[StBernard] LRA allocates $5 million to redress tainted drywall

[Westley Annis]

LRA allocates $5 million to redress tainted drywall
By SARAH CHACKO
Advocate Capitol News Bureau
Published: Nov 13, 2009 - Page: 13A

A resolution allocating $5 million to some homeowners with contaminated
drywall is moving to federal authorities for approval.

The Louisiana Recovery Authority board of directors approved the resolution
Thursday after receiving public comments on the proposal.

Homeowners say the drywall causes a rotten-egg or sulfur smell, corrodes
copper wiring and pipes, destroys air-conditioning coils and causes
respiratory problems.

Published reports show that more than 275,000 tons of the tainted drywall
have been imported since 2006, and some estimates show the drywall was used
to build more than 60,000 homes in a dozen states.

The LRA's resolution must be approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development and the Legislature.

Still, the money will not be used until the federal government comes up with
a plan on how to identify and safely remove the contaminated drywall, LRA
Director Paul Rainwater said.

Public comments on the resolution criticized the limitation of who is
eligible for assistance. The $5 million will only be available to affected
applicants of the state's Road Home program, which was used to help
homeowners rebuild after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

Ryan O'Neil, of Madisonville, wrote that he knows people who have tainted
drywall but did not apply for state assistance because they had insurance.

"It is unfair to only offer help to certain people," he wrote.

"This situation has nothing to do with whether you applied for Road Home
before or not," wrote Shaun Boudreaux, of Chalmette.

Most comments came from people in south Louisiana but a few Baton Rouge,
Hammond and Lafayette residents also responded to the proposal.

Rainwater said the $5 million is coming out of unused Road Home money, so it
is limited to that program's applicants by federal regulations.

"There's nothing we can really do" about other people in need of tainted
drywall remediation, Rainwater said.

It is unclear at this time how many total affected houses are in Louisiana
and how many of those homeowners could be eligible for the LRA money,
Rainwater said. The state attorney general is collecting names now, he said.

But the $5 million is not expected to cover the needs of everyone who is
eligible, Rainwater said.

"I feel comfortable with $5 million to get it started, to get it moving, but
&hellip we don't have enough money in this state to solve this issue," he
said.

The plan is to use the money to assist affected homeowners in relocating
while their homes are being renovated or rebuilt, not to actually do the
remediation, Rainwater said. Louisiana's congressional delegation is also
looking at legislation that would send money to help with housing vouchers,
he said.

Meanwhile, state House Speaker Jim Tucker launched an effort to get the LRA
to reallocate unused hurricane recovery dollars to housing blight
remediation and infrastructure repair in New Orleans.

Tucker has asked the LRA to come up with an estimate of how much money is
left in various pots of federal funds that's gone unused or could be
reallocated.

He said he would like $500 million devoted to each of the problems.

Tucker said the blighted properties are part and parcel of New Orleans'
crime problem.

"We have to use the limited resources we have left to get the city back up,"
said Tucker, R-Terrytown. If it doesn't happen, New Orleans will become more
like Detroit, he said.

Tucker submitted proposed resolutions asking the LRA to direct its staff to
recommend potential sources of funding for the initiatives at its December
meeting.

"There may be more than $1 billion left in CDBG (Community Development Block
Grant) money," Tucker said.

Marsha Shuler contributed to this report
 

  
 
  
 

  
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