Road Home calculations reach $9B

New Orleans CityBusiness, Oct 31, 2007

Nearly $9 billion has been obligated by The Road Home process to the first 137,385 claims. This far exceeds the $7.3 billion now allocated for the program although negotiations are ongoing for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover the shortfall it created in underestimating the number of applications.

An estimated 162,000 claims out of 185,895 applications are expected to be paid after duplication, fraud and ineligible claims are weeded out. FEMA estimated only 123,000 applications would be received.

Road Home officials have held or scheduled 192,200 interviews with eligible homeowners affected by hurricanes Katrina or Rita.

Homeowners can apply for up to $150,000 in compensation to help rebuild or relocate although the average award calculated is now $65,478.

A total of $4.27 billion has been paid so far to an average of 1,184 homeowners per week.

Nearly three quarters of recipients -- 136,171 or 73.2 percent -- have indicated they plan to rebuild their former home. Another 16,583, or 8.9 percent, plan to rebuild somewhere in state.

Undecideds continued to shrink for a third week in a row with 21,137, or 11.4 percent, unsure of their plans. Another 9,689, or 5.2 percent, have not disclosed their plans. Only 2,340, or 1.3 percent, say they plan to rebuild out of state.