Oft-criticized, Restore Louisiana program discovers thousands eligible for flood relief didn’t apply
The failure to fill out the initial, five-minute damage survey is expected to contribute to 44 percent fewer households than initially anticipated being able to access the recovery money, officials with the state program say.
Higher-than-expected rates of withdrawals from the recovery program -- after homeowners proceed further along in the process -- and higher-than-expected numbers of homeowners who had their potential award canceled out by
Of the more than 20,000 households that did not fill out surveys, more than half of them were in the worst-hit parishes during the
As many as 12,000 of those 20,000 households didn't also receive SBA loans or flood insurance payments and so they likely would have needed help, program officials said.
Households with "major" or "severe" damage as deemed by the
In all, the state now expects to spend
The state initially estimated about 36,000 households from the 2016 flood lacked federal aid or insurance money and had bad enough flood damage that they could tap the Restore homeowner program dollars. But program officials now say in a new plan amendment that fewer than 20,000 households in all could ultimately receive some of the federal funding without other changes to the program and federal law.
Gov.
Possible changes in SBA loan guidelines could make money available for 5,000 more households and a planned home buyout program could add 400 to 500 more, boosting overall numbers closer to 26,000 households, said
In all, more than 53,720 households filled out damage surveys before a
Forbes said he hopes to have all applications processed by the end of the year, if not sometime this fall.
But Restore officials were at a loss to explain why so many people would not try to benefit. Forbes said although the program was promoted heavily through the media, billboards and electronic messaging, many
"There is definitely a group of people in
Restore used
"The people that we are dealing with, we're hearing a lot of people say, 'You know what? Look. It's just a pain in the butt,' " Graves said. " 'I filled out paperwork for SBA. I filled out paperwork for
Forbes said the state attempted to limit the bureaucracy by tapping existing databases to avoid additional paperwork submissions and speeding up reviews.
Data from Restore Louisiana showed that
"There's people that didn't do any of it. They just dealt with their loss and moved on," he said.
Al and
"We do not depend on the government to get us out of anything,"
After dealing with their bank, she said she wouldn't have expected much more money from Restore and wasn't willing to share yet more personal information to get it.
"We take care of us," Darlene said. "And we take care of our neighbors and our community, and they help take care of us when we need it, as it should be."
While nearly a third didn't fill out surveys in
Robinson said in an interview that she had no flood insurance, had received just
"I really wish I would have known," Robinson said.
After learning about the program, Robinson went to a Restore office in
"Any time I tried to ask a question, he just kept saying, 'I don't know what you're trying to get me to say. ... It's not my fault. You had two years, and you didn't hear about the program,' " Robinson said in a tearful voicemail left on a reporter's cellphone.
Restore officials have said they identified people with losses and sent them, on average, 50 emails and five to seven text messages.
"We certainly regret that
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