Friday, May 25, 2007

Hope sputters at Road Home's dead end

Between George Bush and his administration of "Let them eat cake" hacks on one side, and Gov. Kathleen Blanco and her supporting cast of Mayor Teddys and "Boss" Hoggs on the other, it's no wonder that despair is the only growth industry in K-Ville today.

From The Times-Picayune:

WASHINGTON -- With New Orleans homeowners telling a Senate subcommittee Thursday that displaced residents are giving up hope because of continued delays in the state's Road Home program and projections the program is running out of money, a key Bush administration official suggested more federal funds to bail out the program are unlikely.
Donald Powell, the federal coordinator for Gulf Coast recovery, didn't completely rule out additional federal financing, telling the Senate Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery he's willing to sit down with Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and other state officials to discuss options for covering a projected $3 billion shortfall.

But he gave a strong hint that such additional funding will be a hard sell, telling the subcommittee that the overruns were caused largely by the state's decision to "unilaterally, independently and fundamentally" change the program to cover wind damage as well as flood damage.

Without the expansion to cover wind damage, Powell said, the Road Home program, based on current projections, would be showing a $600 million surplus instead of facing a substantial deficit. "We were always very clear that the federal government would not fund state housing programs to cover wind damage," he said.

Andy Kopplin, executive director of the Louisiana
[Recovery]
Authority, sitting next to Powell at the witness table, said that the state made a decision "not to discriminate based on the kind of damage" that wasn't compensated by insurance, which generally covers wind damage from a storm. The decision, he said, was the "right thing to do."

"When the president said he would do what it takes, and stay as long as it takes, he didn't say except if you had wind damage," Kopplin said.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, chairwoman of the subcommittee, who changed the order of testimony to sit Powell and Kopplin together on the first witness panel, urged the two officials to try to work out their differences, saying the success of the state's long-term recovery efforts may well be at stake.

The hearing was at times emotional; with some New Orleans residents expressing frustration at what they describe as the inability of applicants to get even the most basic information on the status of their applications.

Walter Thomas, a resident of New Orleans Lower 9th Ward, said that he was so encouraged last October when he met with Road Home officials who told him his application seemed complete, "I felt I had a check on the way," he said.

But soon thereafter, Thomas said, he was hospitalized, and since he's gotten out, "I've called 30 or 40 times. "Every time, I call someone says we'll get back to you." But he said no one has.

"I've given up," Thomas said.

Connie Uddo, administrator of St. Paul's Beacon of Hope Organization in Lakeview, described herself as the neighborhood "encourager, the cheerleader," constantly telling people that "Your life will come back." But now, she says, "I can't look them in the eye and tell them that anymore." Based on current pace of awarding checks, she figures it will take seven years for the last applicants to get their checks.

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