Citizens' Road Home Action Team
Category: CHAT, Road Home Program
Table of Contents
- More Accounts of Applicants in Great Distress
- Free Services Available To You
- Beginning of a New Series
- Senate Committee Meeting on Road Home Program
- Follow-ups from Road Home Officials
- Road Home Improprieties?
- The Road Home Program Assessment Report
- Two New Policies Advocated by CHAT
- Further Explanation About New Policies
- CHAT Work on SBA Loan Deadline
- Where Is the Ombudsman Promised?
- Times-Picayune Editorial Gets It Right: Right the Wrongs
- Major Improvements That Must Be Made
- Join our E-mail Network
- Release of a Report from KPMG
- Road Home Program Misery Index
- CHAT Survey
- Some Terms and Explanation
- Road Home’s Change Policy Documents
- New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA) Revised Its Plan
- Resources
- CHAT-derived Road Home Program Statement of Principles
- Difficulty Getting All the Information?
- Got a Question?
- Getting a Rebuilding or Repair Contract?
- Website Help for Rebuilding
- A History of the Road Home Program in Articles About CHAT
- What Are We Doing?
- Next CHAT Meeting
- Hurricane Katrina’s destruction to 80% of New Orleans’ homes is still largely unrepaired.
- The Road Home Program for Homeowners is distributing $10.5 billion in federal funds plus $1 billion in state funds to Louisiana homeowners to about 160,000 applicants whose homes were devastated in 2005 by Hurricanes Katrina or Rita or the subsequent flooding. It is administered by the Louisiana State government with funding mostly from the federal government.
- The Citizens’ Road Home Action Team (CHAT) has been working to make the Road Home Program faster, fairer, more accurate, and more transparent and to make sure that the property it acquires is used to the best benefit of RHP applicants. We have had many successes (see CHAT Accomplishments) but there is much that still must be fixed in this program.
- To report individual Road Home applicant problems, please fill out our online survey
Join Our E-mail Network by filling out the Join CHAT form or sending an email to chatlra@yahoo.com with “Join CHAT” in the subject and your name, city, and email address in the text
New Items Below
- Louisiana Senate Committee Meeting on Road Home Program on Feb. 6: Highlights of the Meeting and Newspaper Articles
- Applicants are now officially entitled to get written copies of grant award notices and all grant calculation data click to go to these new policies
- Road Home improprieties? The list is mounting in many areas: Disappearing dispute resolution cases and overpayment to the Times-Picayune’s Road Home critic Jarvis De Berry click to go to this information
- Almost all of the change policy documents describing policy changes are now posted near the bottom of this site
- For time and place of next CHAT meeting go to the bottom of this page
We Are Hearing Many More Accounts of Applicants in Great Distress
- While tens of thousands have been lucky and obtained fair grants to repair or rebuild their devasted homes, tens of thousands have not, for no fault of their own
- We have received reports that some Road Home staff are very helpful, polite, and dedicated to the applicants
- However, very often applicants are stranded because of major problems with their grant processing, often of an inexcusable driving applicants crazy and literally making them sick because this grant is often necessary for them to get out of a FEMA trailer or a dual rental/mortgage payment or to move back to Louisiana
- Here are some of the most recent calls of distress from applicants to CHAT:
- 2/25/08 They should have had one case worker assigned to you so you do not have to talk to someone different all the time. If they needed more information they should have informed you either by mail or a phone call. They should be able to give you an idea of the closing. It should not take this long. I have been waiting since Sept 2006. This is over 2 and 1/2 years. This has been the worst experience of my life. The hardship is tremendous. I was counting on this money when I purchased the new home in March of 2006. I did not think it would take this long. This program was run by inefficiency.
- 2/24/08 A. Give the home owners some idea what is being done about home that were sold due to damages and forecloure ,we did have a house before the storm and a job so after the storm no job, no home, If I could not get road home money, I was told I could get the grant for the migration. I haven’t received that either.
- 2/24/08 B. While everyone I have encountered IN PERSON has been courteous, knowledgeable and helpful and first closing was timely, deductions from our award were improperly calculated. The Resolution team, doesn’t seem to be adequately staffed or trained to follow through on almost everyone who has applied that I’ve talked to.
- 2/23/08 When I called I wanted to speak to someone who could help me with my situation and I was told there was no one I could talk to and the deadline has come and there is nothing I could do..My application was mailed but somehow was not received…I don’t understand why it have to be like this.
- 2/22/08 well I tried to contact my advisor numerous times to see if i had the right information but never was returned a call they sent my award letter without getting the paper work they requested.
- 2/21/08 All they do is read from a form letter “I do appolagize we are working on you case but we have no time line when it will be resolved” thank you. I get this everytime I call.
- 2/19/08 Dispute resolution? My husband and I made an appt. to speak to a resolution team member. We show up, take off work to get there, only to be told computers were down and said he would take information and get back with us the following day. Never heard a word, and I continued calling, and calling, and leaving messages with the gentleman. FINALLY almost three months passed and I reached him by phone. To my surprise he asked why was I calling? Refresh my memory he said. Oh, you are in the wrong dept. You need to go back to the closing dept. I was so angry…I explained it was the closing dept that sent us to him. Our file sat in his drawer…wasted three months. End of that chapter…
It’s so sad because I’m sure the RH has helped many hard working people who needed the help. My husband and I have worked diligently since we were in high school, getting educations, raising a family, putting our kids (3) through Catholic schools, putting a roof over our heads and food on the table. For what?? Now, I find ourselves struggling to stay afloat with bills and tuition, and everything else that comes with living. The flood waters may be gone, but good people are drowning trying to hold on to everything we’ve worked for.
- We get so many independent reports of repeated mistakes, confusion, or apparent disregard by staff of the Road Home Program contractor, ICF, or subcontractors, First American Title and HGI
- In addition, some of the policies designed by the officials supervising the program are very unfair. Click here for one of many examples.
If You Need Help With Road Home, Below Are Free Services Available To You
- 504-301-3112 (For outside New Orleans: 1-888-409-3557) Acorn Housing for help with Your Road Home process or Option Letters, Closing Papers, or mortgage problems
- 1-866-996-4243 Easter Seals for help for the elderly or disabled with Your Road Home process or Option Letters, Closing Papers, or mortgage problems
- 504-301-3112 (For outside New Orleans: 1-888-409-3557) Acorn Housing for help with credit counseling or home repair loans
- (504) 529-1000, ext. 242 New Orleans Legal Assistance for low income people, including help with appeals, www.nolac.org. Qualifications for free help are described at www.lawhelp.org/LA
Senate Committee Meeting on Road Home Program, City Hall, New Orleans, Feb. 6, 2008:
Highlights of the Meeting
- Sen. Derrick Sheppard said that he thinks that lots of problems would have been solved if Road Home treated people with more respect, returned phone calls, told people the truth even if they think the applicant would not like to hear it. He said that he gets about 6 phone calls a day that nearly send me through the ceiling.
- Sen Cheryl Gray District said that if people are not told enough at closing and rushed through closing, they are not being treated with respect.
- Mike Spletto of the state Office of Community Development stated that someone said that the dispute resolution problem [the number of actual cases} was washed under the table. He added that he has staff going through every dispute resolution file to find out if it is really dispute resolution or it is just a procedural matter.
- Sen. Sheppard said, “Mr. Spletto please turn around. Will everyone in dispute resolution more than 2 months please stand up.” About 20 people stood up.
- Sen Sheppard then said, “Everyone who stood up, you may see Mr. Spletto at the end of this meeting for him to help you.”
- For more on the disappearing dispute resolution controversy click to go to this information
- Seth Weingarten of the Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance said that African Americans are at a disadvantage with the way that grants are calculated based on home and land appraisals. Discrimination in market values often leads to lower valuations for their houses so that they do not have enough money to repair from their grant.
- CHAT Comments: The issue of insufficient funding for those with low appraisals was taken up at the first CHAT meeting with Road Home officials (in Oct. 2006) and still is not adequately addressed.
- There is an unjustified block on giving low-income applicants their additional compensation grant money, that is all their grant money. Instead, there are greatly delayed second closings for the additional compensation grant.
- These applicants can get the first part of their grant but the part that compensates them for low-appraisals is often delayed for months and months.
- Therefore, many of the neediest applicants are being delayed in getting grant money for repairing their homes even more than the applicants who are not in the low-income category.
- One applicant during public comments pointed out that the rules for using three monthly paystubs for calculating yearly income led to her initially being told that she would get an additional compensation grant and then, when she put in a little overtime, being denied that much needed funding to repair her house.
- Shawn Antee, Executive Board Member of CHAT and Founder of the Edgewater Park Association in Gentilly, New Orleans, said that the Road Home made a moving target out of changes in the dates from which income is calculated for additional compensation grant qualification.
- La Verne Saulny from US Senator Mary Landrieu’s office said the problems with the Road Home Program are not decreasing as seen in the more than 50-100 requests for help per week that their office gets from Road Home applicants. It puts Sen. Landrieu in a difficult position because her office can’t get applicants a quicker response than they can get themselves.
- New Orleans Councilwoman Cynthia Willard Lewis’ remarks are paraphrased below.
Myself, as an applicant, I know that RH personnel are compassionate but they can’t make a decision to solve a simple problem. I stand with the Mayor and other members of the City Council that the key is to have a program that is fair and simple and ask with a sense of urgency. When you are in BR, maybe you can bring this issue up. If we speak to ethics, where is it when the program does not ask the government to alleviate the pain and suffering of the people. We ask for a new approach and new sense of urgency at the neighborhood level. The L9 was hit not just by Katrina but also by Rita. Why do we segregate out Type 1 and 2 damage, particularly when there is a call to get back to her city? Many people did not understand that getting a certain percentage damage to get a building permit so that they could start repairing. When we talk about accountability, we need to talk about accountability to the families and have a meeting with officials at every ground zero, L9, Mid City, Lakeview, NO E, and so on.
- The unfair application of the drastically different grant calculations for Type 1 (more than 51 percent damage) and Type 2 (less than 51 percent damage)has shortchanged so many applicants who had more than 3 feet of water in a one story house or more than 5 feet in a camel-back house). Just one of many examples that have been described to CHAT involved a grant going from $150,000 to zero because of an unjustified change from Type 1 to Type 2 damage assessment was reported in a Times-Picayune article The applicant still has not gotten a correction of the $150,000-to-zero dollar mistake
- For a copy of the position paper from CHAT Co-Chairmen Frank Silvestri and Melanie Ehrlich with additional specific requests for major improvement of the Road Home Program and recent relevant letters to the editor and newspaper articles click here
Follow-ups from Road Home Officials to CHAT in Answer To Our Recent Requests.
- We are told that the deadline for sending back documents to the appeals department after they request documentation has now been extended from 15 days to 45 days. The previous deadline often left applicants with only a few days to get and send the documents because of slow mail delivery times.
- We are informed that the rental Road Home Program is allowing an “open enrollment” in the Small Rental Program for owner occupants of three and four unit bldgs that applied to the regular Road Home and were denied.
Road Home Improprieties?
- The list is mounting in many areas
Click here to read about disappearing dispute resolution cases
just in time for ICF to avoid a contract-related fine for too many cases waiting many months without resolution. Data from ICF and from the Road Home review by a company called KPMG
- KPMG’s report states that on 8/16/07 there were 6,059 resolution Cases, almost 2000 more cases than ICF stated and that the number of cases dropped by ovver a thousand from Friday, Aug. 17 to Monday, Aug. 20, 2007
- Number of applicants in dispute resolution as of 8/16/07 according to ICF’s report (pipeline report) posted at road2la.org:grand total of 4,211
- Number of applicants in dispute resolution as of 7/25/07 according to a table from ICF sent to the Working Group of the LRA Housing Task Force (HTF) grand total of 7642
- Over 3,000 cases were resolved in just 3 weeks just before the Aug. 1, 2007 deadline for no cases older than 2 months old according to the ICF report even though those cases had languished for months previously
- Click here for a description of gross overpayment of a Road Home grant to Times-Picayune columnist Jarvis DeBerry despite his objections. He got a grant for $150,000 and expected a grant of only $53,000! ICF says that the grant amount was correct because he asked for another determination of his house’s pre-storm value (he didn’t), and ICF used comparables from a much more expensive neighborhood far away
- This is just one of many examples that have come to CHAT’s attention of possible improprieties in the Road Home Program. Most of those examples are presented by the more than 900 responses to our online survey (http://chatforfairness.org), by CHAT members at our meetings (see http://chat.thinknola.com bottom of the page for dates), by talking to neighbors, or by emails that we receive.
The Road Home Program Assessment Report by the Company (KPMG) Hired by the State Agency OCD and Paid by ICF
Two New and Much Better Policies for the Road Home Program Advocated by CHAT for Many Months
- Please note that two new and important policies described below have been reported by many applicants not to be acknowledged by ICF staff.
- The first is the field review policy (CP188G) for those with ICF-rejected certified appraisals, which can be read by clicking here.
- The second new policy is the written documentation policy (CP189A), which can be viewed by clicking here.
- If you are having trouble with either of these new policies in 2008, please send an email to chatlra@yahoo.com. Put “Trouble with enforcement of new policies” in the subject and your contact information and a 1- or 2-sentence explanation of your specific problem with getting enforcement of these policies in the body of the email.
Here is the LRA press release about these policies.
Friday, December 21, 2007
LRA and OCD Highlight Changes to Assist Road Home Applicants
NEW ORLEANS (December 21, 2007) – Today the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) and the Office of Community Development (OCD) highlighted two important changes that have recently been made to the Road Home program to assist applicants.
“These common-sense changes were requested by advocates and jointly drafted by the LRA and OCD staff as proposed by the LRA’s Housing Task Force,” said Walter Leger, Chair of the LRA Housing Task Force. “We believe that it’s critical that ICF works quickly to make sure that every member of their staff is knowledgeable about these policies so they can give homeowners timely and accurate information.”
FIELD REVIEW APPRAISALS (You can tell Road Home staff that this is Change Policy 188G)
The Road Home program is now conducting Field Review Appraisals for applicants who provided their own post-storm appraisals that were not accepted by the Road Home. The Road Home estimates there are less than 200 homeowners that currently fall into this category. The Field Review Appraisal process is automatically triggered when a homeowner submits their own post-storm certified appraisal that exceeds 120% of the pre-storm value as determined by the Road Home program. Applicants with such appraisals should submit them to an ICF staff member in Dispute Resolution, who will schedule a field review appraisal by a Louisiana certified appraiser to validate the homeowner’s certified appraisal. The change enables the Road Home to use independent Louisiana certified appraisers to review whether a homeowner’s appraisal is valid as the pre-storm value for grant calculation.
In addition to this new procedure, for applicants who are currently in Appeals to dispute their pre-storm value, the Road Home program will now offer the option of having a full appraisal, known as a 1004 appraisal which is provided by the Road Home Program and conducted by a Louisiana certified appraiser.
This procedure is now in place and was effective as of November 9, 2007. All homeowners are being notified of this change and homeowners with questions are encouraged to contact a member of the dispute resolution staff of the Road Home.
WRITTEN DOCUMENTATION (You can tell Road Home staff that this is Change Policy 189A)
In an effort to increase outreach to applicants and assist them to better understand their status in the Road Home program, this change provides a homeowner with written documentation at various stages of the Road Home process. Effective as of January 1, 2008, there are three key points of information that this change of communications will address:
The exact amount of grant awards under options 1, 2, and 3.
Details about dispute resolution status and outcomes.
Current status of the application and details about any information found to be missing from it.
The Road Home program will continue to provide homeowners with supporting documentation used to determine the following at all stages of the process.
Pre-storm value
Estimated Cost of Damages
The Road Home Program was designed by the LRA and is administered by the Division of Administration’s Office of Community Development (OCD) and its contractor, ICF International.
“We fully support any effort to increase the homeowner’s ability to make informed decisions about their grant awards,” said Michael Taylor, director of the Disaster Recovery Unit, Office of Community Development.
“Homeowners can now expect to get all the data for determining their grant award and commitments from Road Home staff in writing, and they can expect to get independent appraisals on their homes, said Melanie Ehrlich, a member of the LRA’s Housing Task Force and Co-Chairman of the Citizens’ Road Home Action Team (CHAT). “These new policies are important, and we want to make sure that homeowners know that these changes are now in place.”
h2. Further Explanation From CHAT About These Two New Policies
- All LA certified appraisals from homeowners have to be recorded and used if they pass a quality test (Field Review Appraisals)according to Change Policy 188G
- This first new policy about LA certified appraisals bought by homeowners will help many applicants and can be read by clicking here)
- If your LA certified appraisal was more than 20 percent higher than Road Home’s determination of your home’s pre-storm value, it can no longer be ignored. Instead, it will be subject to a standard Field Review Appraisal by a LA certified appraiser paid for by the Road Home.This will be to check its accuracy. If it passes the test, it will be used instead of Road Home’s pre-storm value.
- This policy has been in effect since the second week of November and can be read by clicking here
If the Road Home Program is not recording the LA certified appraisal that you paid for, click here to take our survey and record the details of your award letter, phone and email contact, and your attempt to submit your appraisal after Nov. 9, when the new policy below went into effect; CHAT will try to follow up on this
- Previous but little known policy that is still in effect for those in appeals (not dispute resolution) who are contesting Road Home’s pre-storm value:
- If you cannot get your own LA certified appraisal for your home and are appealing a mistaken pre-storm value in your award, Road Home is supposed to provide you with one according to regulation CPE49E from Jan. 2007
- Click here to read CP49E on page 14 and CP40-44 # LA certified appraisals are usually much more detailed and accurate than the pre-storm values provided by Road Home, which typically do not involve a LA certified appraiser and a careful visit to your home to determine its pre-storm value
- Road Home staff have to give you a written (not just phoned) notice of your grant award according to Change Policy 189A
- They have to give you a written (not just phoned) notice of the outcome of dispute resolution
- They have to let you see the numbers and information used to calculate your grant so that you can check if it is correct and have it in case you need to appeal the award amount.
- CHAT expects that the information that ICF (the contractor) gives you about your award calculation will be complete and unedited and that written notification of the outcome of Dispute Resolutions and Appeals will be point-by-point answers to the applicants complaints of mistakes.
- We expect that all the following applicants will be entitled to an extended deadline for appeals if they had not previously received all the information in their file:
- applicants who ever questioned their award amount on their returned option letter
- applicants who were in Dispute Resolution or Appeals
- applicants who did not have their right to appeal and their requirement letter to begin the appeal explained to them by a RHP staff member at closing.
- It would be unfair to not extend the deadline for Appeals for anyone who was not previously allowed to see the Road Home Program data in their own file.
- The Road Home Program is for the applicants who suffered such serious losses. They should not continue to be at the unacceptable disadvantage of trying to plead their case without the Road Home data that led to often erroneously low awards.
CHAT Work on SBA Loan Deadline: Some Help in Sight
Where Is the Ombudsman Promised by ICF Over 1 Year Ago in Their Weekly Report to the State Agency, Office of Community Development?
Click here and see the bottom of the webpage for a link to all past pipeline reports (weekly updates from ICF, the contractor, to the state) including the Nov. 21, 2006 report with the promise of the ombudsman.
Times-Picayune Editorial Gets It Right: Right the Wrongs
EDITORIAL: Right these wrongs
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Road Home contractor ICF International wants Louisianians to believe it’s doing an awesome job. ICF spokeswoman Gentry Brann even compared the program to a car driving “100 miles an hour on the Spillway.”
That’s how fast many frustrated Road Home applicants want to run a truck over this maddening bureaucracy.
In ICF paradise, all people would talk about is the selective statistics the program releases, such as Monday’s announcement that the Road Home would meet a Dec. 31 deadline to close 90,000 grants. Reaching the benchmark indicates that the Road Home is less awful now than when it was handing out only a few thousand grants a month. But that’s little solace for 75,000 applicants waiting for their money more than 27 months after Katrina.
The same goes for people who have gotten only part of their grant, yet get counted by ICF in the same category as those who have received full amounts. Many of these and other applicants trapped in Road Home purgatory haven’t gotten an explanation—let alone well-deserved apologies—from program officials.
Consider the case of 69-year-old Catherine Clark of New Orleans, chronicled by Times-Picayune reporter David Hammer. Ms. Clark, who lost her Lower 9th Ward home, had a Road Home grant amount set in April.
But last month officials with the program called to say Ms. Clark could not get her money because of outstanding liens on her property. Problem is, the program cited liens against Ms. Clark’s husband and her son, who never owned the property and who died 25 and 11 years ago, respectively. When a flustered Ms. Clark asked the Road Home employee for her name, the employee hung up on her.
Heck of a job, ICF.
Instead of giving Ms. Clark her money, ICF’s delays forced her to take out an $88,000 Small Business Administration loan. If the SBA cleared Ms. Clark for a loan, why is ICF still holding up her grant?
Unfortunately, Ms. Clark’s injustice is hardly an isolated blunder. Consider these examples from Letters to the Editor received in the past two weeks:
—The Road Home refused to set up a first appointment by the Dec. 1 deadline for Mike Rodriguez of Metairie, because a program employee could not locate his application number. But on Christmas Eve Mr. Rodriguez said he got a Road Home letter—with his identification number at the top—saying he was now ineligible for aid because he had missed the Dec. 1 deadline. “Not only have I witnessed the Road Home’s incompetence, but I can bear witness to its lies,” Mr. Rodriguez wrote.
—Melody Riley of Violet took a partial grant in May and was assured the rest would be forthcoming. All she’s gotten since are false promises.
—After months waiting and numerous inquiries, O.D. Ricks of Covington found out his case was deemed inactive because ICF had incorrectly noted that the property had been sold. “One phone call to us would have cleared things up, but no—that is too simple a solution,” Mr. Ricks wrote.
ICF and state officials may pat themselves on the back all they want. But until they stop tormenting Ms. Clark and these other applicants—as well as countless others like them—and give them their money, Louisianians will hold the program in contempt.
As Mr. Ricks wrote, “Accolades? You want accolades? Do your job and help the people of Louisiana.”
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/editorials/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1199168431314580.xml&coll=1
Major improvements that must be made in the Road Home Program to assist applicants in great and unnecessary distress
- The federal and state governments need to remove unnecessary red tape and provide needed improvements in oversight and regulations and to publicize all policy changes that are important for applicants to know
- ICF International, the contractor, has to greatly improve its performance in terms of accuracy, efficiency, and responsiveness to the applicants (for example, give information to applicants about new policies that critically affect their application, process earliest applications first, find and correct mistakes in processing of applications)
- Grant and elevation money needs to be distributed to applicants fairly and rapidly (not over the course of many months or even years, so that applicants can finally repair or rebuild their homes two years after the historic hurricane/flood)
- Dispute Resolution and Appeals need to be administered much more fairly by the contractor ICF International as overseen by the state Office of Community Development (OCD).
- Times-Picayune editorial mentioning highly questionable missing information from the Road Home contractor ICF on dispute resolution
Anyone interested in the post-hurricane fate of South Louisiana is welcome to join our E-mail Network by filling out our Join CHAT form or sending an email to chatlra@yahoo.com with your name and city and in the subject line “Join CHAT.”
There are no dues. There are only 1-2 informational emails a week and your email address will be shared with no one else
Learn about:
- Progress with reforming the Road Home Program
- Use of land acquired by the Road Home (Louisiana Land Trust)
- How to contact federal officials about removing ridiculous red tape holding up house-elevation allowances (including certification that each house meets the endangered species act requirements!)
- How to contact federal or state officials as part of campaigns to improve the Road Home Program
Release of a Report from KPMG on the Road Home Program in December
Road Home Program Misery Index Selected items from responses to CHAT’s online survey http://chatforfairness.org and emails to chatlra@yahoo.com
If you are a Road Home applicant, please take the CHAT survey or update your answers.
This has been a powerful tool to uncover problems in the Road Home Program. You may give any comments you like about the program at the end of the survey.
- CHAT Survey – Take 3 min to take our survey telling us how well the Road Home Program is working for you now.
Some Terms and Explanation To Help You Understand the Road Home Program
- ICF: ICF International- company that has the contract for the RHP and has subcontractors working for it
- The following are Louisiana State agencies or groups with involvement in the Road Home Program
- LRA: “Louisiana Recovery Authority”: www.lra.louisiana.gov – broad oversight of the Road Home Program (RHP) and other post-storm programs, signs change policy forms (see below), paid employees of the state
- OCD: Office of Community Development- immediate oversight of the RHP and other programs, receives and evaluates weekly reports from ICF (pipeline reports), signs change policy forms, one of the levels of appeals occurs through its employees, paid employees of the state. From their website: The primary goal of …OCD is to improve the quality of life for the citizens of Louisiana.
One of OCD’s three sections is the Disaster Recovery Unit. Suzie Elkins is the Executive Director.
- DOA: Division of Administration- OCD reports to DOA, headed by Jerry Le Blanc, Commissioner. The ICF contract for the Road Home originated from DOA.
- LRA Board: voluntary appointed members who hear reports, usually monthly, and vote on changes to or clarifications of fundamental nature of the RHP and other post-storm programs, voted to approve the CHAT derived Road Home Statement of Principles
- Housing Task Force: voluntary appointed group chaired by Walter Leger; KC King and Melanie Ehrlich of CHAT were added as members in May, ‘07. Advisory group that has met four times since April. Reports to the LRA Board.
- CAD- Compensation Allowance Document: used to estimate the percent damage to the house in a Type 2 evaluation (for houses considered less than 51% damaged). You should receive a copy of your CAD after the evaluation is completed. Click here to read from the RHP about CADs. Click here to read additional information about CAD and calculation of percent damage as interpreted for us by CHAT member, Brenda Chiappinelli.
- Change policy (CP) forms: the documents that are discussed and signed for every change in policy in the Road Home Program. OCD and ICF makes policy. ICF implements the policies and the programs with reporting to OCD.
- Office of the Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Recovery: headed by Chairman Donald Powell. CHAT met twice with people from this office and is awaiting a promised meeting with Chairman Powell about greatly facilitating the re-starting of elevation allowances from already appropriated federal funds
- Transparency in public programs: letting the public know what they have a right to know about taxpayer-supported programs; over the course of months CHAT successfully advocated for posting at the Road Home website of the policies and forms for applicants, ICF pipeline reports. See below for information on sending a public records request for all the information from your own RHP files
Road Home’s Change Policy Documents: Learn Details About Rules of the Program by clicking on the links below
Important excerpts about Appraisals and Appeals
CP16A&17_ElderlyExempt_3&4Units
CP30&38_AdditonalCompensation_ExpressInterviews
CP_40-44_AssistCenters_47_Self Certification Insurance_49E_PSV&LA_CertAppraisals_1_14_07
CP53_54_55F_Demolished Houses_Condos
CP75 & 75 Single Family Multiunits and LA Certified Appraisals and Appeals
CP80-86 Option 2 Before Buying House and Applicants’ Data Overriding FEMA data
Mobile Home BPOs, Mineral Rights, and Military Forced To Move
CP100C Time Deadlines for Appeals
CP112B Minimally Damaged Manufactured (Mobile) Homes
CP165 Changing from Option 1 to Option 2 or 3
CP190 Option 3 for Applicants Moving Elsewhere in LA But Not Buying a House
For New Orleans Residents: New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA) revised its plan for Road Home-acquired land after a public meeting on Nov. 28 in City Hall
- As CHAT urged, according to Principle 19 of the LRA Road Home Statement of Principles adapted from CHAT’s Bill of Road Home Rights, the revised and LRA-approved plan has much more emphasis on input from New Orleans planning districts and neighborhoods in determining what to do with land acquired by the Road Home Program (Louisiana Land Trust)
- NORA revised proposal was first approved by the City Council on 12/6/07 and then by the LRA Board on 12/11/07.
- To see this plan at NORA’s website: www.noraworks.org; click here
- For CHAT’s recommendations, many of which were incorporated into the revised NORA proposal, click here
Resources
- See 70 exclusive New Orleans post-Katrina photos of damaged homes by CHAT member and professional photographer Ray Broussard.
- Watch compelling videos of Road Home applicants Laura LeBon and Steve Donahue (both invaluable and dedicated members of CHAT) by talented cinematographer and CHAT member Mark Morris.
- Latest Road Home Appeals Policy Available To CHAT from July 15, 2007
See the CHAT-derived Road Home Program Statement of Principles at the Road Home Program site http://road2LA.org under About Us.
These were unanimously endorsed by the Louisiana Recovery Authority Board in April.
- See reports of the Road Home contractor to the state oversight agency
- These are posted due to CHAT’s negotiations with the state oversight agency (Office of Community Development).
- See the policies of the Road Home Program initially posted at CHAT’s urging over the course of 3 months.
Do You Have Difficulty Getting All the Information in Your Road Home File Despite the New Policy CP189A of the Road Home?
By law, you may send a public records request.
According to the law, the Road Home should then send to you a copy of all your records from the Road Home by sending a certified letter in a special format (click here for information). By law, you are supposed to get some meaningful reply from the State within 5 days. If you do not, send a copy of your letter to chatlra@yahoo.com, and we can give you a template for a follow-up letter. Legally, you have the right to sue for this information on your own application, although it is not easy to do and costs money.
Got a Question?
- Road Home Questions and Building or Contractor Information – Ask questions of other Road Home applicants and offer each other advice about specific good or bad experiences with contractors, building questions, and building methods and contracts.
- For those who want to aid in Louisiana’s recovery, please contact us at chatlra@yahoo.com
Getting a Rebuilding or Repair Contract? Protect Against Unfair Liens Being Placed On Your House by Unscrupulous Subcontractors
Sample Building Contractors With Pointers To Decrease the Chance of an Unfair Lien on Your Home
One of our lawyers who is a CHAT member and has done legal work on contracts provided the following very helpful sample contracts to help those who will be rebuilding or renovating their homes. From these samples you can see how your contract can be modified if you have not yet signed it to avoid subcontractors putting a lien on your house because the contractor did not pay the subcontractor. This is unfortunately legal in many states even though you paid the contractor in full. If you don’t have a well worded contract, you might have to go to court to prove that you paid in full. Pointers on this and other useful pre-cautions are given in red in the sample documents.
Website Help for Rebuilding:
A History of the Road Home Program in Articles About CHAT
What Are We Doing?
- CHAT submitted oral and written testimony for the May 24 Senate Subcommittee Hearing on Louisiana Disaster Recovery about real and not diversionary problems with the Road Home Program.
- Road Home Program – Research into the Road Home Program.
- Road Home Bill of Rights – A set of principles developed by CHAT for the Road Home Program.
Read the original from CHAT
The New Orleans City Council version
The St. Bernard Parish version
The Jefferson Parish version
The Terrebonne Parish version
The LRA adopted (in May, 2007) version - CHAT Accomplishments – A list of CHAT accomplishments.
- CHAT Media Appearances – Many radio and more than 20 television appearances by CHAT members to discuss Road Home issues and more than 20 newspaper articles mentioning CHAT.
- CHAT Library – Documents obtained by CHAT through research and public records requests, including the June 6, 2006 Road Home legislation, the subsequent clarification to it, and an amendment changing disbursement of grants to lump sums
- Closing Documents posted by the Road Home at CHAT’s urging
Next CHAT Meeting
- Time: Meetings on Wed. at 6:30 PM at UNO, usually every other week
- Place: UNO Old Business administration building, on Milneburg Rd. (the road where the brand new dorms are, past the stop sign and the University Center and opposite the Fitness Center.
Building #7: Directions to the Business Bldg are given on the Campus Map for UNO
- NEXT MEETING Feb. 27. Newcomers are welcome and can give a 2-min description of where they might be in the processing of their Road Home application.
If you are an applicant to the Road Home Program, please take our *Road Home Survey – which has provided us with important data about how to make the Road Home Program better.
Please remember to Join Our E-mail Network (no dues, no sharing of email addresses, and only infrequent informative emails) by filling out our Join CHAT form or sending an email to chatlra@yahoo.com with your name and state and in the subject line “Join CHAT.”
To contact CHAT by phone: 504 309 0328. Please note that our zero-budget organization cannot help applicants one at a time. We advocate for improved policies to help thousands of applicants. To report individual problems, please fill out our online survey
Please add updates to the Citizens' Road Home Action Team To Do List.