof those changes will be no funds at all. Therefore, the stringent documentation that is being requested of applicants will have been a waste of applicant time and of considerable tax-payer money going fruitlessly to subcontractors and staff working on the HMGP program for Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims in Louisiana. 

Interestingly, I noted a Citizen Participation document at the CDBG link at your website. If only its promises were a reality! 

Melanie 

Melanie Ehrlich 
Co-Chairman of Citizens' Road Home Action Team (CHAT) 
Member of the LRA Housing Task Force (which you promised to convene in January, as per requests from several members but has no scheduled meeting in 2010)

<Lara.Robertson at LA.GOV>, "Ted E. Guillot" <Ted.Guillot at LA.GOV>
Date: Monday, January 18, 2010, 9:05 PM 
Melanie -- 

We will get clarifications and get back to you this week. 

Regards, 
Robin

Robin Keegan
Executive Director
Louisiana Recovery Authority
robin.keegan at la.gov
www.lra.louisiana.gov
________________________________________
From: Melanie Ehrlich [mehrlich8 at yahoo.com]
Sent: Saturday, January 16, 2010 11:12 PM
To: Robin Keegan; Lara Robertson; Ted E. Guillot
Cc: Melanie Ehrlich
Subject: Keegan: HMGP and ECD points in follow up to 1/15/10 meeting

1/16/10
Robin, Lara, and Ted,
#1. We were supposed to discuss HMGP problems at the Friday meeting but I was given <5 min to discuss problems that are troubling more than 10,000 applicants and may be misleading most applicants to think they are eligible for funding for up to $100,000.
Here is some information.
Firstly, as an HMGP applicant whose husband sent in all the difficult-to-obtain documentation over a year ago, we have been left in limbo with no returned phone calls.
Lara, we received only a postcard about the IMM grant and nothing about rules for Elevation Grants within the last 6 months, unlike the mass mailing about HMGP rules for elevation grants that you mentioned.
With a “reasonable” cost standard of $84- $92 per square foot, only a tiny fraction of otherwise eligible HMGP elevation applicants will get any funding.
Robin, why with this unrealistic standard, is LRA not at least giving people up to $84-$92 per sq. ft. rather than disqualifying them for any grant HMGP money (as applicants are repeatedly telling us) if they paid a realistic amount of money for home repair and elevated their home?
This sounds like the Catch-22 of the 20% rule for homeowner-supplied appraisals, if the appraisal was >20% higher than RH’s PSV, the applicant got no increase rather than a 20% increase but if it was 19% higher, they got the 19%.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rebuild_lakeview/message/31379 
Best wishes, 
Melanie Ehrlich 
Co-Chairman, Citizens’ Road Home Action Team (CHAT)

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