[FoCHAT] CHAT Mtg. Wed. 6:30 PM; SB755; ICF Penalty After ~1 year of examination

Tue Jul 15 21:54:57 PDT 2008

Dear Friends of CHAT (FoCHAT),

1. CHAT meeting: Wed. July 16, 6:30 
Next CHAT Meeting 

Place: Room 179 (please note room change), 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 http://www.uno.edu/university/maps/maincamp.asp

NEXT MEETING Wed., July 16. Newcomers are welcome.* 

2. SB 755, the one out of 4 Road Home reform bills that did not get derailed by misinformation, is now ACT 872, but it is very uncertain what it will mean by way of reform. Stay tuned.
http://www.legis.state.la.us/billdata/streamdocument.asp?did=504663
3. State Penalizes ICF International more than $1 million for Failure to Meet Performance Measures 

LRA Press Release, BATON ROUGE, La. (July 15, 2008) see below for full press release
[ICF International penalty of:]

“$356,879 for failure to meet performance metrics relating to resolutions in July 2007. After much analysis, the Louisiana Recovery Authority, the Office of Community Development and the Louisiana Legislative Auditor were unable to verify ICF's claims that it met the metric.” 
Comment: The rest of the ~$1 million penalty was for not making the recent closing benchmark. 
I don’t know how they got the uneven amount of $356,879 for dispute resolution nonperformance fines but assuming that this July 31, 2007 benchmark was probably not met for more than 120 days, the fine  would be for not resolving 71 cases!

If it was for only a 60-day delay, it would have been for 238 unresolved cases.

But see our website http://chatushome.com for documented information about approximately 3000 cases disappearing in July 2007 and over 1000 in just one weekend in August, 2007.

For 1000 unresolved cases the fine should have been $1.5 million for cases unresolved for more than 60 days and $5 million for cases unresolved for more than 120 days.

Times-Picayune: Road Home standards tightened: More award letters, closings required 

Thursday, August 02, 2007 By David Hammer
……
“The state will immediately review whether the Road Home was able by Tuesday to close at least 95 percent of the resolution cases that had dragged on for 120 days or more. Ninety-five percent of the rest of the resolution cases open on July 1 have to be closed by the end of this month [Aug.]. After that, and the end of each month this year, ICF will be fined $1,500 for each resolution issue opened after July 1 that lasts more than 60 days, $2,000 for each case unresolved after 90 days and $5,000 for each that is more than 120 days old. “

Bottom line: at least there was some reckoning for ICF International 50 weeks after they did not make a benchmark.

Now if only LRA would extend their 13-week (90 day) deadline for applicants to file an appeal given the high rate of ICF mistakes and the difficulties applicants had in appealing, for example, being waylaid by an unresolved dispute resolution!

4. Elevation Incentive Allowances and HMGP (FEMA) Elevation Grants for Road Home Applicants

Be sure to read our website about these if you are not familiar with the rules for staying eligible for HMGP Elevation Grants. http://chatushome.com

Why is the processing of both types of elevation allowances so delayed? Is it because ICF is looking for payback “mistakes” for applicants before giving them their elevation money finally? What kinds of protections do applicants have against mistakes made in reducing their elevation awards?

5. Some Help

JOIN A CHAT SUBGROUP (AND TELL OTHERS IN THE SAME WAGON) IF YOU ARE WAITING FOR A GRANT BECAUSE YOU SOLD AT A LOSS OR IF YOU HAVE RH CONDOMINIUM PROBLEMS
Sold-at-a-Loss- New CHAT Subgroup Available For Joining

>From one of our members.  If you sold your Hurricane Katrina/Rita-destroyed home to a private party at a loss and were encouraged to apply for RH money but received a letter in January saying you would probably get nothing, you should know that you are a member of a class of more than 4800 people who are in the same situation. 

Walter Vetsch  wvetsch at juno.com just formed a yahoo chatgroup for any of you or your friends who is a RH applicant in the category of sold-at-a-loss in 2006; none of these applicants have yet had a commitment to have their grant funded even though applicants who sold their home to private persons after closing following RH procedures can have their full grant.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/4800strong

Group To Work on Condo Regressive Rule Changes
Gov. Jindal-era changes in condominium policies have reduced grants of some applicants from $150,000 to zero. To join this subgroup, write to 
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