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Started By
Message
2016 baton rouge flood victims being victimized again
Posted on 8/5/19 at 11:52 pm
Posted on 8/5/19 at 11:52 pm
There was a town hall tonight in BR about still outstanding disaster funds that have been caught in bureaucratic hell ever since the flood. Garrett Graves was there with Pat Forbes of the LA office of community development.
LA residents were told by FEMA in 2016 to take out an SBA loan. Some did. Some applied but took no money. Some didn't apply.
The govt designated $1.7 bil to flood relief for homeowners. Those who took the SBA loan and those who applied were not eligible because the initial FEMA money and the SBA loan were considered a duplication of benefits by HUD. The LA delegation fought for months against this and eventually passed a law in late 2018 that made the DOB illegal. HUD was given a deadline to get their crap together. Of course, they missed that deadline by several months.
Now, $800mil still remains - enough to pay off all of the SBA loan debt from every affected homeowner. Out of the blue, any homeowers who are 120+% over area median income will have to show "hardship" for eligibility and are only eligible for 50% of their estimated disbursement.
LA OCD is saying that HUD is responsible for the new restrictive criteria. HUD guidelines state that 55% of all funds must go to low/middle income. The rest is up to the state.
Someone is lying. Graves provided cover for Forbes saying that the 120% AMI/50% reimbursement is "just the program OCD has chosen."
Incidentally, any funds that don't make it to homeowners are going to "economic development and infrastructure." Guess where that money will end up? cronyism. It's been reported that many of these projects were already earmarked before the DOB legislation. IOW, the state was going to steal that money anyway.
In the meantime, MANY people have lost their houses and their land due to this red tape nonsense after the 4th most devastating flood in US history. Once the hardships start to get filed, HUD has to approve every single one, one at a time, thousands of them, STARTING next year.
your govt at work
LA residents were told by FEMA in 2016 to take out an SBA loan. Some did. Some applied but took no money. Some didn't apply.
The govt designated $1.7 bil to flood relief for homeowners. Those who took the SBA loan and those who applied were not eligible because the initial FEMA money and the SBA loan were considered a duplication of benefits by HUD. The LA delegation fought for months against this and eventually passed a law in late 2018 that made the DOB illegal. HUD was given a deadline to get their crap together. Of course, they missed that deadline by several months.
Now, $800mil still remains - enough to pay off all of the SBA loan debt from every affected homeowner. Out of the blue, any homeowers who are 120+% over area median income will have to show "hardship" for eligibility and are only eligible for 50% of their estimated disbursement.
LA OCD is saying that HUD is responsible for the new restrictive criteria. HUD guidelines state that 55% of all funds must go to low/middle income. The rest is up to the state.
Someone is lying. Graves provided cover for Forbes saying that the 120% AMI/50% reimbursement is "just the program OCD has chosen."
Incidentally, any funds that don't make it to homeowners are going to "economic development and infrastructure." Guess where that money will end up? cronyism. It's been reported that many of these projects were already earmarked before the DOB legislation. IOW, the state was going to steal that money anyway.
In the meantime, MANY people have lost their houses and their land due to this red tape nonsense after the 4th most devastating flood in US history. Once the hardships start to get filed, HUD has to approve every single one, one at a time, thousands of them, STARTING next year.
your govt at work
11
Posted on 8/6/19 at 12:02 am to bfniii
Louisiana, is a shite hole country.
Posted on 8/6/19 at 7:50 am to tketaco
Well, the state is blaming hud. Apparently hud was lying to federal legislators in 2018 to get them to reject the law eliminating dob. Graves and posse had to go around reversing the damage. Graves contends hud is still in violation of the law and is pursuing legal action.
Get this. Hud didn't want to eliminate the dob restriction because it would set a bad precedent for future disasters. Are you kidding? The money has already been allocated for this disaster and people are struggling but hud doesn't want people to think they can get disaster money to help pay off the sba loans.
There's enough blame to go around. The end result is people who restored their homes in good faith and followed the guidelines from the govt are being punished for being in a certain economic demographic. This situation continues to fester under the radar
Get this. Hud didn't want to eliminate the dob restriction because it would set a bad precedent for future disasters. Are you kidding? The money has already been allocated for this disaster and people are struggling but hud doesn't want people to think they can get disaster money to help pay off the sba loans.
There's enough blame to go around. The end result is people who restored their homes in good faith and followed the guidelines from the govt are being punished for being in a certain economic demographic. This situation continues to fester under the radar
Posted on 8/6/19 at 7:59 am to bfniii
The only people that get tax payer money are the people that don't pay taxes.
The entire government is nothing but a wealth redistribution center.
The entire government is nothing but a wealth redistribution center.
Posted on 8/6/19 at 8:01 am to bfniii
quote:
In the meantime, MANY people have lost their houses and their land due to not having flood insurance and expecting someone else to bail them out
FIFY
FEMA needs to be severely curtailed.
Posted on 8/6/19 at 8:01 am to bfniii
Louisiana State Government is corrupt?
I never thought I'd see the day.
I never thought I'd see the day.
Posted on 8/6/19 at 8:13 am to bfniii
No flood insurance?
Posted on 8/6/19 at 8:42 am to bfniii
quote:
your govt at work
Proving once again that self reliance is far superior to counting on the government.
Posted on 8/6/19 at 8:53 am to bfniii
Not to sound callous, but if these people had carried flood insurance, this would not be an issue.
Posted on 8/6/19 at 9:06 am to bfniii
Accepting a FEMA grant isn’t always the wisest choice over something like an SBA loan. The grants come with the stipulation that flood insurance be maintained for the life of the dwelling. That’s even if you don’t live in a flood zone and you own the home outright. While it’s always wise to have insurance I’d rather have the flood insurance option be voluntary especially when it comes to selling the property as that requirement gets passed on to any buyer and they must be informed of it. Just something to keep in mind for anyone still begging for FEMA money at this point.
Posted on 8/6/19 at 9:50 am to cave canem
quote:many people were not in a flood zone according to fema's maps and thus it was not required. Couple that with a once in a 100/1000 year flood and the fact that flood insurance doesn't cover everything. Moreover, it doesn't even address the OP. You're talking about a totally separate issue
due to not having flood insurance
Posted on 8/6/19 at 9:52 am to doubleb
quote:first, NO ONE can plan for a once in a century disaster. Again, people are missing the point. The govt has a process paid for by tax payers but the process is being subverted
self reliance is far superior to counting on the government.
Posted on 8/6/19 at 9:53 am to udtiger
quote:there are tons of people who do have flood insurance and it very much is an issue
if these people had carried flood insurance, this would not be an issue
Posted on 8/6/19 at 10:00 am to bfniii
Some bureaucrats needs to start losing their homes. That means good ole fashioned barn burnings. They'll get the message then.
Posted on 8/6/19 at 10:14 am to WestSideTiger
quote:this is insensitive and missing the op. Money has been set aside for this disaster and tax paying citizens are being denied for artificial reasons. In many cases, over $100k in aid per household. People were forced to basically build a 2nd home at a moment's notice without the funds to do so
anyone still begging for FEMA money
Posted on 8/6/19 at 6:22 pm to bfniii
it's sad that out of the mere handful of responses, not one was compassionate. no words of sympathy. only derision and politicizing from people who weren't flooded and weren't at the meeting. tough crowd
Posted on 8/6/19 at 6:47 pm to bfniii
quote:
Incidentally, any funds that don't make it to homeowners are going to "economic development and infrastructure."
That's definitely fricky. Any funds not going to the intended group should go back to the federal government. This is like donating to a charity so they can help a school get new text books but then the charity decides to get books for only the odd-numbered grades then then use the excess money on paying themselves a bonus.
Posted on 8/6/19 at 6:51 pm to bfniii
Fed involvement = Baton Rouge Wealth Redistribution
Posted on 8/6/19 at 7:00 pm to udtiger
quote:
Not to sound callous, but if these people had carried flood insurance, this would not be an issue.
Ehhhh... yes and no. On its face, you are correct, if everyone had flood insurance at the time then all of these problems likely wouldn’t still be an issue today.
But there are plenty of people who did have flood insurance but still got screwed. Even with it, my mother incurred tens-of-thousands of dollars out of pocket.
And because the government likes to frick you every which way they can, because she did have insurance she was disqualified for any of the recovery funds. So, she got to pay her flood insurance premiums for 35+ years AND pay taxes (for programs like FEMA) but STILL got screwed out of a lot of money. In the long run, she probably would’ve come out better without ever having had the flood insurance, especially if you figure she could’ve invested all of those premiums for the past three and half decades.
Posted on 8/6/19 at 7:22 pm to Bard
quote:that is EXACTLY what it is like. you couldn't have hit the target any better.
This is like donating to a charity so they can help a school get new text books but then the charity decides to get books for only the odd-numbered grades then then use the excess money on paying themselves a bonus.
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