State official mourns woes of Road Home

• By JOE GYAN JR.
• Advocate New Orleans bureau
• Published: May 6, 2008 - Page: 10A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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How does Gov. Bobby Jindal’s point man on hurricane recovery efforts spell heartburn? R-O-A-D-H-O-M-E.

“The program gives me a lot of heartburn,’’ Louisiana Recovery Authority Executive Director Paul Rainwater said Monday of the state’s federally funded initiative that provides eligible homeowners with grants of up to $150,000 for uninsured losses from hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

“There is no doubt we have systemic issues with the Road Home program,’’ he told the Baton Rouge Press Club.

Rainwater acknowledged the Jindal administration is hamstrung to a large degree by the contract former Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s administration entered into with ICF International, of Virginia, to administer the Road Home, but he said the state is doing what it can to hold ICF’s feet to the fire while also trying to improve the program.

The state announced last month that ICF could face nearly $1.7 million in penalties if it does not meet new performance measures, including closing 116,000 homeowner grants by June 30.

Nearly 108,000 closings have been held to date.

“There’s no guarantee there,’’ Rainwater said of the likelihood of ICF reaching that goal.

“We wanted to set a number that would be a challenge. We think it’s going to be a tough goal to meet.’’

As ICF begins to run into the more difficult Road Home cases, Rainwater said the state wants the company to “slow it down so we can get it right.’’

“Speed is not everything here,’’ he stressed. “I’m not willing to take a risk with homeowners.’’

A recent state audit of 269 Road Home grant applications found that a quarter of aid recipients had either been underpaid by amounts up to $45,000 or overpaid by as much as $110,000.

Rainwater promised those who were overpaid will be handled with “compassion’’ when it comes to recapturing any excess money.

He also said the state is working with the Legislature to revamp the Road Home appeals process so that unhappy homeowners will not get mired in the process for 120 days to six months. “It’s just not fair to the homeowner. End of story,’’ Rainwater said. “We have got to restore public trust in this program.’’