Road Home Program FAQ
From New Orleans Wiki
[edit] Who is monitoring the Road Home Program?
Bog writes in Road Home Questions
The Louisiana Legislative auditor did an audit of the Road Home Resolutions Process (or lack there of)published 7/25.
[edit] Do I need to verify occupancy of my home pre-Katrina?
Yes. Make sure you have some proof of occupancy to send to the Road Home Program.
From CoCo in Road Home Questions
The most important thing is the occupancy document. Don’t wait until they ask for it either. I called & called and always asked if they needed any additional docs, if they needed a utility bill pre-Katrina. They always told me no. Lo & behold on 10/19 I get a call and my 4th Advisor said to send in proof of occupancy at the time of Katrina. On 9/20 I sent in my voters’ registration card, but forgot to put my application number on the second page. Today, I faxed a 8/2005 Entergy bill, Homestead Exemption AND voters’ reg. Make absolutely sure to put your last name and your RH application number on each page. I put my RH application number top and bottom of each doc. I know it sounds elementary, but then you know who we are dealing with…
[edit] How do I verify the amount deducted from FEMA?
If you have access to your account on the FEMA website you can see everything they’ve given you and what THEY classify it as—rental assistance, personal property, vehicle replacement, housing, etc. If you have anything under housing that is what the Road Home counts against you.
[edit] Which Road Home Program Options do I qualify for?
If the city evaluated your property at over 50% damaged, you automatically qualify for all options in the Road Home program regardless what FEMA shows. If the city evaluated your property at under 50% damaged, you qualify for option 1, but will have to support your contention that your property is more severely damaged or not repairable.
[edit] Can the Road Home Program deduct the removal of trees and fencing and patios against your award?
Jackie Miller writes in Road Home Questions
You need to do it BEFORE they calculate your final benefits. I did it on the phone with my housing assistant in pre-closing. She had to get a supervisor to approve it, but they did it while I was on the phone and told me the final amount of the grant, which did not change once it was approved. The only thing they deducted from that amount at closing was property tax. In order to have payments for trees, etc. removed from your RH insurance payments received, you have to have something from your insurance company that shows it was for additional structures and not “dwelling.†My homeowners payments were labeled on the claim payment explanation form as well as the checks as “dwelling†“additional structures†and “contents.†They have to be separated because they are paid by different coverage sections of your policy. Flood insurance does not cover additional structures so you will only have two amounts from them—the house and the contents. Since the Road Home does not award grants for anything other than the main dwelling, they cannot deduct insurance payments you received for anything else like storage buildings, fences, trees, etc. Initially they did not include these amounts in my award calculation, then when they adjusted the pre-storm value they added them back in to the insurance amount. They were very happy to make this change. Hope this helps.
[edit] Is this typical of LRA to lowball the value of the property?
Yes. Many tens of thousands of RHP applicants have received severely lowballed pre-storm values. And, the Office of Community Development (Suzie Elkins), instituted a policy that if your Louisiana Certified Appraisal is over 20% greater than RHP’s determined Pre-Storm value, your Louisiana Certified Appraisal is not considered. The 20% figure is arbitrary and not a value required by the feds. Of course, this is a very unjust policy and downright immoral. Their >20% policy is an effort to hinder fraud by applicants – but, we all know our politicians and government administrators are much more likely to commit crime than a Louisiana homeowner.
If you can afford to wait a long time for your grant, I’d try to get the issue resolved before going to closing. Why, because if you go to closing and then go through the appeal process and get denied, you might never get justice. OTOH if you drag out the process by entering resolutions, we might be able to get this stupid 20% policy fixed before you complete the appeal process.
[edit] Is there someplace on the web where I can check the status of my grant?
You can check the status of your grant using the eGrants system at the Road Home Program website.
https://grants.road2la.org/laprod/signIn.do
[edit] Who Is HGI and How Do I Contact Them?
HGI is Hammerman & Gainer, Inc.. They are handling closings of Road Home Applications. They have a "Closing Center" in Metaire. The Metaire number is (504) 885-4540.
