This week, reality hit hurricane victims who realized they may not receive the Road Home grant money they were expecting. It seems the much maligned program is about $3 billion short of its goal of assisting all hurricane victims who qualify. So far, 20 months after Katrina, only 10% of the eligible victims have received their grant money, while thousands of people are in the “pipeline.” The problem is that 130,000 applications have been submitted, almost 30% more than state officials had expected.
Another problem is that state officials thought the average grant would be much lower than $75,000. All of these inaccurate calculations were made by the same people who have brought us the Road Home disaster. It would have been much better to run this program through an existing state agency or local banks rather than creating another incompetent bureaucracy. But, now that we have this bureaucracy, it is a travesty that it is so ill-equipped to deal with this tragedy.
Another aspect of the program is the property buyouts. As of today, about 15,000 ruined properties have been purchased by the State of Louisiana, but there is no program in place to renovate and either donate or sell the homes. The non-profit that is supposed to handle these properties has no executive director, no staff and no plan on how to disburse all of this property. These properties could be renovated, sold and the funds put back into the program to cover the Road Home deficit, or possibly donated to local governments to and used to house first responders or emergency personnel.
When asked about these problems, Blanco had her typical response ready, “We will be looking to Congress to make up the difference.” When in doubt, Blanco always looks to the federal government either asking for more money or criticizing their response to the hurricanes.
As we ask for more money, we should realize that this was the same government that has already spent $125 billion on GulfCoast hurricane relief and allocated $10.4 billion to Louisiana for hurricane grants. Unfortunately, the LRA siphoned off almost $3 billion for projects like giving the super-rich Entergy, Fortune 500 corporate giant, hundreds of millions in grants. If the LRA had dedicated the entire $10.4 billion to homeowners, the program would likely be completely self-sufficient today.
Now that we have this dilemma, we have the tools to fix it. It is called the $3 billion state surplus that Louisiana is enjoying. We have the surplus which can address this shortfall, so it should at least partially be used to help hurricane victims. Helping hurricane victims is a much better way to spend the surplus than growing state government.
According to Gulf Coast Recovery Director Donald Powell, “The state has not presented us with any data to show a legitimate need for money. They have not been in contact with us; therefore it is too early to decide if the state should be given any money. And that won’t be determined until we find out what the state needs if they spent their money properly among other things.”
Powell is exactly correct to be prudent. Unfortunately, we have not spent these recovery dollars wisely. For one, we have bailed out a billion dollar corporate giant swimming in profits and we have also mismanaged the Road Home program by hiring an incompetent out of state firm for $756 million. Since we have mismanaged the money we have received so far, we should not expect the federal government to come to the rescue once again. It is time we fixed our own leaky ship of state and became more self sufficient. If we fix this Road Home mess on our own, then we will be in a better position to argue for additional federal funding the next time there is a tremendous need in our state.
Jeff Crouere is a native of New Orleans, LA and he is the host of a Louisiana based program, “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 8:30 p.m. Fri. and 10:00 p.m. Sun. on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and Noon till 2 p.m. weekdays on several Louisiana radio stations. For more information, visit his web site at www.ringsidepolitics.com. E-mail him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com.
DEAR SIR ,IAM WRITTEN ABOUT THE INSURANCE PROBLEM LOUISIANA HOME OWNERS HAVE,GETTING INSURANCE.HOME OWNERS RISK POLICY INSURANCE IS THE HIGHEST IN THE NATION.THE AVERAGE COST IS THREE THOUSAND AND MORE .ALSO A HOMEOWNER HAVE TO IN FULL THREE OR PLUS THOUSAND DOLLARS UP FRONT ,ONE CAN NOT PAY A PORTION DOWN AND SO MUCH A MONTH EVEN, IF A PERSON IS MAKING TWO THOUSAND A MONTH ,WHAT?PERSON HAVE THAT KIND OF FUNDS .PEOPLE IN NEW ORLEANS HAVE LOW PAYING JOBS AND, MANY ARE LIVING ON FIX INCOMES.ONE COULD SEE WHY THREE OUT FIVE INSURANCE COMMISSINOR WENT TO JAIL. PEOPLE I TELL THIS TO IN OTHER STATES CAN NOT BELIEVE THE CORRUPTION IN NEW ORLEANSTHE FEDRAL.GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE CONCERN A BOUT THE INSURANCE PROBLEM AND, THE TIME PICAUYME.
Written by WILLIE JOHNSON
on 5/27/2007
DEAR SIR ,IAM WRITTEN ABOUT THE INSURANCE PROBLEM LOUISIANA HOME OWNERS HAVE,GETTING INSURANCE.HOME OWNERS RISK POLICY INSURANCE IS THE HIGHEST IN THE NATION.THE AVERAGE COST IS THREE THOUSAND AND MORE .ALSO A HOMEOWNER HAVE TO IN FULL THREE OR PLUS THOUSAND DOLLARS UP FRONT ,ONE CAN NOT PAY A PORTION DOWN AND SO MUCH A MONTH EVEN, IF A PERSON IS MAKING TWO THOUSAND A MONTH ,WHAT?PERSON HAVE THAT KIND OF FUNDS .PEOPLE IN NEW ORLEANS HAVE LOW PAYING JOBS AND, MANY ARE LIVING ON FIX INCOMES.ONE COULD SEE WHY THREE OUT FIVE INSURANCE COMMISSINOR WENT TO JAIL. PEOPLE I TELL THIS TO IN OTHER STATES CAN NOT BELIEVE THE CORRUPTION IN NEW ORLEANSTHE FEDRAL.GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE CONCERN A BOUT THE INSURANCE PROBLEM AND, THE TIME PICAUYME.
Written by WILLIE JOHNSON
on 5/27/2007
I composed an article recently concerning my contact with the Road Home Program. It is broken and now we learn that the management of ICF awarded themselves millions in bonuses prior to even starting the program. That should come as no surprise. Perhaps someone should look into the connections between Shaw and ICF and a certain chemical plant near Baton Rouge some years ago. Apparently they may both have gotten paid by the poor company for the same job. Makes for most interesting reading and may prove to be a string which, when pulled, will lead to some connections as to how ICF got the contract in the first place. Google: ICF Kaiser + PCS
Written by Ron Chapman
on 5/8/2007
Sorry Bubba. Those are the pumps that were sold by a close personal friend of Jeb Bush. This administration knows NO SHAME! They are crony ridden thieves. It is time for the Bushes to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Written by Cajun Joe
on 5/7/2007
It is a relatively easy proces to find out what was allocated, what has been delivered to Baton Rouge, and what Baton Rouge has delivered to whom. I think the Times Picayune has done a pretty fair job of reporting. Google also. It is all a matter of public record.
Written by Sharon
on 5/4/2007
Terrorists sabotaged the Corps of Engineers' new pumps in Metary on the I-10. It looks like a swimming pool, just like after Katrina. Let's invade all dem rag-head countries so dey can't sabotage us no more here! Lead on W, I'm behind ya!
Written by Bubba
on 5/4/2007
Had the White House not summarily rejected the Louisiana REPUBLICAN, BAKER PLAN, the road home would not exist. Why did the White House reject a Republican generated Louisiana Plan? Incidentally, the Virginia (D.C.)company that got the road home contract, has ties to this Administration - hmmm, yet another coincidence I'm sure. Thank you, David, for your comments and thinking about the long term interest of Louisiana. At the rate Louisiana's coastline and economy is dying, maybe we can all move to Iraq - the 51st State of the Union! Long live Lincoln's legacy and the warfare state!
Written by Brooks
on 5/4/2007
Let's face it--the Federal govt. had no interest in helping Louisiana except to the degree that it could help itself. Jeff throws out a number--$125 billion--but can he say how that money has been/will be spent? If huge chunks went to Halliburton in more no-bid contracts, or was spent by FEMA on trailers sinking into Arkansas mud, is that money really going toward Louisiana's recovery?
It's so easy to blame the Blanco administration! Nagin does it because New Orleans is limping in circles and all he can think of is the power of private investment thanks to this anticipated grant windfall; the Feds do it because Blanco can't jump through the hoops they keep throwing in her path.
But when Louisiana suffers due to faulty Federal actions, it is the Feds who should make it right, regardless of what the state has managed to save from its own budget. If Blanco spent the state surplus on Road Home grants, Jindal et al. would be first in line to criticize her for "squandering" state resources. Truth is, as in Iraq, if the Feds broke it, the Feds should fix it. But if they were caring or competent, we never would have gotten in this mess in the first place!
We should all--from Jindal to Vitter to Crouere--call on the Feds to rectify the damage they have wrought. And we should be looking to spend La. dollars on wetlands restoration and economic development projects to help insure that this mess doesn't happen again, and if it does that we'll be in decent fiscal shape to recover from it.
Written by David
on 5/4/2007
Thank you, Jeff. I agree. Part of the problem is the mismanagement of the funds already sent to Louisiana. The Bush Administration and the GOP voted and sent Billions. Yet many are still saying that the Republicans cheated Louisiana. Well, the Democrats are in charge now. They basically can pass anything they want. Send a stand alone recovery bill for Louisiana to the floor. Let's see who is for and against it. Pass it. Send it to the President. See if he agrees. (It must of course be accompanied by a plan that is acceptable) The taxpayers around the country are furious that they are being asked to fully fund everything while Louisiana is operating with a surplus, opening parks, and wanting salary increases. The recovery should be the first priority.
This week, reality hit hurricane victims who realized they may not receive the Road Home grant money they were expecting. It seems the much maligned program is about $3 billion short of its goal of assisting all hurricane victims who qualify. So far, 20 months after Katrina, only 10% of the eligible victims have received their grant money, while thousands of people are in the “pipeline.” The problem is that 130,000 applications have been submitted, almost 30% more than state officials had expected. 
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