[StBernard] Road Home to Host Community Outreach Sessions across South Louisiana

[Westley Annis]

Road Home to Host Community Outreach Sessions across South Louisiana



BATON ROUGE, La. (August 5, 2008) - The Road Home program will hold community outreach sessions across South Louisiana in the month of August to assist applicants affected by upcoming deadlines in the program.

During the community outreach sessions applicants can turn in documents, complete benefit selection forms and ask questions directly of program staff, without scheduling an appointment, on a first-come, first-served basis. State staff will be on hand to make decisions about extensions and unique cases.

"We must make sure homeowners are moving forward and actively working with the program so that all eligible applicants can to go to closing and get the money they need to rebuild," said Paul Rainwater, executive director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority. "Our goal is not to force anyone out of the Road Home program. We know many people have complicated cases involving title and power of attorney issues. We will be notifying these applicants of their next steps by letter in the coming weeks." 

"We are happy to work with homeowners who still have documents to turn into the program," Rainwater said. "These outreach events will allow homeowners an easy way to sit down and meet with program advisors and state officials face-to-face."

Dates for outreach events are:

August 5
11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Houma Terrebonne Civic Center
346 Civic Center Boulevard 70360
Houma, LA 

August 7
11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Lake Charles Civic Center
900 Lakeshore Drive
Lake Charles, LA 70601

August 9
10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
UNO Lindy Boggs Conference Center
2045 Lakeshore Drive 
New Orleans, LA 70122

August 12
11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Alario Center
at the Bayou Segnette Sports Complex
2000 Segnette Boulevard
Westwego, LA 70094 

August 14 
11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Crystal Palace
10020 Chef Menteur Highway
New Orleans, LA 70127

August 19 
11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
North Shore Harbor Center
100 Harbor Center Boulevard
Slidell, LA 70461

August 21
11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Holiday Inn-New Iberia
2915 Highway 14
New Iberia 70560 

August 24
Noon - 5 p.m.
Lake Charles Civic Center
900 Lakeshore Drive
Lake Charles, LA 70601

August 26
11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Location to be announced in Orleans Parish

August 28
11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
St. Patrick's Church
28698 Highway 23
Port Sulphur, LA 70083


The state of Louisiana announced a September 5, 2008, deadline that will affect several thousand Road Home applicants, including those who:

*	Have not completed and returned a "Benefit Selection Form," commonly called the "yellow letter;"
*	Have yet to provide documents proving they occupied their homes at the time of the storms;
*	Have yet to provide ownership documents;
*	Have files that are missing other documents, such as social security cards.

Applicants should watch the newspaper for reminders of dates, locations and times for these outreach events. The Road Home will also send reminder post cards with information about outreach events.

Applicants' pending appeals will not be affected by this deadline. Applicants with questions can contact the Road Home at 1-888-762-3252 (TTY: 1-800-566-4224) or go online to road2la.org.

###