[FoCHAT] CHATNews: Urgent-LRA Bd & Diversion of "surplus" RH funds from applicants; SBA loans

[Melanie Ehrlich]

 Dear CHAT Members,
 
Here are two urgent items that just came up.
 
1. If any of you Road Home applicants can go to the LRA Board Meeting in Baton Rouge  tomorrow (see below), please send me an email today at chatlra at yahoo.com 
and give me your phone number. 
 
You can go just to the end of the meeting and still be effective.
 
At issue is the diversion of several hundred million Road Home dollars that are being called "surplus" but are in fact due to a systematic policy of shortchanging applicants who need that funding.
 
In January of this year, Frank Silvestri, CHAT Co-Chair, and I have spoken face-to-face with LRA Exec. Dir. Robin Keegan and presented eminently sensible and easy-to-implement recommendations of how to use the "surplus" RH funds to help short-changed applicants. I have emailed her about these recommendations, and she said and wrote to me several times that she would consider them. There has been no feedback from her about them. Therefore, it is very likely that LRA will attempt to divert these funds away from RH grants to thousands of RH applicants who deserve and need them to fix their homes. 
 
2. As many of you know, SBA loans are also treated as grants, not loans, for calculation of RH grants and HMGP grants to RH applicants.
 
 Any applicants who were forced to use Road Home money to pay off SBA loans and are willing to be interviewed by the press, please send an email message to 
 
chatlra at yahoo.com 
 
Please put in the subject line, 
 
Interview about SBA 
 
And give me your phone number and email address in the body of the email.
 
 
Thanks,
 
Melanie
 
 
 
 
 
 

http://lra.louisiana.gov/assets/docs/searchable/meetings/2010/Board%20Meeting%203-11-10/3-11-10BoardMeetingAgenda.pdf



From: Louisiana Recovery Authority [mailto:info at louisianarecoveryauthority.org] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 10:54 AM
To: 
Subject: LRA Board Meets Thursday in Baton Rouge to Act on Recovery Funding, Receive Update on Rapides Levees
















FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 10, 2010
MEDIA CONTACT:
Christina Stephens
Louisiana Recovery Authority
225.342.1790
christina.stephens at la.gov

LRA Board Meets Thursday in Baton Rouge to Act on Recovery Funding, Receive Update on Rapides Levees

BATON ROUGE, La. - The Board of Directors of the Louisiana Recovery Authority will meet Thursday, March 11, 2010, to discuss and vote on the state's final allocation of hazard mitigation funds for recovery from hurricanes Gustav and Ike and also on a strategy for reallocating potential unspent funds for recovery from hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
In addition, the board will hear a presentation from several leaders on the Red River, Atchafalaya and Bayou Boeuf Levee District. Scheduled to address the board are Alexandria Mayor Jacques Roy, Pineville Mayor Clarence Fields and Rapides Parish President Richard Billings.

Click here to download the agenda. 
WHAT: LRA Board of Directors Meeting
WHEN: 9 a.m., Thursday, March 11, 2010
WHERE: House Committee Room 1 at the State Capitol in Baton Rouge
Created in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita in 2005, the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) is the coordinating and planning body leading the most extensive rebuilding effort in American history. The central point for hurricane recovery in Louisiana, the LRA works closely with the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) and partners with state and federal agencies to oversee more than $20 billion worth of programs, speed the pace of rebuilding, remove hurdles and red tape and ensure that Louisiana recovers safer and stronger than before.
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