Thank the Goddess for the good folks of CHAT (Citizens Road Home Action Team). They have been working hard to clear up the murky soup that is the Road Home Program.
From the T-P:
A newly formed group advocating for Road Home grant applicants has released “Bill of Rights,” which it calls “minimal guarantees that we believe grant applicants deserve.”
The document comes from the Citizens Road Home Action Team, or CHAT, and seeks to prod more efficient delivery of federal grants from the $7.5 billion hurricane aid program to owners of flooded homes and rental properties. In the short time since the group formed, it has succeeded in getting several policies it believes will smooth the application process.
CHAT’s bill of rights:
I. The right to the complete rules of the program.
II. The right to timely processing of your application.
III. The right to a fair and swift resolution of errors, disputes, and appeals.
IV. The right to a fair and accurate calculation of your benefits and tender of your award (acceptance of grant money without losing the right to dispute resolution and appeal).
V. The right to simple, fair, and easily understood closing papers.
VI. The right to simple and fair rules for lenders to administer grant funds (disbursement accounts) that make it easier to rebuild, not more difficult.
VII. The right to accurate information about the status of your application by informed and trained personnel within 24 hours of your request.
VIII. The right to reasonable residency requirements for grants and loans and fair rules for grant benefit assignment or compensation if you must sell your home.
IX. The right to receive sufficient affordable or forgivable loans to enable you to rebuild or repair if you have a low pre-storm appraised value.
X. The right to have the disposition of LRA-acquired RHP properties benefit grantees and the neighborhoods in which such properties are located, with neighborhood input in the process.