[StBernard] 25 percent of Road Home applicants challenging awards

[Westley Annis]

Then why do they not let those call go to an answering machine like they do
the people who are patiently waiting for their fair settlement?  MsSimms


> -----------------------------------------------------

> 25 percent of Road Home applicants challenging awards

> 

> By David Hammer

> Staff writer

> 

> About a quarter of the 26,000 homeowners who have received final Road Home

> award letters are challenging the calculations on those coveted yellow

> sheets of paper, forcing the contractor running the program to dedicate

more

> manpower to complaints. 

> 

> State contractor ICF International tracked about 7,200 called-in

complaints

> before Jan. 11, with more than half of those remaining unresolved,

according

> to state figures released this week. The complaints are about everything

> from under-estimated pre-storm home values to inadequate storm-loss

> estimates to the lack of resolution of their previous complaints. 

> 

> A single homeowner can file more than one complaint, but ICF officials

> believe the number of applicants seeking a resolution isn't much lower

than

> the total complaints filed. 

> 

> Some of those lodging complaints are applicants who've been told they will

> get no money at all. Indeed, the number of Road Home award letters saying

> applicants get nothing to fix their homes is nearly three times greater

than

> the number who have actually received grant money, the latest state count

> shows. 

> 

> As of Jan. 18, 587 of 26,212 final award letters granted no money, while

215

> homeowners had gone to closing with a title company to collect awards

> averaging $54,993.

> 

> Not surprisingly, some of the rejected applicants aren't taking the news

> well. 

> 

> "Their evaluation of the property wasn't even the price of the lot," said

> Damien Regnard, president of Group Direct, an international marketing

firm,

> whose final award letter informed him he would get no aid to fix his

flooded

> West Lakeshore home. 

> 

> A private appraiser told Regnard his lot alone is worth more than the

> $317,833 pre-storm total property value Road Home used to calculate his

> non-existant award. His home took 4 feet of water, but Road Home set his

> total damage at $76,650. It cost him half that much to fix the air

> conditioning, he said. 

> 

> Meanwhile, applicants are reporting new problems. Mary Ann Cardinale, a

> medical insurance sales agent from Lakeview, got a call from ICF at 8 p.m.

> Wednesday - 12 hours before her scheduled closing - saying her award was

> being reduced by $41,000. Cardinale had been a defender of the Road Home

> program, which appeared to be making her whole, albeit slowly. No more. 

> 

> "I don't know what could have happened between Nov. 3 (when she got her

> final award letter) and 12 hours before the closing, and they had no

> information for me," she said Thursday. 

> 

> ICF spokeswoman Gentry Brann said she couldn't address specifics in

> Cardinale's case because of privacy constraints, but acknowledged that "we

> did have some evaluations that had to be redone." 

> 

> She said ICF would look into Cardinale's case and work with her to address

> her concerns. Brann said ICF is working out details of a new state policy

> that would allow people in Cardinale's situation to close and collect an

> initial amount without forfeiting their right to appeal for more money.ICF

> has provided additional training and shifted more than 130 employees into

a

> new system for resolving issues, Brann said. The company is rolling out a

> three-level problem resolution system, has vowed not to use voicemail and

> promises to keep better track of complaints. 

> 

> Until recently, 25 agents have been assigned to resolving problems

whenever

> applicants call (888) ROAD-2-LA and select prompt 6. 

> 

> Last Thursday, ICF started a second-level resolution team with 25

additional

> employees. The next day, ICF checked how many people hung up the phone

while

> on hold, and decided to double the team to 50 agents by next Wednesday,

> Brann said. 

> 

> On Thursday, those agents resolved about 20 percent of the calls, Brann

> said. Whenever that team isn't enough to resolve the problems, ICF will

use

> a new computerized issue tracker database and a staff of 82 to handle the

> complaints. 

> 

> But for people like Cardinale and Regnard, the problem isn't with the

> employees answering the phones or calling them back. Both said agents they

> spoke with were area homeowners facing their own Road Home problems. 

> 

> Officials at ICF like to point out that 75 percent of its employees were

> affected by the storms, and the company makes the employees go to one of

the

> 11 offices they don't work at to avoid any possible conflicts of interest.



> 

> "I was really harsh on the phone, but they were very good, and it did not

> escalate," Cardinale said. "So, I can only think it (the problem) goes all

> the way to the top. The girl who called me said she thought our damage

> assessment changed, but she wasn't sure. I mean, how do they put these

> people in a position to make a call like this and not arm them with

> information?" 

> 

> David Hammer can be reached at dhammer at timespicayune.com or (504)

826-3322.