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Category: CHAT, Road Home Program

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New Orleans Home, Aug. 2007

The Road Home (RH) Program for Homeowners is distributing $10.3 billion of mostly federal funds to more than 120,000 Louisiana homeowners whose homes were devastated in 2005 by Hurricanes Katrina or Rita or the subsequent flooding. It is administered by the Louisiana State government (Louisiana Recovery Authority, LRA).

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 help those applicants to the program whose applications were subject to arbitrary or capricious processing.

To find a search term, type control-f and then the term in the box that appears.

More Accounts of Applicants in Great Distress
Free Services Available To You
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?
Release of a Report from KPMG
Road Home Program Misery Index
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

We will continue to give a voice to those who are being ill treated by the Road Home Program because of being ignored, lied to, or unfairly denied grants; having unfairly downsized grants; denied a full copy of their files or written notifications in violation of LRA rules; being excluded from a chance to appeal under fair conditions; being forced to accept inferior poorly done home valuations or estimates of damage; being denied the chance to put objective documentation in their files to correct mistakes of the contractor ICF International; being ill served by the nature of the administration of house-elevation funding; or being asked to payback money for RH/ICF mistakes and 2007/2008 applicant-unfriendly changes in LRA rules applied in an inconsistent way that have no good justification.
URGENT: LRA Neglects Most Important Part of New Road Home Reform Law

A Policy Improvement Long Advocated By CHAT

Written Documentation

As of Jan. 1, 2008, Road Home staff are supposed to give applicants:

a written (not just phoned) notice of their grant award, dispute resolution, or appeal outcome
upon request, a full unedited copy of their file free of charge (including JIRA case notes and phone logs)

This written documentation policy can be read by clicking here

Only a very small percentage of applicants have obtained that written documentation

Now, there is finally a method that should get applicants a complete copy of their file free

LRA says requests for should be sent to

The Road Home Program
8282 Goodwood Blvd.
Attn: Brad D. Bradford
Baton Rouge, LA 70806
Please allow 30 days to complete the request. All questions regarding the request of an applicant file should be directed to Brad Bradford at 225-248-4972 or Linda Bodker at 225-928-6659.
Include the applicant’s Road Home application identification number, the address of the damaged property and a current mailing address. All requests must be signed and dated by the applicant.
Ask for your entire file, including JIRA records, which have notes and phone entries.

Get Sample Letters To Possibly Help With Appeals and Get Up-To-Date Information About Applicant Deadlines

Applicant deadlines have been extended

This is thanks to the great advocacy work of David Finger, staff attorney, Loyola Law Clinic

Plus numerous other advocacy groups including CHAT

And LRA Exec. Dir. Paul Rainwater listening to us

To learn more about recent applicant deadlines

And to get very helpful sample letters for various appeals and deadline problems

Click here

And then click on “template appeals” on the left of the page that opens up

At the same web site, you can read an important report about Road Home Problems

Grants To Applicants Who Sold At A Loss

At last, Road Home will start processing grants for eligible applicants who sold their homes at a loss before the Program’s launch.

CHAT thanks Previous LRA Executive Director Andy Kopplin and current LRA Executive Director Paul Rainwater for keeping their promise to us about these stranded applicants
Early-Sold-Home applicants must respond to program by September 5
When returning their paperwork to the program, applicants should include a copy of the Act of Cash Sale for their property that was recorded with the parish and executed between August 30, 2005, and August 28, 2006, for Hurricane Katrina or between September 30, 2005, and August 28, 2006, for Hurricane Rita.
Applicants should also provide as much information as possible about the sale of their homes.
CHAT was told that case managers should assist these Early-Sold-Home applicants.
Early-Sold-Home applicants unable to get this help may send an email with their Road Home history and ID number to chatlra@yahoo.com and we will forward it to an ICF official. IN THE SUBJECT LINE, PLEASE WRITE Early-Sold-Home Application

LRA IS NEGLECTING APPEALS REFORM MANDATED BY NEW LAW

See: http://www.chatushome.com/blog/?p=8 http://www.legis.state.la.us/billdata/streamdocument.asp?did=504663

http://www.doa.louisiana.gov/cdbg/dractionplans.htm

According to the new law, ACT 872, and a meeting of several state legislators and applicant advocates with LRA Executive Director Paul Rainwater about this new law, LRA was supposed to include in an Action Plan Amendment opening up appeals to all who unsuccessfully tried to get a fair settlement of their dispute and there is now supposed to be an independent body to hear appeals.

However, LRA has neglected to make any mention of appeals in the new Action Plan Amendment #28. The Action Plan must be fixed immediately because so many Road Home applicants did not have access to appeals or to a fair appeal with a full copy of their file.

Paul Rainwater, Exec. Dir. of the LRA in response to a public records request from July 1, sent a letter the last week of August to Melanie Ehrlich, Co-Chairman of CHAT, stating that the appeals policies and procedures are “still being researched.”

The part of amendment 28 that is compliance with Act 872 and is fair and should be put into action immediately is as follows.

If more than one method of determining pre-storm value is available, the pre-storm value used in the Road Home calculation will be based on the method with the highest value, regardless of any difference between the values determined by different methods.

Lastly, Amendment 27 proposes to use up Road Home grant funds on individual mitigation measures ($7500), even for applicants who received $150,000. This is wrong. There is FEMA money available for this under the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Program. We are concerned that the $1.2 billion of FEMA money which LRA publicly promised to spend on Road Home applicants is being spent for other less compelling purposes. It seems that LRA is trying to use up Road Home grant money for less important purposes so that there will not be enough to fix the mistakes for so many shortchanged applicants in distress.

Tell Gov. Jindal

CHAT urges you to join our new campaign

Urge Gov. Jindal and his Chief of Staff Timmy Teepell to use the same “can-do” attitude that they showed for Hurricanes Gustav and Ike to make sure that intolerable and inexcusable problems with the Road Home Program get fixed before it is too late

Contact the Governor at:

Gov. Bobby Jindal and Timmy Teepell, Chief of Staff
P.O. Box 94004
Baton Rouge LA 70804
Phone: 225-342-7015
Fax: 225-342-2077
timmy.teepell@la.gov
sarah.olcott@la.gov

Please also ask Gov. Jindal and Mr. Teepell the following.

Dear Gov. Jindal and Mr. Teepell,

A Times-Picayune article from September 07 said the following.

”I can’t imagine anyone being more organized and being more involved in every issue than Gov. Jindal.”

The Governor told his Chief of Staff Timmy Teepell “not to bring him problems, but to bring him solutions.”

We ask you to not forget the Hurricane Katrina victims. Please fix now before it is too late:

Road Home shortchanging mistakes
squeezing grants smaller and smaller with constricting rules
ignoring applicants in limbo
and unfairly excluding applicants from grants by arbitrary deadlines.

Don’t try to bury Road Home problems. Please take command of solutions. It is Your Road Home Program now.

Yours truly,

House-Elevation allowances

If you are interested in a house-elevation award and received the packet from Road Home that says that you are eligible, you may still send back the Road Home form and the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) form indicating that you would like to be considered for a grant. As of July 31, the Road Home hotline for questions about elevation awards is telling people that Road Home extended the deadline to send in those forms.
Call 877-234-1513 (Road Home Elevation Technical Assistance Hot Line) for more information

From conversations with federal officials, CHAT has learned the following.

Applicants who have signed contracts, bills, and building permits for elevation from before Mar. 16 are automatically eligible for the HMGP elevation grant. Their names still have to be sent by the State to FEMA.
Applicants who did not have proof that they started the actual physical work of elevation by Mar. 16 have to get that approval from FEMA before they sign a contract to elevate. Otherwise, they would not be eligible for HMGP-FEMA money although they would be eligible for the RH elevation incentive award.
Even if applicants had not started elevation before Mar. 16, they should only have to wait about 2-4 weeks from the time the State sends their name to FEMA until they get approved by FEMA and then can start their elevation if the State sends them notification of FEMA approval rapidly.
A very small percentage of applicants who have special historical or environmental situations will have a longer delay (up to several months, according to a FEMA official) between the time that the State approves them for elevation allowances and sends their name to FEMA and when FEMA approves them.

The LRA unnecessarily decided to use up much Road Home grant money as the main source of house elevation and mitigation allowances? This is the case even though another pot of money that was supposed to be used all along has been available as of January with remarkably little red tape from FEMA Hazard Mitigation funds. See CHAT Newsletters from Feb. 16 – Mar. 9 highlighting elevation allowances and appeals: click here to read

Paybacks to Road Home For Their “Mistakes” By Decreasing Elevation Incentive Awards

From RH Change Policy Document #214 about how elevation awards are calculate (Feb. 14, 2007) :

LRA and OCD state that the elevation incentive award will be “$30,000 for all eligible site built homes” and “all applicants with similar homes are receiving the same amount of elevation assistance.”

Reality About Amounts of Elevation Incentive Awards

Applicants are telling us that they have to sign a contract renouncing their rights to any more RH money before they can get their elevation incentive award from the RH fund (although they should still be eligible for the HMGP-FEMA (Hazard Mitigation Grant Program) elevation grants if they sent in that form and when that program starts.

Important: HMGP elevation grants will probably require all receipts for elevation work so save them. However, you may not be eligible if you started elevation work on or after Mar. 16 and have not gotten your HMGP-FEMA approval, you will probably unfortunately be ineligible for the HMGP elevation grant.

Paul Rainwater, Executive Director of the LRA, told CHAT week that LRA was still accepting HMGP elevation grant request forms, especially because of the possibility of increasing the HMGP elevation limit beyond $30,000 for those who have subtractions from their elevation incentive award for those “mistakes.”

From the highly informative website http://LouisianaREBUILDS.info:

The deadline to submit your elevation funding request was June 16, 2008. If you have questions about the Road Home Elevation Incentive or the State HMGP Awards call the Road Home Elevation Technical Assistance Hot Line at 877-234-1513.

Additional Compensation Grant

Paybacks to Road Home and Decreasing Elevation Awards

Note that one of the “mistakes” for which LRA is asking for money back from applicants who got their grant already is the change in when the applicants’ qualifying salary is calculated for the additional compensation grant (ACG) for those earning less than 80% of the area median income.

RH had changed the policy for when the annual income for eligibility is calculated. This change cannot be found in the ACG part of the homeowner policy guide (p. 35, internal number p. 27: http://road2la.org/Docs/policies/Homeowner_Program_Policies%20v5.2_5-6-08.pdf), but have been told that by OCD officials that previously income eligibility was calculated for one year either:

starting from the initial interview if the applicant presented all necessary salary documentation at that time

OR within 6 months of closing.

Now it seems to have been changed to only within 6 months of closing, another change making grants smaller.

One of the RH applicants who had her elevation grant decreased fell in that category AND she had one an appeal and was waiting for her money back

So she was told that she had to abandon her appeal money, take a big cut in her elevation incentive award, and immediately sign on the dotted line to lose both of those sources of money which would allow her to get out of debt for rebuilding and elevating her house. (She refused to sign as this violated her rights and made her sign a statement implying that she got all the money due to her. The issue is pending.)

LRA’s excuse for the decrease in her elevation incentive award was that HUD made LRA do it. But HUD approves all RH policy changes. A top OCD official even in Dec. 2006 related that OCD could not make a move without HUD approving and that “HUD is all over the place, always checking everything.”

So why how could HUD belatedly “change the policy” on LRA-OCD and why don’t the rules spell out this policy which affects the RH applicants who need grant help the most, those with low income?

RH is a program that is largely financed by HUD and supposed to favor low-income to moderate-income applicants (at least 50% of all RH grant money MUST go to low-to-moderate income applicants or the State of Louisiana has to pay back all the money to the federal government.

Why then is RH asking for payback money for poorly explained rules to low-income applicants by taking it out of the elevation grants without the promised additional review, long-term payments, and forgiving of paybacks to financially challenged applicants who are rebuilding?

Why is RH thereby discouraging building stronger, safer, and smarter?

Will RH quickly send notice of HMGP grant eligibility and make up the difference in HMGP elevation funding to those with payback reductions in their RH elevation incentive grant?

Will RH raise the level of HMGP grants to $60,000 for those with these paybacks as hinted at tin the newspaper article at the end of this message?

Four Popular Road Home Reform Bills Derailed By LRA-OCD & Misinformation

The Bills

SB 740 (Senate bill, Road Home Applicants’ Bill of Rights)

SB 636 (Access to Courts for Road Home applicants)

HB 622 (House bill, about LRA Structure, to which a streamlined version of text of SB 740 was amended and then removed)

SB 755 (House bill that passed with some needed help for Road Home applicants but subject to unnecessary delays that LRA-OCD introduced into the bill’s language)

Abbreviations
RH, Road Home Program for homeowners who were victims of Hurricanes Katrina or Rita;
tens of thousands of RH applicants at financial risk because of failed promises, bungling, and egregious insensitivity to their plight;
LRA, Louisiana Recovery Authority;
OCD, Office of Community Development within the Division of Administration, DOA;
ICF, ICF International, the contractor for the Road Home with many subcontractors including First American Title and Shaw Group affiliates and the Jones-Walker legal firm
LFO, Legislative Fiscal Office

The Main Common Issue For All Four RH Reform Bills

The Main Common Issue For All Four RH Reform Bills: Mistakes And Stonewalling In Grant Processing And Lack Of Corrections Of Shortchanging Mistakes for Thousands Of Applicants

ICF makes large numbers of mistakes in grant processing. ICF and some of its subcontractors are non-transparent in their practices and often refuse to correct mistakes and give needed information to applicants about their own application.
LRA-OCD does not exercise nearly enough applicant-beneficial oversight of ICF and subcontractors to make sure those systemic problems in grant processing are fixed.
LRA-OCD has conflicting policies, some of which deviate greatly from best business practices and even from HUD practices.
In addition, LRA-OCD often does not follow its own most applicant-friendly policies.

The Victory

SB 755 passed despite vehement opposition by the Executive branch. It could provide some relief to applicants, including in appeals (see details below).

The Official Position of LRA and OCD about Access To Courts

LRA-OCD officially stated that the legislature rejected Road Home (RH) applicants having access to courts for unresolved issues with RH.

The Facts About Access To Courts and Appeals Reform That Contradict LRA and OCD’s Official Position

Every one of four RH reform bills had a provision for allowing applicants to get out of the closed circle of mistakes by ICF and subcontractors judged only by ICF/OCD/LRA. Three of the bills had an access-to-court provision and two of them passed the House or unanimously passed the Senate but did not get final passage because of misinformation from LRA-OCD.

The Not-Enough-Money Excuse from LRA-OCD

One argument that the Administration was using to defeat RH reform is that there is not enough RH money and the proposed reform would have cost hundreds of millions. Hardly any of the allocated $1 billion from the RH grant pot that is to be given for elevation grants has been given out. They could still follow the original promises and rely mostly on available FEMA-HMGP money for elevation grants of up to $60,000 for actual work done without duplication of benefits.

Some Explanation of the Major Issues

Applicants should have the right to go to court for RH issues that they cannot get resolved by RH.
This right is denied by the closing documents that applicants have to sign to get their grant although the same closing documents have a contradictory statement that if an applicant goes to court for a RH issue, they must pay the attorneys fees for the state and its agent (ICF and its subcontractors!) if they lose. This would be the case even if the applicant was promised a grant, signed closing papers, and then was wrongfully denied the money or was asked to pay back a large amount of money because of a fraudulently alleged mistake in grant calculation.

SB 636 was a bill just for access to court for RH applicants. It was delayed an extraordinary 5 ? weeks before the House Appropriations Committee finally considered it. The fiscal note (http://www.legis.state.la.us/billdata/streamdocument.asp?did=501302) was $248 million based upon an estimate of 37,021 applicants appealing from LRA-OCD. This incredible estimate shows how much faith the executive branch has in the acceptance by applicants of the accuracy of grant determinations. The funds are not for court settlements but rather to help the contractor and subcontractors as well as OCD with legal preparation.

SB 740 would have given this access to court and protection against the unusual requirement mentioned above about an applicant having to pay attorney’s fees of the state and its contractors if the applicant lost.

SB 740 would have extended appeals to all applicants under an independent, fair system of administrative judges. These judges used to be at the last level of RH appeal and were well-received by applicants, but were inexplicably dropped from the RH in Nov. 2007.

HB 622 (awaiting the Gov. signature or else will become law if he does not sign and does not veto) involves LRA Board and staff structure. It was stripped of its RH reform amendment.

SB 755 passed both houses and may offer some reflief for RH applicants. See below for details.

The Role of the Legislative Fiscal Office In Defeat of Reform By Incorporating OCD’s Inflated Costs Without Evaluation

The first fiscal note for SB 755 had a wildly inflated $3 billion price tag for the bill and did not even distinguish between RH funds and State General Funds for paying this although almost all the costs would be RH (federal dedicated) funds.

The Additional Compensation Grant: LFO (Legislative Fiscal Office), $1.5 billion; corrected to 0.
Apparently, SB740 was misread. There is no additional expense for this provision. It pertains only to “use of unobligated funds” from the Road Home Program. This $1.5 billion mistake was corrected in later versions of the fiscal note.

Highest of Multiple Valuations had huge price tags in the fiscal notes to SB 740 and SB 755.

Most applicants should have had only one home valuation.

In the fiscal notes, OCD reveals that tens of thousands of applicants had multiple valuations and the highest valuation was not routinely used (fishing for lower valuations?)

Home valuations (pre-storm value, PSV, the starting point for calculation of most RH grants):
1. AVMs (only desk top and very inaccurate);
2. BPOs with drive-by done by real estate agents (a little better but still no one goes inside the house; these cannot be called appraisals because there is very little documentation of how they get the price and certified appraisers are not required; it all depends on comparables and we know from many sources that the comparables they used were often from far-away homes in very different types of neighborhoods when there were appropriate comps easily available);
3. drive-by appraisals (market analyses); these can be called appraisals because they are done by certified appraisers but they only have to drive by the house; not set foot in front of the house nor in it)
4. full certified appraisals (1004) (these are the only reliable ones, they are required by HUD for HUD/FHA financing of homes; they have much documentation; but RH very infrequently uses them and mostly just in appeals).

ICF has done unnecessary repetitive valuations by inferior methods

The fiscal note declares that this was done on tens of thousands of applications without any full certified appraisal (the gold standard that should have sufficed as a single determination).

This is not consistent with HUD/FHA policies that require a full certified appraisal for loans.

The legislative fiscal office under the advice of LRA-OCD claimed a price of $1.3 billion in 1st fiscal note to give applicants the highest valuation in their file.

1st fiscal note for SB 740 http://www.legis.state.la.us/billdata/streamdocument.asp?did=488434

Subsequently, this $1.3 billion figure was revised by OCD to $0.5 billion on 5/29/08 after testimony from CHAT at the Senate Finance Committee.

4th fiscal note for SB 740 and fiscal note for SB 755 http://www.legis.state.la.us/billdata/streamdocument.asp?did=497732 .

At RH’s webpage road2la.org, it states that Road Home “Provides the applicant with the highest available pre-storm value”:http://road2la.org/Docs/policies/Homeowner_Program_Policies%20v5.2_5-6-08.pdf (p. 22/30):

So why is LRA-OCD stating that it will cost 100’s of millions of dollars to do this?

Why was the LFO and OCD so inaccurate with numbers as to first use $1.3 billion and then use a number $0.8 billion less for their estimate of the cost of this provision of SB 740?

In addition, the 1st fiscal note for SB 740 stated that Road Home may have violated this highest valuation policy own policy in 65,000 cases
There are 156052-14135 (elevation only) = 141917 applicants for whom RH had to do a grant calculation as indicated at RH’s website: http://road2la.org/newsroom/stats.htm.

It is implausible that of the 141,917 grants calculated, RH miscalculated by not using the highest valuation for 46% of the applicants eligible for a grant, as stated by LRO/OCD!

Many applicants had their grants inexplicably decreased just before closing by RH lowering the PSV.

For some of these applications, we know that the applicant did not object to the valuation by RH and yet RH did one or more additional valuations and used a later lower one, even though none were the gold standard, full certified appraisal. The contractor, ICF, got more money for every valuation, unnecessary or not, accurate or not.

Is limiting appeals a way to bury these and other RH mistakes?

It seems like this is part of a pattern of discouraging applicants from continuing appeals (applicants can’t get their elevation grant while appealing) and from initiating appeals under new supposedly better procedures announced recently by LRA.

SB 755, the RH Reform Bill That Passed

Subject To Delays in Unnecessary Implementation by LRA-OCD
extra approvals (Action Plan Amendments approved by HUD, Gov. Jindal, the legislature once again). These were not required for dozens of other changes in LRA-OCD policies similar in scope.

http://www.legis.state.la.us/billdata/streamdocument.asp?did=502940

Difficult, delaying hurdles were added to the bill by the Legislative Fiscal Office at the direction of LRA-OCD about

Why Was SB740 An Essential Piece of Legislation?

Many applicants are still being denied access to their complete files by the ICF.

Many applicants are still being denied written notice of award amounts, dispute resolution decisions, and appeals decisions (in contradiction to RH Policy #189A).

All applicants were never given notice that they are/were entitled to the above and to a written description of the current status of their application and details of missing information(in contradiction to RH Policies #188G, 189A, and 100C).

Many applicants have been given confusing information about appeals & missed their appeal deadline

There has been a chilling effect on appeals, e.g., applicants are prohibited from collecting their “elevation incentive” award if they are currently in appeals

Many applicants missed the chance to appeal because their dispute resolution was left in limbo. The state has given extensions to ICF since Aug. 1, 2007, to prove that they don’t owe a fine for up to thousands of applicant disputes resolution that are unaccounted.

Feb. 6, 2008 LA Legislative Audit: “We took a sample of 33, or 4%, of the 777 [dispute resolution] issues to determine how they were closed. We could not determine how 27 of the 33 (82%) files were closed because the comments did not provide sufficient details.”

Applicants should not have to pay back grant money for RH mistakes because:

this disaster was unprecedented & the grants are often insufficient for rebuilding

the high error rate of ICF: more than half of applicants who did appeals won an average >$30,000

the difficulty that applicants have had in trying to get explanations of their award amounts

the complexity of the rules for grant determination and their changing applications.

Why do we keep hearing that HUD requires new restrictive changes in the posted rules (that are making grants smaller and leading to demands for paybacks to RH after closing? HUD had to approve all those rules in the first place. Top state officials told us that HUD very frequently checks all the RH procedures?

The RH program expires on June 11, 2009, and yet so many applicants have been shortchanged or wrongfully denied a grant with inadequate attempts at correction. For example, Easter Seal services for handicapped was discontinued, law services for indigent applicants is at risk, and applicants who sold at a loss were told that they probably will get not grant even though many sold because of mold and health problems.

For the text of SB 470, see http://www.legis.state.la.us/billdata/streamdocument.asp?did=486620

Road Home Programs official document specifying most recent categories of inactive applications is CP200A
Earlier classes of inactive applications were defined in CP149C

AUDITS, DISPUTE RESOLUTION, AND APPEALS

There are different types of audits of the Road Home Program for Homeowner Assistance (RH) that were done or are being discussed for the future.

One important source of audit information is the Legislative Audits, which were conducted on many aspects of state government and are independent of the people who run the RH.

Audits of ICF files would be missing data that it should have, including rejected third-party documentation that homeowners should have been allowed to submit to correct RH mistakes.

In addition, there might be inexplicably missing data from ICF’s files.

Therefore, it is essential that applicants be allowed to obtain their complete, unedited file according to Road Home Policy Number 189A (see CP links below). This policy is supposed to have been in effect since Jan. 1, 2008. This should be free of charge.

After applicants get a complete copy of their file, they should be given the chance to appeal mistakes under a greatly improved appeals system that is transparent, fair, unbiased, and not vague.

In addition, at the policy level, the most advantageous policies for calculating grants should be uniformly applied to applicants. This has been far from the case.

Previously conducted dispute resolutions and appeals had many irregularities, including applicants not being given their full files (unless they went to the higher level of appeal after initial appeal rejection), dispute resolutions with such vagueness that even the Legislative Auditor had trouble with it, and in-limbo dispute resolutions that disappeared in time for ICF to avoid a fine for not making a contractual benchmark.

We have learned that some applications in limbo in dispute resolution for a year are suddenly receiving letters from ICF stating that their dispute was concluded against their favor with no details. Such unfair letters may allow ICF, the contractor to escape a fine for dispute resolutions that were unattended for more than 2 months.

Here are some of the conclusions from the Legislative Audit reports on Dispute Resolution that you can find at http://www.lla.state.la.us/lla/padreports.htm

As of April 10, 2007… ICF does not have an effective process in place to ensure advisors resolve homeowners’ complaints consistently and accurately… We could not accurately determine the number of homeowners, the reasons people are in Resolution, or the aging of cases in Resolution … because the data is not reliable.

We conducted a survey of 30 applicants who are currently in or have completed Resolution… 71% of the applicants we surveyed were not satisfied with the Resolution process. Thirteen of the 15 (87%) of those still in Resolution did not think they received sufficient information on where their case is in the process. Twelve of the 15 (80%) who have completed the process did not think they received sufficient information about the status of their case. .. The 15 applicants whose issues have been resolved wre resolved in an average of 111 days…

In the Feb. 6, 2008 report is the following.
We took a sample of 33, or 4%, of the 777 [dispute resolution] issues to determine how they were closed. We could not determine how 27 of the 33 (82%) files were closed because the comments did not provide sufficient details.

OCD’s response to this report offers the following previously missing definition of when a dispute resolution is concluded.
“On Sept. 14, 2007, OCD accepted the ‘Resolved’ and ‘Closed’ as meeting the metric if the following definitions were followed;

Resolved- The applicant question, concern, or dispute has been researched and has reached final disposition to the extent possible within program policy. The final dispostion has been communicated to the applicant.

Now we are hearing that there will be no more dispute resolution but rather case managers called “PALs.” This report quotes OCD as stating that “All remaining applicants will be assigned a dedicated PAL.”

What about fairness for those who never had the type of resolution of their dispute as defined by OCD and were not able to get a fair appeal?

What about those applicants who, as we hear, still did not get a PAL or have problems with their PAL not following good resolution procedures or not returning calls?

What about those applicants who, as we hear, were told incorrectly that they could not appeal or were not informed about the requirements for appealing, or whose appeal letters were sent by certified mail but ICF said it never received them?

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

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. This is confirmed by the report that more than half of the decided appeals resulted in increases of the award to the applicants, with “the average increase of about $24,000”: http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/editorials/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1207977682227240.xml&coll=1

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

Easter Seals’ contract with ICF to help elderly or disabled Road Home applicants was summarily terminated in Feb. with no explanation leaving applicants who were getting good help from them at a loss. http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/04/road_home_subcontractors_make.html 1-866-996-4243 Easter Seals.

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

504 861-5596, Loyola Law Clinic for free help for low-income applicants, especially with appeals

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 over 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

ICF continues to state that they are notifying applicants of awards, dispute resolution outcomes, and appeals in writing. We get numerous, independent, and well-described reports that they are not. This violates Road Home Policy CP189A.

ICF staff frequently refuse to give applicants a complete copy of their file or even any of the their file. This too violates Road Home Policy CP189A. We have much documentation from applicants about this.

These problems are systemic as we know from more than 1150 responses to our online surveys, applicants speaking at our meetings, talking to neighbors, or hundreds of emails that we receive at chatlra@yahoo.com.

The Road Home Program Assessment Report by the Company (KPMG) Hired by the State Agency OCD and Paid by ICF

A few major constructive points in the report

The full report

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. What is worse the applicant-friendly and sensible policy about homeowner-purchased appraisals (CP188G) was discontinued by LRA on Mar. 4, 2008 without telling applicants!

The policy about homeowner-purchased appraisals was called the field review policy (CP188G) for those with ICF-rejected certified appraisals. This now secretly revoked policy can be read by clicking here.

The second new policy is the written documentation policy (CP189A), which can be viewed by clicking here.

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…

FIELD REVIEW APPRAISALS (Change Policy 188G; NOTE THAT THIS FAIR POLICY WAS ABRUPTLY TERMINATED IN MARCH WITH NO NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC!)

The Road Home program is conducting Field Review Appraisals for applicants who provided their own post-storm appraisals that were not accepted by the Road Home… 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…

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 (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…

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…

“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.”

Further Explanation From CHAT About These Two New Policies

Determining the pre-storm value of the applicant’s house is the starting point for grant calculations

CHAT was a major influence in acceptance of homeowner-purchased Louisiana-licensed appraisals by Road Home in January of 2006.

Full certified appraisals are the gold standard for determining the value of a house.

However, those appraisals were not be used, and often were not even put in the applicantsa€? file, if they were more than 20 percent higher than the less accurate determinations of pre-storm value by the RHP.

Therefore, the appraisals were not used in the cases of the most erroneous RHP valuations. RHP officials told CHAT that it is HUD regulations based upon fear of fraud that set the cap of no more than 20 percent difference.

More than one year later after many hours of discussion between RH officials and CHAT members, especially Mr. John Murden, a Louisiana certified appraiser, on Nov. 9, 2007, the FIELD REVIEW APPRAISAL policy was accepted.

That policy stated that the RH would have a certified appraiser check the accuracy of homeowner-supplied certified appraisals that were previously not accepted by the Road Home because they were too high.

We know of many instances of homeowners being told that ICF would not accept a copy of their appraisal for their file. We also know of applicants waiting fruitlessly since fall of 2007 for a field review appraisal of their purchased full certified appraisal so that it could be validated. NOW THE FIELD REVIEW POLICY, A FAIR ONE, WITH RH-APPOINTED FIELD REVIEW APPRAISERS TO VALIDATE APPLICANT-PURCHASED CERTIFIED APPRAISALS, HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED!

This field review appraisal policy should have helped many applicants and can be read by clicking here) UNFORTUNATELY, THIS REASONABLE, ACCURATE HOMEOWER-FRIENDLY POLICY WAS DISCONTINUED, WITHOUT PUBLIC NOTICE, IN MARCH EVEN THOUGH IT WAS WORKING WELL FOR THE APPLICANTS.

CHAT Work on SBA Loan Deadline: Some Help in Sight and Links about Trying to Prevent Foreclosure

SBA may extend deadline for using home loan funds (Times Picayune)
Many people waiting on the Road Home

From a member of CHAT, these links are provided for those in danger of foreclosure on their home mortgages.

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/mortgages/20071018_foreclosure_counseling_a1.asp?caret=2

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/mortgages/20070906_mortgage_workouts_a1.asp?caret=1

http://www.homeloanlearningcenter.com/YourFinances/ForeclosurePreventionResourceCenter.htm

http://www.housinghelpnow.org/

HUD advice on foreclosure: http://www.hud.gov/foreclosure/index.cfm

IRS Questions and Answers on Home Foreclosure and Debt Cancellation http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=174034,00.html

Where Is the Ombudsman Promised by ICF Over 1 1/2 Years 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.

Anyone interested in the post-hurricane fate of South Louisiana is welcome to join our E-mail by 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

Release of a Report from KPMG on the Road Home Program in December

Highlights of the report

The full report

Road Home Program Misery Index Selected items from responses to CHAT’s online surveys 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.

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

CP22-25C_Award Calculations

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

CP123A-127 Condominium Replacement Cost Calculations, Income Verification for Additional Compensation Grant, and Appeals

CP131-135 Partial Disbursements (tender or close now and appeal later), FEMA Eligibility (minimum of damage necessary to qualify for a grant), and Insurance Penalties

CP140-149 Selling House Before Program-Ineligibily Letters Because of the Previously Projected Shortfall Before the Extra $3 Billion of Federal Funds, Death of an Applicant

CP157 Usufruct

CP165 Changing from Option 1 to Option 2 or 3

CP190 Option 3 for Applicants Moving Elsewhere in LA But Not Buying a House

CP200 inactive applications

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.

Road Home Program Statement of Principles with the introductory remarks.

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.

Under Construction in Gentilly by Melanie Ehrlich.

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.

At LouisianaREBUILDS.info you can give and get evaluations of contractors, plumbers, electricians, gardeners, etc. as well as invaluable advice about contracts with contractors and rebuilding resources available

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

New Information on Avoiding and Fighting Unfair Liens Placed On Your Home

A contractor has the right to place a lien on a home if the owner does not pay for work done to the house. However, unscrupulous contractors may put an illegitimate lien on a property with damaging consequences to the homeowner.

See http://LouisianaREBUILDS.info

Contractor Guide under "Protect Yourself from Fraud" for information on avoiding and fighting bad liens.

Or click on: http://louisianarebuilds.info/node/2845

Website Help for Rebuilding:

http://www.louisianarebuilds.info/contractor

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

2. Next CHAT Meeting

Time: Meetings on Wed. at 6:30 PM at UNO, usually every other week

Place: Room 179, UNO Milneburg Hall, 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 #24: Directions to the Business Bldg are given on the Campus Map for UNO

NEXT MEETING Wed., Nov. 12. Newcomers are welcome.

To contact CHAT, email chatlra@yahoo.com

Table of Contents

Citizens' Road Home Action Team

Home Page

Welcome to chatushome.com

A Policy Improvement Long Advocated By CHAT

Get Sample Letters To Possibly Help With Appeals and Get Up-To-Date Information About Applicant Deadlines

LRA IS NEGLECTING APPEALS REFORM MANDATED BY NEW LAW

Tell Gov. Jindal

Contact the Governor at:

House-Elevation allowances

Paybacks to Road Home For Their “Mistakes” By Decreasing Elevation Incentive Awards

Reality About Amounts of Elevation Incentive Awards

Additional Compensation Grant

Four Popular Road Home Reform Bills Derailed By LRA-OCD & Misinformation

Why Was SB740 An Essential Piece of Legislation?

We Are Hearing Many More Accounts of Applicants in Great Distress

If You Need Help With Road Home, Below Are Free Services Available To You

Road Home Improprieties?

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

Further Explanation From CHAT About These Two New Policies

CHAT Work on SBA Loan Deadline: Some Help in Sight and Links about Trying to Prevent Foreclosure

Where Is the Ombudsman Promised by ICF Over 1 1/2 Years Ago in Their Weekly Report to the State Agency, Office of Community Development?

Anyone interested in the post-hurricane fate of South Louisiana is welcome to join our E-mail by sending an email to chatlra@yahoo.com with your name and city and in the subject line “Join CHAT.”

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 surveys and emails to chatlra@yahoo.com

If you are a Road Home applicant, please take the CHAT survey or update your answers.

Road Home’s Change Policy Documents: Learn Details About Rules of the Program by clicking on the links below

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

Resources

See the CHAT-derived Road Home Program Statement of Principles at the Road Home Program site http://road2LA.org under About Us.

Do You Have Difficulty Getting All the Information in Your Road Home File Despite the New Policy CP189A of the Road Home?

Got a Question?

Getting a Rebuilding or Repair Contract? Protect Against Unfair Liens Being Placed On Your House by Unscrupulous Subcontractors

Website Help for Rebuilding:

http://www.louisianarebuilds.info/contractor

A History of the Road Home Program in Articles About CHAT

What Are We Doing?