The latest flap between the Louisiana Recovery Authority, the Governor’s office, the HUD, Donald Powell’s office is clear evidence that there has been a system of chaos on matters that are important.
It also shows that the state and other agencies are not using the best in technology so all individuals are on the same page—otherwise, this sudden HUD disaster of qualifying the Road Home grants as either a program or a rebuilding program.
The bottom line is this--all parties are at fault which is just another nail in the coffin of trust in the system.
There are ways where documents are shown on the Internet and webinars are used so all parties to the transactions fully understand the nature of the discussion.Telephone is used with the online showing of the documents.
The Governor’s Office and the LRA never should have had a maritime attorney in charge of the housing program, or former government Chief of Staff in charge of the Louisiana Recovery Authority. This matter took real estate, banking, and legal minds in the right subject areas knowing the intricacies of real estate program, insurance, government agencies and the tax law In turn, HUD is totally incompetent in that they should have known their own special rules and communicated them to the state.The Office of the Gulf Coordinator was hired to make sure that all systems are go.They wanted to give President Bush credit in a public relations ploy the last time Bush made it down to New Orleans.However, the very basic program under their overview was flawed and they did nothing.
This is just another example why Louisiana citizens have and are giving up on Blanco, President Bush and his administration.
That fact is that Louisiana is right to tie the grants to rebuilding in Louisiana, relocating in Louisiana or moving outside of the state.However, one might ask, why would anyone who moves outside of Louisiana even be entitled to the grant money.This is Louisiana money to build the state.If a family decides to vacate Louisiana, it is a drain on the cities and the state.They should look to their new home state for assistance or petition George bush for more money to cover their situation rather than spend money on civil wars that an endless pit without any plans.
The bottom line is this—all agencies have failed Louisiana citizens.Governor Blanco has hired companies and individuals not competent for the job.President bush has hired a yes man.HUD is utterly a failure on this issue.
The key to rebuilding Louisiana is putting the money into real estate and rebuilding neighborhoods and developing an economy.It is not to put money into casinos or leave money to the whim of homeowners without being penalized for not selecting choosing to rebuild or relocate in this state.
Undoubtably, there are some circumstances where money should not be put into escrow accounts which triggers the ruling of HUD and the legal consequences arising out of their own regulations.Some homeowners do not need the money to rebuild or buy without Louisiana but they have suffered a loss compensable under the grant program.Still, Louisianamust work closely using the best in technology which it always fails to do to make certain that Louisiana is on the right course.This state keeps getting shockwaves hitting them in the face.After enough, there should be a curse of disgust on all the parties involved for utter mismanagement and total incompetence in the way they have handled the rebuild of the greatest disaster in America.
The reason why HUD is now stepping forward on this issue is because in the Road Home contract it states that the money in the escrow accounts is supposed to be supervised by whoever is handling the escrow account and the person receiving the grant; Jointly. After the closings finally began HUD realized that the Katrina victims had no say-so on how they would receive the money. It was the state who setup the program in a manner in which all the money would be given to the contruction industry. They were not really concerned about people who would spend the money on wasteful things; if they were concerned about waste, why are they paying ICF International three-quarters of a billion dollars to run a program that could have been handled by the state. Follow were the money is going and then, and only then, will we discover who's really profiting from the Road Home program. People not only lost their homes to Katrina; their jobs were also lost, and left floating down the streets! So what if some of the Road Home money was being used to purchase a new bed to sleep in, or a few grocieries. So what if a person used some of the money to catch-up on their mortgage. The truth is that the people that are in favor of not giving the Road Home money out in a lump sum are usally people that are well-off finacially. They have enough money to carry them over until their Road Home money comes in. When a wealthy man fishes for sport they usually throw the fish back; but to the poor man it's food.
Written by Jeremiah Hensley
on 3/20/2007
Stephen, do you have a phone number where we could call you and explain our concerns with the program as it is currently being run?
The latest flap between the Louisiana Recovery Authority, the Governor’s office, the HUD, Donald Powell’s office is clear evidence that there has been a system of chaos on matters that are important.
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