[StBernard] Craig-State's Small Rental Program Awards Nearly $375 Million

[Westley Annis]

Craig,  I would like to know if you have any information about the road home
small rental program.  We applied in round two and received a conditional
award letter.  Road Home has a lot of "conditions".  They have many, many
rules and I called them three or more times to ask the same questions and I
got different answers each time.  I am confused about how they will
determine the square footage of the property.  One of the rules says a
property has to have so many square feet in a kitchen depending on how many
bedrooms are in the unit, and so many feet of liniar cabinet space depending
on how many bedrooms.  I am trying to figure out how Road Home will
determine the square footage.  My insurance company says I have 2200 Square
feet.  Murphy said I have 2050 square feet. And my own measurements say I
have less than that.  According to road home rules we would need at least
2040 square feet. We also have to have all energy star appliances including
microwave and washer and dryer and 14 ser cental air and heat unit, frid.
and dishwasher.  These cost more than a person would normally put in a
rental.  Also, the kitchens would have to be made larger, which we could do,
but at a greater cost.  Our kitchen would need to be 160 square feet.  Our
kitchen now  has one room with no bar or separation between the eating area.
I think that would be considered one room and therefor we would have enough
square footage and it would be called an eat in kitchen.  One road home
person agreed with me.  Another said no, the eating area would be a
different "area" even though it was in the same room.  Where would road home
draw the line from one "area" to another? What about liniar cabinetry?  Do
the cabinets mounted on the wall count, or only the ones under the counter?
I also recieved conflicting answers to this question. Without my questions
answered, I have no way of knowing if I will even get this money until after
the project is finished and road home inspects my property.  At that time I
will know but I don't know how road home will make their determinations so I
don't know how to build.  Will they measure interior walls?  Exterior walls
and count everything under the roof?  I cannot get a definitive answer from
them so I hesitate to make a loan and go in to debt and/or spend more money
than I need to fixing up if I do not acutally get the award in the end.  If
I do not get the award, I could have put my property back together for much
less money than I will spend doing it the road home way.  I'm beginning to
think I should just do this on my own and not bother with trying to build
"better and smarter" as they say.  All the small rental housing specialist I
have spoken to seem to know less than me about the program. Why doesn't it
get any easier? Has anyone else got this conditional award letter?
 
Laurie