Recent reports discuss The Road Home Program failing to meet benchmarks established by the Governor along with efforts by the contractor (ICF) overseeing the program to address the delays.

Road Home program falls short of Blanco administration goal

The contractor running Louisiana's post-hurricane home repair and buyout program will miss a benchmark that Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco's administration listed when searching for a company to dole out aid to homeowners.

The administration wanted all applications for housing aid grants to be verified and all payments calculated within seven months from the start of the Road Home. ICF's contract with the state, worth up to $756 million, was signed in June.

However, seven months later, ICF has calculated grants for an estimated 30,400 homeowners. That's less than a third of those who have applied and about one grant for every four homeowners expected to be eligible for the federally funded, state-run aid program.

Suzie Elkins, director of the governor's Office of Community Development, the agency that monitors the Road Home program, said the expectation that all the grants would be calculated within seven months

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ICF projects significant Road Home payout acceleration

ICF International today defended its performance on The Road Road Home contract.

“ICF has executed its program responsibilities thoroughly and effectively within the policy framework established by the state for The Road Home program. We understand the frustration of Louisiana residents and their leaders with the pace of grant awards to homeowners,” said CEO Sudhakar Kesavan of ICF.

“But this is an unprecedented, complex program. We continue to make significant progress each day in reaching out to affected residents, calculating benefits, and scheduling closings.”

To date, the program has recorded more than 101,000 applications, held more than 66,000 in-person appointments with applicants and sent more than 26,000 letters to applicants describing calculated benefits and options.

“Thus far the number of closings is relatively low, as expected, but the fact remains that the program is progressing faster than what was contemplated when Phase 2 began on Oct. 18 only three months ago,” he said.

“Closing a grant award under this program is a multi-step process that requires verification data from outside sources. Nevertheless, we are forecasting that 90 percent of the homeowner applicants will receive their grants by the end of 2007, more than a year ahead of the schedule in

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