[StBernard] Road Home could still visit those who sold home early

[Westley Annis]

Road Home could still visit those who sold home early
LRA expands eligibility for compensation grants 
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
By David Hammer
Staff writer 

Roughly 700 Road Home applicants who sold their hurricane-damaged homes at a
loss before they could get a compensation grant were given new hope Monday. 

The good news came in the Louisiana Recovery Authority's announcement that
it would seek to expand eligibility to those who sold their homes during the
first two years after Hurricane Katrina's landfall date. Currently, the
so-called "sold home" compensation grants are limited to those who dumped
their properties in the first year after Katrina hit. 

In all cases, only those who applied for a Road Home grant by July 31, 2007,
are eligible for consideration. 

"This sounds wonderful," said Hillary Brown, 80, a Korean War veteran who
sold his $142,000 Chalmette home for $29,000 in November 2006. 

Brown has seen many highs and lows as he has waited for news on his
eligibility. 

First, in late 2006, he was told he was eligible as long as there was money
still left at the end of the grant process, after the program was sure it
could pay all qualified applicants who held onto their homes. He was fine
with that position, until the story changed. 

As a Road Home budget deficit loomed during 2007, LRA officials signaled in
e-mails to applicants and in interviews with reporters that "sold home"
grants were highly unlikely. 

Brown cheered in July of this year when the LRA opened eligibility to those
who had sold their homes "early," only to find out that was only for people
who completed the sale before Aug. 29, 2006, the official launch date of the
Road Home program. 

The program was expanded because state budget analysts got a clearer picture
of how many applicants who kept their homes were likely to obtain grants. At
the time, officials determined that $10.3 billion in the Road Home budget
would be enough to cover those who kept their homes as well as an estimated
5,200 who had sold to a third party. 

Since this summer's announcement that applicants who sold in the first year
would be eligible, the LRA sent letters to all of the sold-home applicants.
The agency heard back from about 3,000 who provided documentation of their
sales in hopes of landing grants. 

Of those, the LRA believes about 1,600 are eligible, but 700 didn't complete
private sales until after Aug. 29, 2006. 

Applicants in that situation generally told LRA Executive Director Paul
Rainwater that Road Home officials failed to mention anything about a
home-sale deadline when they applied. 

One of them was Brown. 

"I've been having talks with Rainwater. A couple of times I got to him. And
he said he would try to help me," said Brown, who tapped savings to buy a
new house in St. Tammany Parish. 

"Those are the exact kind of people we're aiming for," said Rainwater's
spokeswoman, Christina Stephens. 

So far, 14 of the "sold early" applicants have been processed and two are
awaiting grant-closing meetings at title companies. With proceeds from the
private sale deducted, those 14 applicants are looking at an average grant
of $14,000, far less than the $61,000 average for the roughly 120,000 grants
paid so far. 

The LRA began a public comment period Monday before its board votes Nov. 18
on the proposed change. Written comments can be sent by mail to the Office
of Community Development, P.O. Box 94095, Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9095, to the
attention of Paul Catrou, or faxed to Catrou at 225.219.9605. 

Stephens said she expects the change to draw strong support from board
members, as well as from the state Legislature and the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development, which must endorse the plan. 

. . . . . . . 

David Hammer can be reached at dhammer at timespicayune.com or 504.826.3322.