Randi yet again you find another story that just
amazes me. I am glad that Team 360 will be reporting
form New Orleans tonight. In Suffolk a city in Hampton
Roads, Virginia 3 monster tornadoes struck and left
debris and destruction in it's aftermath. The area is
usually known for hurricanes so this is a shock to
a lot of people in the region. I am not a Suffolk
resident but I know people who are and my thoughts
and prayers are with them.

It is beyond me that a country could do that to it's own people.
It makes you wonder just how ignorant we really are when it comes
to our legal rights,in what is suppose to be our beloved country.
It does sadden me that there just is'nt enough money,
for these contastrofies. How does one ever prepare, especially
the way the economy is. My hope is in God who somehow gets be through I

I guess,if I did not see the paper work for the estimates and did not sign it as read or agreed upon, I would have to disagree that I owed them any money. My reading of the estimate would have gotten the facts of the estimate straight. The state gets to eat their mistakes for not catching "mistakes made all along", by the ICF in their process of estimating damage. There should have been checks and balances in place to assure accuracy. As usual the little guy gets screwed.
I sure am happy that CNN keeps the light on the Hurricane Katrina tragedy, if for no other reason, than changes can be made at the state level to make it easier for people, rather than more difficult.

I worked in New Orleans for four months in 2006 with Campus Crusade for Christ, and then again in 2007. I love the city of New Orleans greatly. I love the people, I love the hope they have. And frankly, this whole situation is in no way surprising, but still sickening. I hope those people can get some sort of break one of these days. I have the same hope that this city can and will be restored and be alive again. I'm not giving up on that.

The nightmare haven’t ended for the Katrina victims. Now it's a financial storm hurting the some 300 families regarding overpayments and repayment. What is going on with the systems that supposedly help these people?

Rahni, Connecticut

Nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to NOLA and the ridiculous government that they have there!

man, america's the greatest country in the world!

...

wow.

it's embarrassing to know that something like this is going down. truly shameful.

I thought a grant was free, how can you say that one has to pay back anything. I can see if they LOANED the funds, but a grant is a grant.
Look it up..

Given the topography, people shouldn't be living there to begin with.

how awful.
let them be – - call it a consolation prize, if you want to, but for goodness' sakes, let these people have some REST.

How can they do that? Haven't these people suffered enough? Its not the people's fault the contractor overestimated. The state should just eat the cost. I mean these people are trying to get back on their feet they dont have money to give back to the state. And besides that, the country is in a recession which makes everyone's life difficult. How are they supposed to pay back the state and take care of themselves. This is outrageous. What does this say about our country? And what does Bush say to this? Nothing as expected... I can't wait till we get a new President! I hope he or she will have a better solution for this.

He needs to pay up. He is a burden to society.

Again the Bush Administration hard at work doing what they do best!

Pretty typical of everything going on in the country. The innocent working people are paying for the wealthy governments mistakes. If it was the contractors fault make them pay the money back!!

....and people want the government in charge of their healthcare system?

I find it very hard to believe they were "not allowed" to see their paperwork. That paperwork contains their personal information. No way could they not know what was on there or not have access to it. It might not have been available to them at the time the inspector was at their property because the info has to be uploaded into the computer system, but they definitely can get it. They probably just didn't ask or they were in on the scam. I worked in parts of Louisiana. I know of people who lived in shacks that weren't worth $50K but got $150,000 from Road Home and bought double wides with granite countertops and columned jacuzzis, yet they still have the condemned shack and are renting it out. Some of those people may be uneducated but they are certainly not stupid. They know how to get all they can get.

I feel bad for some of these people, but for every one like this, there are 6 that has taken advantage of all of this to the extent that it should be considered theft.
I have personal experience with one such individual who is still receiving benefits from all this, and he has the nerve to complain that he is not getting what the government owes him.
Come on,

Boo hoo... you sign a contract saying you'll pay it back if they overestimated then you have to pay it back. Simple as that...

NOLA and LA in general proves yet again to be a hellhole of mismanagement and corruption.

I am a Katrina victim and received Road Home Grant Money. We were given this money as a "grant" which is something that which I understood oes not have to be paid back – SBA Loan – yes. However, we had to add whatever money we received from the Road Home as income to our taxes, which put us in a higher bracket, and now have to pay back some of what they gave us. The whole idea of the Road Home Program was to keep residents in Louisiana. They kept some of us but at a cost to help line their own pockets. As usual, the government gives it to you in one hand and takes it away in the other. If I would have sold my home outright to an individual then I would not have had to add it as income. Go figure. This is our government at work again. Also, the stimulus money we were going to receive has now been cut in half since the Road Home money we had to claim has put us in a higher tax bracket.

Doesn't surprise me at all!!!!!!!!!!
Take a good look at our country....better yet, take a good look at our government.
We are "The Greatest Show on Earth"......in other words, we have become a "Circus".

What I don't understand here is, why the homeowner's are the one's to pay for this mistake. Most of these people didn't get the amount they truly needed to make the necessary repairs, and yet, they have to repay money now? If anything, ICF should not only be fined, but required to pay the monies owed. This should not be the homeowner's fault or responsibility. The contractor made a major mistake, and they should pay for it. Those residents have suffered enough – almost 3 years later and the city is still nowhere it needs to be.

I live in the hardest hit Katrina area of the MS Gulf Coast, and I find this article somewhat amusing. We were given state grants, up to $100,000 and, let me tell you, quite a bit of the money went for frivolous items: pools, European vacations, plastic surgery, designer clothes, etc. Then, we either did not repair our houses or had free labor to do it. Actually, now that the funds are running low, we are kind of hoping another storm will head this way. Life was better than ever for awhile.

Bottom line...ICF should be charged.

Personally – I don't think anyone should be bailed out anymore. We all know how to read and if not then things should not be signed – on the other hand – these victims should have demanded to look at paperwork and not have been taken advantage of.

Let's ask President Bush what he thinks – maybe he will have an answer!

This is tragic news, indeed. The way some of our systems work is sickening. Sometimes I just sit down and wonder why we go down so low. USA is the greatest nation on earth. We can do better. Reality check! I don't believe anymore that we have the greatest political system on earth these days. Something is terribly wrong somewhere.

What's the big deal? Money that was paid out erroneously under the auspices of the state, is now being asked to be repaid. I call that fiscal accountability. If a family found out they were receiving $150,000 beyond what would be reasonable, don't you think they would notice? This is just sensationalist reporting.

Shame on us for thinking people would get some help from the government to help them "survive". Hurricane victims didn't even have money for food for cryin' out loud! Businesses where destroyed which meant no income for workers and yet the government hired these contractors, which I am sure are not the only ones by far, who only took these people for granted. Homes were washed away and government contractors only thought about reaping some benefits for themselves! Why??....did they think they deserved it for helping people out??!! Maybe we all need to remember that many, many humans do horrible things to others but karma always comes back around!

i don't think the homeowner should have to pay for someone's elses mistake and i think these people have gone threw more then enough. let the gov eat the loss!!

They should be able to sue the federal government for the dyke failures and poor response after Katrina. Any settlement should far exceed $1.75million.

Talk about a moral deficit in our federal and state governments...

What don't you people get, if you were given money you shouldn't have then pay it back. Everyone who recieved grant money signed papers saying if you get overpaid then the money will have to be returned. The whole point was to get people money as fast as possible, and everyone knew mistakes would be made, so PAY THE MONEY BACK. And yes I'm from New Orleans, and I was overpaid and I have no problem paying back the money, that was the deal!

Oh please,
I worked for the government and saw behind the scenes of this mess. Believe me the majority are all opportunists. Dont feel too bad. Your tax dollars are being wasted! Ask this gentleman what the value of his house was originally – probably $50K.

How can a person be bound by an agreement that they weren't allowed to see? (Granted, why would anyone sign that agreement in the first place?)

This looks like another example of a government agency attempting to cash in on a disaster. Instead of investing in resources to prevent widespread damage, they look for ways to maximize collateral fallout and their own fiscal gain.

Disgusting.

I can't feel sorry for the majority of these folks because of the blatant disregard for the help they were given. I saw firsthand how appreciative these people weren't at shelters I volunteered at in Texas. All this coupled with all the crimes they committed in the towns that welcomed them with open arms and the gross misuse of government relief monies that were given to them for necessities being spent at beer stores and high end boutiques – I just don't have much sympathy left. Sorry, folks.

I'm sure a great many good people will be affected by this, but I'm also sure that a greater number of bad ones are getting their just desserts.

I'm going to play the devil's advocate here. We all know the hardest hit places were also the most impoverished. The homes in these neighborhoods were not worth $100K before Katrina so what makes people think they will be after the fact? Secondly, this is similar to the mortgage issue happening now. People signing documents and agreeing to things but later recanting and saying they had no idea what they were signing. People have to come to grips with reality. The government is not looking out for you anymore. Stop expecting handouts and relying on a system that has been broken for decades. Yes it is a tragedy people lost their lives and their homes, but why one would even choose to rebuild in a place that is below sea level and still in danger is beyond my comprehension. If the government failed the first time what makes people think the rebuilt damns will hold up against another storm that is sure to happen again? The state should absorb the costs and people should move on. If another storm hits and the same homes are damaged again, I say the people are on their own.

Subcontract this, grant money for that, and another agency doing paperwork for this, and even another agency taking care of auditing...

You want big government and layers of red tape? Enjoy.

I can not help but wonder how much it will cost to hire the auditor to review each and every case. Perhaps they could just use that money to pay back the over payments???

stop adding more injury to the people of our area. wake up america and take care of your own.my father still had a fema trailer when he died in may 2007 and when my step mother died in october 2007.they suffered great pain never being able to move back in their flooded home. it took in eleven feet of water. their only wish was to move out of the trailer in to their home but they moved in to a grave instead!!!!

This kind of stuff keeps happening b/c we have a president who, instead of thinking about why this happens and how to prevent such things from happening again, appears on gameshows (ie. he was on Deal or No Deal last Wed)! There's a war going on, our economy's tanking, gas prices are soaring....the list goes on....but our president thinks going on a gameshow is a much better use of his time than thinking of solutions to any of these problems. No wonder catastrophies continue to occur...

How hard is it to get citizenship in Canada? This country is going to HELL and the government is doing nothing. I see why there are revolutions in other countries.

Unless outright fraud was committed (collecting for a property a person didn't own or a family member who didn't die), the victims of Katrina owe the government NOTHING! In fact, George W. Bush should be down there, hat in hand, offering his apologies and cold hard cash to try to make up to those poor people what the federal government has done (or in this case, not done) for citizens of this country who lived through a disaster of this magnitude. It is unconscionable that people are still living in these conditions almost three years after the hurricane decimated their city. No other city in the country would have been left in these dire straits and I firmly believe it is the racism of the current administration that is responsible.

If anyone (or entity) should be made to pay back money to the government it should be Halliburton who has probably skimmed almost as much money from New Orleans as they have from Iraq!

It has been many many years since Hurricane Agnes devastated the state of Pennsylvania but after going through that it, it is no surprise to me that our government, both state and Federal, regardless of the state involved, are so ignorant of the financial problems that occur every time a disaster occurs. People have an urgent need to reestablish their living conditions and therefore are ignorant of the red tape and legalease that is written into government funded contracts. It is also not surprising to me that these governments continue to contract out the services of assessing, processing, and issuing damage funding with total disregard of the lessons learned from other similar disasters. How many times are these governments going to allow for the scandalous repeat of political ineptness and disregard for it taxpayers. They have ignored the fact that there are scupulous people and politicians everywhere who are anxious to take advantage of every opportunity to fraudulently obtain financial funding regardless of who it affects. Again it is time for a change

What caused the state to revisit these particular grants? How was it determined later that the damage assessments were too high? One would think that if there were resources available at the outset to verify or double-check the contractors estimates, they would have used them. The results of their incompetence is that these families' financial struggles will now be prolonged, and the monies that they are now expected to repay could have been used all along to assist other families waiting for financial resources to help them to put their lives back together. I think that ICF should face more than a few fines, and the state should wake up and get their act together!

I live 8 miles north of Biloxi, MS.We were greatly affected over here and some people received grants and other's did not, but were asked to refile multiple times.What gets me with this whole Katrina chaos is that the first response was too saddled by red tape, the insurance issue is now discouraging rebuilding after the BIG insurance still made record profits, and I don't think we would see any better response on a second round.The part that hurts the most is that we are blowing billions in Iraq and other countries that hate us while we can't afford health coverage, alternate fuels to fix the dependency we were suppose to correct in the early 80s and selling off all the good jobs to China and other CHEAP labor countries that have NO quality control over the products we now use and consume.WAKE UP POLITICIANS AND BIG BUSINESS BEFORE THERE IS NO MORE US!!!!

I live in New Orleans and there is nothing sad about people who were overpaid monies having to pay the monies back. I know people who received excess money, not deliberately, but they knew they dd. There are many who did not receive a fair amount of money and the excess others were paid should be given to those people. . This was an unprecedented event and mistakes will happen. Since the Road Home Program originally made the errors, they should tread lightly and make sure people were overpaid. To all the critics of New Orleans and our government, it's not perfect, but ask yourself how your state would handle having 80% of a large city damaged by a man made disaster. The Federal Government oversaw the construction and finances of the levee's built here, they bear more of the burden for this nightmare. Stop the hate on the victims such as myself. Many could not survive what we did and still continue to endure.

ICF has mismanaged the Road Home contract from the beginning, and their penalty has been....you guessed, a bigger contract. Google "ICF Katrina", and read the horror stories.

I knew this was a complete failure when I saw a classified ad in the Baton Rouge newspaper for a Director of Data Services for ICF/Road Home, looking for a person to design and manage the database of applicants – and this ad was placed in early 2007!

The people of Louisiana are used to bloated, over-budget, wasteful and inefficient government programs, but I had so hoped that Road Home would be differed.

Once again, everyone blames the federal government. Please read the blog entry again... this is LOUISIANA that is asking for the money back, because THEIR contractor messed up!! This is not our country, this is a corrupt state government that the citizens of Louisiana seem to reelect despite mounting evidence of their extreme incompetence.

The STATE botched Katrina. The FEDS offered the sort of help that a federal government ought to offer. It's up to LOUISIANA to help its citizens at this point... and they have failed.

Great job reporting on this.

Thank you CNN for your great reporting. You are by far the most informative, fair, balanced news organization. Once again, Thank you for the care and desire for truth, not political correctness, you transmit through your broadcast.

The Gov isn't there to help you it is there to help itself. If you actually think it is working for Americans, you are wrong.

If the contractor made the mistake, the contractor should pay the state back the difference — not the people who weren't even allowed to see the estimates. How ridiculous that the state would even condone that type of a method in evaluating people's homes and then making them blindly sign something agreeing to repay overestimates.
As I said, the contractor should repay it — or the state should just eat it.

So did these people not even get the opportunity to see the estimates? If so, then they should have no obligations to pay. But if they were given the opportunity, then it's their own fault.

This is truely stupid! No wonder the Bush administration 2 will go down as one of the worse in U.S. history. Hey George, thanks for 8 years of nothing.

I think the real question here is why the government keeps bailing people out. We wouldn't be in this spot if we stopped relying on the government and took personal responsibility. Where in the constitution does it say the government will pay for your home after a natural disaster?

I am not surprised by this. Contract issues continue to be discovered by the Federal Inspector General group(s), Take the latest games the DoD has done with work in Iraq. The sad thing is that Federal employees sometimes are so disconnected with what the impact of their poor project management does to contracts overall that they just assume the impact will "work itself out", because the Federal government has "so much" slush monies.

The fact is that the programs who run these contracts and grants programs do not understand that monies don't just get transferred from one program to another when things go bad. In the end, someone has to pay and in many cases it may be the people who can't.

The reality is that $2 million to the government is nothing. There are IT contracts that blow that in a year on software that doesn't work. I would love to see someone take the time to care about this situation, and leave the people alone. Fine the contractor and make them absorb the costs of their mistakes. That way they won't do it again.

I feel for these people and hope the next administration gets things a bit closer to right.

That's F-ed up! That's all to it.

Why am I not surprised?

"But he and every other homeowner who got a grant signed a contract with ICF agreeing to pay money back if overpayments were later discovered. Now, remember he wasn't even allowed to see his paperwork."

I agree that they have suffered enough... but I have to ask, did they sign a separate paper from the contract? If so, that's a breach isn't it? You can't exclude the paperwork and have someone sign only the signature page. Then again, if you are signing something and all the pages are there, you should have read through them.

Good job CNN for investigating it, I love CNN!!

I find it ironic that you never once heard the folks out in California complaining when the massive wildfires burned homes and property, why?? because they were to busy picking themselves up and doing what they had to do, instead of crying "poor me, help me"

It seems to me, from the story of John Montegut, that ICF needs to be investigated. If they included payment for damage to undamaged articles and/or added damaged articles that did not even exist, and did not allow the homeowner to verify the final inspection details, our extremely unfortunate fellow Americans in Louisiana are being Katrina'd again.

Was ICF just trying to be nice and help homeowners get more money or were they tired and got sloppy? As long as all the money has been dispersed there can't be any claims of embezzlement. After all that's happened after Katrina we can't allow THIS to happen. It's easy for me to say, "if I had the money I would pay it", but I would.

Let's hold a USA wide benefit concert/telethon for these people. I think millions of Americans can still afford fifty cents or a dollar each. There are a lot of high profile Americans already trying to help. I don't expect them to pull the money out of their own pockets, (which they could easily do), but they can certainly put a plan like this into action.

Never fear, people will be along any minute to blame this all on George Bush!!!!

I am speechless.. Call your congressman... Call a TV star.. This is a hit so far below the belt I felt it in Texas... These people have suffered enough.. Let them keep the money.. Heck, we should send them more.. As a tax payer,, I would like to see a Government Bill passed for enough money to rebuild every house destroyed by Katrina.. Our Government wastes enough money in one week, to cover the cost of rebuilding every single home lost to Katrina.. Instead of wasting it, Lets put it to some good use..

This story and the email reactions demonstrate where we've come to in this country. It has nothing to do with compassion, but a feeling of entitlement. A man gets $13,000 more than he should get in household repair assistance (essentially free insurance money), and you suggest that he should keep the money. Randi, you should do a story on the unbelievable amount of assistance that has already been poured into that area, and the amount that has been already bilked by the local, City, and State governments. You should do a separate story on how many individuals have scammed the system to receive more assistance than they are entitled to. There are tens of thousands of them out there. The results of a well conducted story will be enlightening, and will show that one victim in this whole ordeal is the American taxpayer. Perhaps the taxpayers are entitled to get that $13,000 back.

There were reports that alot of residents spent monies on personnal possesions and to top it off they committed fraud by tryiny to conspire in false documentation, which increased their award monies. Again we have an example of a downtrodden and homeless people who only hope for survival is to con their way into free handouts, and in this case they hit the jackpot. one can bet that they are back on the street with their drugs and mad dog bottle of wine.

I have been to New Orleans twice, in late 2005 and early 2007, and I know that these people need this money more than the government. The extensive work needing to be done on these homes and communities is monumental. I can't believe they wouldn't even let these people see the bill before signing it over to the heads of officials down there, then have the audacity to demand repayment. It's a damn shame that people in dire need like this are getting screwed by the system. I have made a lot of close friends during my visits, and I wish the best for them.

ICF made the mistake, let them repay the government. It is totally unrealistic to expect homeowners who have already lost everything and endured so much to now risk losing their homes in order to repay the government. When will the maddness stop?

It is disturbing, but not surprising, that a government service was contracted out to the lowest bidder, only to find the winner wasn't capable of handling the service as advertised. If citizens are left holding the bag, then it has to be the state government's responsibility to criminally prosecute the company's officers then black-ball those responsible from ever providing a government service.

Martha Stewart can no longer run her own company, because she is a felon. It appears she will not be alone.

United we stand, together we fall.

The State of Louisiana is bullying their own residents. ICF is the party at fault here, and they should be getting the bills for repayment.

The problems with New Orleans continue to amaze me. I would like to know how the current administration can explain the continued incompetence in the handling of this entire situation. There is such blatant disregard for the victims and the rebuilding of this city from the government. The only thing this administration was interested in was a photo-op. Now the state is trying to correct the unprofessional handling of the estimates. Let it go. If the state is so lax in their handling of the estimates then the state needs new politicians. Maybe ones who would be fiscally responsible. Had the current state politicians been fiscally responsible, this would not have happened.

$2 Million... The government wastes more than that in a hour... Let it slide! If you raise taxes 0.00001 % you'll recoup that money in less than a month!

There should have been checks and balances in place. However, if people were dishonest and listed false items such as skylights, I have little sympathy. It is no different than the IRS. If you cheat on your tax return, they can come back on you for the money you owe the government. Why should this be any different. Millions of dollars have given to aid victims. If one person is going to try and cheat the system by submitting false claims information, they should have to pay it back. You would have to pay the IRS back for submitting false deductions.

Wow Cindy...I don't think it's NOLA and LAs ridiculous gov't...I believe it MIGHT be the federal gov't. Be careful...it could happen to you.

Only in George Bush's America.....

The wealthy of this country get wealthier and are actively remove large amounts of money from the country's economic system at a staggering rate. And who gets to pay the bill?
Homeowners being asked to return money to the state. (In the Monopoly game it was called "bank error in your favor" and you didn't have to return it)
A woman who is in need of daily care for the rest of her life because of a traffic accident gets sued by the wealthiest company in America – they back off only because of bad publicity.
And just yesterday, we learn that soldiers in our army can't even rely on working plumbing in a permanent structure

How much more proof do we need that the infrastructure of this country is falling apart? The government is living on credit now because it's given huge tax breaks to the wealthiest of its citizens on the backs of the hard-working majority. The US is fast becoming a 3rd world nation right before our eyes, yet no one is doing anything to reverse it.

very sad.

Why do these stories only come out of New Orleans and not Mississippi where Katrina hit worse. The people of Mississippi have been forgotten in the media but have come together and supported each other and worked hard to rebuild.

How about more success stories.

Why are these people described as victims?and why is the govt. responsible for helping them rebuild? Some people feel the govt has an obligation to PAY for them to rebuild. I think the govt has no obligation to PAY for someone to reubuild there house. What happend to all that "charity" money all these Hollywood liberals raised for them?give me a break. NOLA was and is a dump, remember this is the same town that re-elected Ray Nagin... people get the govt they deserve.

No surprise at all,people are always trying to "game the system ".There were numerous other instances of abuse during this tradegy.

The money hungry administration strikes again!

This is so typical of our government. Now the government's going to spend more money auditing a government contractor. I'm sure that the auditing agency will be contracted out as well. I don't think enough has been done for those people in New Orleans to begin with. Leave them alone! They've suffered enough. Bush's too involved in the war over oil to care about people in this country. That's why the housing market and economy is in the shape it's in. THANKS BUSH FOR ALL YOU'VE DONE and the republicans that voted him into office! I'll take Bill Clinton's infidelities over Bush's war anytime. At least Bill cared about the American people.

Well overshadowed by the war and the economy, the situation in New Orleans is just pathetic. It makes me sick to know just how much money is being thrown at big time contractors in Louisianna, then to hear that some greedy company wont eat into its HUGE profit on this disaster to right their own error, but instead malicously pass the buck on to poor people trying to get on with their lives...well that makes me just want to vomit. These contractors seem incapable of understanding the, "bitting the hand that feeds you," concept; I think it's high time we vulnerable middle and lower class started bitting back!

If the home owners could not see the estimates, then the contractor company should be held liable for the repayment, not the homeowner. The contractors committed fraud. Why should the people of NOLA be held accountable for it? Let me guess, is ICF a subsidiary of Halliburton?

So they are upset that they have to give free money back? This isnt supposed to be a windfall and given the outright fraud that has plagued the whole Katrina fiasco (like LV bags with the debit cards) I dont think its the taxpayers responsibility to shoulder this mistake.

People signing papers they didnt read yet again? This is getting to be a pretty handy excuse these days.

I think this is what happens when the government starts redistributing wealth. Remember, every dollar the government gives to someone is taken from someone else.

As in so many cases, responsible people who don't build in flood plains and who pay for their own insurance get screwed by the government via taxes to pay for freeloaders.

Not one penny should be spent on people by the government for this sort of thing. That's what insurance is for. If a person doesn't buy insurance, and their home is wiped out by a hurricane – TOO BAD! They made a decision. They should live with it. I live in a hurricane prone area and carry no coverage for flooding. If my home floods, I am prepared to accept the consequences. (On the other hand, I made it a point to check that I am not in a flood prone area.)

That said, inspectors who filed clearly fraudulent inspection reports should be punished. They were paid to do a job they clearly did not do.

Katrina was a disaster. But government incompetence and waste of tax dollars is a disaster of similar magnitude all its own.

The best that we can hope for in the future is that government GET OUT OF THE WAY.

Oh no...tell me this is not happening. Katrina has been one of the single most defining moments of disappointment for our current administration. The way that these people have been treated, all they have gone through and still go through causes me great embarassment for my country. How does this happen? My thoughts....bill ICF $17.5 million and leave those people alone to get their lives back together. The government has caused them enough pain and suffering. Geez...can the Bush administration get anything right????

There are many people here in LA that needed money and received assistance. It's a tragedy to have someone who ligitamately needed the grant....received the grant...used it for it's correct purpose and is now asked to pay it back. I live here. I lost everything and I have rebuilt. I would like to see you attack this story from a different angle. I personally know people that got so much money from Grants and Road Home and Insurance and FEMA that they now have rebuilt there homes and have paid off their mortgages. In other words the system has overpaid them so much that they were made better than whole. At the same time you have people still in FEMA trailers waiting for assistance. A very large amount of people recieved too much money, trust me I am here 24/7... I see it everyday.

Normally if a contractors "messes up", they take the cut. Basically, they take the money out of their own profits. Generally, thats the way it works, and if an individual messes up, they too take the cut.

People go to jail as criminals for less!

Why hasn't the government found out where the millions of donated money for katrina been located ? Every thing has been kept hushed. Now the crooked estimates without owners' signatures are still being demanded ? Come On ! Isn't there anyone out there with even a small consciousness of honesty able to step in and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?

Just another fine example of the total incompetence of any level of government as stewards of taxpayer funds.

And we have Hillary and Barack that wish to do soooooooo much more for us.

What a disgrace! The state of LA and our federal govt should be ashamed of themselves. They owe the people much more than what they have received. Shame on them for now asking for a refund because of their mistakes. What about the $5 billion that was somehow lost in IRAQ on contractors? They can eat that mistake, but not this! Our founding fathers are surely screaming from their graves for this latest injustice being heaped on all the others we've already seen in New Orleans and other areas affected by Katrina. I'm shaking my head in disbelief!

Causing a need to return 65% of monies given is not a sign of overestimation, it is a mark of negligence. If the error is caught and affected parties notified prior to the money being spent, then the overpayment should be returned, but if the homeowner is doing with the money what they were supposed to do with the money and have already spent it on repairs, then the money should be considered gone. Final note, any costs and stress caused by such negligence should also be recoverable with the homeowner suing ICF. There is no excuse for such incompetence from government contractors.

That is absolutely ridiculous and very sad. Good article, but please don't forget about the parts of New Orleans that are alive and kicking because they do exist.

Sarabeth
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Your whole country is sick and is not getting better. If the contractor overestimated then they should pick up the tab. But in your country, as well as in mine, business always takes the profit but is never responsible for losses.

I pay my taxes. When my house catches fire, the fire department doesn't present me with a bill to put it out. I can't believe the gall of our government to demand repayment for the assistance they offered.

A grant is free money, not a loan. If the government gave too much, its on them. At least the victims did something productive with their money–rebuild their lives. What would the government have done with it? Burned it on Iraq, I imagine.

OMG!? The Government screws up again???? Well let me search for my "surprised" face! The poor people of New Orleans; why is it (in this case) Mr. Monetgut's fault when he was not allowed to see his estimate?? NOT ALLOWED TO SEE THE ESTIMATE??? Hello! I find it disgusting that the State of Louisianna has the audacity to ask Mr. Montegut and the other families involved for the money back! Let the court's decide! The ICF screwed up!!! What country are we living in folks??? Sue the H.E. double toothpics out of ICF for wrongful business practices and committing to defraud the State of Louisianna for it's "estimates." Don't make the already emotionally distraught and torn citizens of New Orleans pay for yet "another" Govt. contract gone awry. THAT IS UN-AMERICAN!!!

I once worked with a woman right after the katrina incident here in Nashville, TN who completely abused the system. Not only did she make 32k at a position that was handed to her out of pity, she managed to pocket 2k, then another 2k from FEMA along with an additional 10k from FEMA for her 'house and car' that were damaged by the storm. She enjoyed attention from people and even went so far to get pity during local thunderstorms by stating how severe weather reminded her of the hurricanes. She admitted to me she left that Thursday and was not in the actual hurricane or evacuation traffic. Funny how she lived off of the government before the hurricanes and had no working vehicle to begin with but managed to comfortably live here in TN off of free housing, electricity and food stamps for over a year. I always saw her getting her hair done and buying new outfits but the only bills she had was a cell phone and car note. She cried when after 6 months, she was forced to pay her own electric bill. Abuse like this is what gives hard working people who need government grants to rebuild look bad.

This story is in fact sad, why lend money to residents wanting to rebuild then extract it?

I think that since they were not able to sign off on their estimates from the agency, that none of them should pay this money back. Maybe they should counter sue for stupidity!!!

I am so over this – my parents are 75 years old and could not start over so they used the Road Home money to rebuild their home. Where are they suppose to get the money to repay the Federal Government. It's bad enough that they had to go into their savings (all of it) because the little money that was given to them was not enough to totally rebuild. I say good luck trying to get this money back, because I will tell my parents not to pay, especially since they don't have any money for themselves.

if the damages were overestimated, wouldn't the homeowners have money left over after fixing their damage?
so, wouldn't they be able to just give that left over money back?
or did they decide to spend it on other things?

this is just one example, what about all the examples of the people who abused the system? i spent 2 1/2 months in nola after the storm and wittnessed many abuses by all sorts of people, citizens and goverment. i saw macdonald's offering $4000 sign-on bonuses and $12/hr, but they couldn't get anyone to work for them. i saw so many able bodied people opting to spend thier fema checks at the mall on junk instead of working. i still see people living in houston who won't work blaming everything on the storm. it's two and a half years later it's time for people to stand on their on feet and stop relying on the goverment for everything.

Isn't it amazing that we are requiring citizens of New Orleans to repay $2.0 million, when billions have been lost or embezzled in Iraq and nobody is being asked for repayment there!

I don't understand why these people received money from the government to begin with. I have always had to have insurance on my house. If my house go hit by a tornado or burnt down I can fully assume that nobody other than my insurance company will rebuild my home.

Why in the hell is everyone responsible for everything except the state?
Did the person that was responsible for hiring the estimator get fired?
If not, he should have been. Is there a process for getting a refund back from the unqualified estimator? Someone who evidently did not do the job he was hired to do? He made the mistakes, and he should pay. Attempting to expect refunds from the homeowners is so unconscienceable. No wonder the state is still in the same mess it was in a year or more ago.

It seems that Big Money Interests make mistakes all the time and it's always the consumer who pays for them. Is it right? No! However it is the Republican way. To correct this problem, we need a Democratic majority in both the House and Senet so that Congress can uphold the laws on the books and inact new laws to compensate for the Republican excesses.

I have friends that lived in south Louisiana and lost everything. They have heard promise after promise about how the gov't will help them rebuild thier homes and the city. But as usual, it is the same ole political propagandy used by the legislators to temporarily pull the wool over thier constiuents eyes so they can get what they need from the people they are supposed to represent. Why not hold ICF accountable for the inflated estimates that thier people turned into the gov't. I am sure they were paid quit a some of money to conduct these estimates. It is not the fault of the people that live in N.O. that are trying to re-establish thier lives that yet another predator feeding off of others misfortune took advantage of the situation at hand. How about our gov't leaders finally take a stand on this issue and hold accountable those who are truly at fault.

My home in mississippi was nearly destroyed by katrina. First of all, the folks in new orleans should have had enough sense to not spend more money than their entire house was worth originally on repairs. Second of all, how about New Orleans uses its hands to pull itself up instead of just sticking them out for handouts. The 9th ward was a dangerous dump before the storm.

Unbelievable.

Everyone was angry the state couldnt get the money out quick enough. So, now after they tried to give it out faster, people are angry because they make mistakes. I must agree with the state on this one. You have to draw the line and stop giving in to those sad kitty eyes... <:3

It ultimately falls on the homeowner. You signed a contract, just like a mortgage. Now look at all the foreclosures. Its these dumb people who dont read what they sign that ruins it for everyone else. If i cant read what i sign i dont sign it! No excuses. You dont get 20k or 150k for nothing. Read read read!

While I feel for those who lost their homes/possessions in the storm, one has to realise that the money they are being asked to back was not rightfully theirs. It is also taxpayer money and the whole country has shared in the burden of paying for the rebuilding of an area that is not near where we live. No government agency offered to help fund the rebuilding efforts any time my familie's properties have been damaged by the weather (Hurricane HUGO and when a tree fell our house). We had to rebuild ourselves with no assistance from the FED.

State is doing a very bad job of granting people money. Some people are getting way far less and I have examples of few who got a lot after getting the money from insurances. A guy I know bought his house for 100K before couple of years. Got that money back from Insurance, plus got some from Homeowners also, and also money for contents. He only spend 50-60K to fix his house. Then he gets subsided loan from SBA. Then he gets letter from LRA that they are going to award him 50,000, he is one of the happiest, he goes to closing, they told him to sign on paper which gives him 100K and after few days he gets 100K, so lots of free money for some people who already got lot and some dont get any. This is Louisiana Recovery Authority.

Another government give-a-way program gone astray. Another scam by the under class who saw a way to get some walking-around-money. How do you fix a shack? Once on once the dole, always on the dole. We (U.S. government) created these dependents and perpetuate them by these assistence programs. We want these people to vote Democrat. And by the way, its all George Bush's fault anyway.

If ICF made the mistake why don't they pay for it? Why is it when you are drowning the government finds away to make sure you are really drowning. This is crazy how are these people suppose to know they where being over paid? they used the money for what it was intended for. I am praying for these family God works in misterious ways.

err, it sounds like it was free money redistributed to them from the taxpayers in the rest of the country who live above sea level to rebuild his house right back in a disaster zone. why should we feel sad? is it possible, as one reader stated, to get "screwed" out of free money?

and if they were overpaid, they were OVERpaid, right?
if my employer accidentally gave me a paycheck with an extra 10,000 dollars in it, i would not expect to get to keep that money.

anyways, why are we rebuilding anything in new orleans? so we can pretend to be shocked when the next hurricane comes?

How about all the aide our country sends over seas.....why don't we ask for reimbursements from them. I think its time we start focusing on taking care of our own people for a change.

It's unbelievable! I just ended a relationship with my fiance who resides in new Orleans because I would not agree to relocate to NO. The area is so dismal and gloomy i couldn't see myself living there. After all these years NO still look s like death zone. Outside of the French Quarters everything else is still a mess. It's amazing how these people have been treated through no fault of their own. Something must be done about this war that is draining the life out of this economy, hard working americans with sons and daughters in the millitary are suffering more than we will ever know.

You know, I'm against the government bailing out these homeowners at all. All of the homes that I've owned, I've paid insurance premiums to cover any catastrophic losses. So, I took action to protect my investment – why should I be required to bail out those who decided they'd rather keep their money than buy insurance? No sympathy for these folks, sorry.

It is unfortunate, ridiculous, and sad that the individuals hired to estimate the cost and repair of damaged homes could not effectively meet their MOST important job requirement! Pretty disgusting. I am sorry for you New Orleans. You do not deserve this.

Unfortunately, the state is not the only ones going after those who were so traumatized by Katrina. FEMA is also pursuing repayments from people who sought and accepted initial payments because they were told they were eligible. Now FEMA has decided they were not – and they want the money back. When will it end?

If the company or government made the mistake, they should pay the tab. If ICF was to blame, let them pay it back. If it was a government issue, let the state suck it up. I believe the auditing should have occured while the money was being distribted, then they would have caught this early on and not have to burden the families at this point.

Wait...$1.75 million spread over 5,000 families is only $350 each. Someone should be fired somewhere for overestimating the payments, but this story makes it seem like every family is going to be billed tens of thousands of dollars.

Don’t want to sound intensive but... they should not have received my tax dollars anyway. That is what insurance is for. If I want to be generous I will cut a check, I don’t need government mis-managing my tax money for me. The government’s only responsibility should be to fix the public works and repair public property.

I am a New Orleans resident that fought with FEMA, my insurance company, and ICF for money to fix my house. FEMA denied me, my private insurance company underpaid me, and ICF denied me due to the pre-storm value of my house. Nevermind the fact that post-storm rehabilitation costs (and insurance costs) are triple the cost prior to Katrina. The nightmare never ends!

In the meantime, this rotten contractor hired to run the program just received a $156 million raise for their incompetence, and we're expected to pay for their mistakes. Not only are they expecting people to pay for what they put us through hell and back to receive, Road Home recipients are also facing huge tax bills because the IRS has determined that the grants are considered taxable income. Cry me a high river!!!!

Katrina Survivor-New Orleans

Thank you to those of you who sincerely pray for us and wish us well. It is very comforting to read comments from nice people (you'd be amazed at some of the vile, accusatory and downright mean spirited comments posted on "Katrina" related stories). The "Road Home" program and the ICF are big jokes! There definately needs to be an audit of accounting practices. My sister's "Road Home" grant was not enough to finish her renovations, she managed to get about 1/2 of the work completed before running out of grant funds). She is appealing her "award" (can you believe they actually refer to it as an award?!) and has not returned home yet (no appeal date has been scheduled yet). She lives out of state and desperately wants to come home; I miss her and want her home for that matter. Regarding ICF requiring those who were "overpaid" to return the money, I'm disgusted. ICF stance that homeowners signed documents stating that they would repay if an overpayment was discovered is foolish. The ICF grant was supposed to get homeowner back into their homes in a "similiar" state as before the hurricane. How many homeowners do you know, in any part of the county, just sitting on 13K waiting for the gov't to ask for it back??? My personal opinion: Homeowner should be allowed to keep what was "mistakenly" given to them and those, like my sister, deserve a fair an impartial appeal process. This is a very sensitive subject for me and my eyes are welling up with tears now! When is enough enough? How many blows can a people take? How many times do you make a person feel unworthy?

This was an impossible task. I live just 30 minutes North of New Orleans and I've witnessed it all. I've seen people get money and use it to go buy boats and TV's instead of fixing his house, I've seen people who were offered money who didn't need it and people who needed it and weren't offered it. I've even seen someone who was given the $2000 for evacuating who didn't even want it and when they tried to return it they were refused!!! Some of these people are getting screwed, but don't think for a minute all of them are, some knew they didn't deserve all that money.

Randi:

I had Flood and Roof damage to my home from Katrina. I don't live in a flood plain but I purchased both a flood policy and Homeowners with wind & hail damage insurance. Excluding reasonable depreciation on the flood damage insurance policy and about $5K in deductibles on both policies, my insurance company took care of me. However, my Homeowners policy soared from $1,000 a year to $3,000 a year.

My initial understanding was Road Home would be for people to get back into their homes and take measures that will prevent and/or minimize flood damage from a similar situation. For example, leveling off the land with a lot of dirt, stronger window protection, etc...

I waited three years before we finally saw a representative who was at my home two months ago to do an inspection. He took a picture of me and him in front of my home before he inspected my home which was pretty much completely repaired. I told him I had my insurance reports showing everything I was paid for and everything I did not get paid for. I explained to him I had two appraisals on my home from a certified appraiser of the cost of my home the day before the storm and the days after the storm that involved the damages etc....

He did not want to see any of it and could care less. We discussed the reason fror the Road Home Assistance, which made no sense to me. He said it did not matter if you received insurance. He said it was strictly related to the flood damage. He said if you did not have any flood insurance, there was a penalty factor in the formula they use so you would get less money. I asked if you give me too much will I have to pay it back later. He said I won't have to worry about that, it won't happen. I have not received a dime from them and quite frankly I don't want a dime from them.

I feel sorry for folks who had no insurance because they could not afford it. I don't think the government should be bailing us out because we are too stupid not to pay for insurance. They can always get something back from Casualty and Theft in their income tax, if they paid taxes.

I think the Road Home Insurance would have been better used for repairing the roads and drainage ditches in all those communities. I also think a Federal Government Agency rather then a State Agency should have monitored who got the contracts and followed up on the progress more closely. My home is repaired from my insurance company, but nothing has been done to repair the roads in front of my home or clean out the drainage ditches. Louisian is such a corrupt state where the state and local politicians and local contractors are related or such friends that the average tax payers are screwed.

Notice the problems did not get discovered until a few months after Bobby Jindal took office. I am surprised he has not been done away with by now. Keep up the good work Bobby, you will get the help you need to put these corrupt politicians and contractors in Jail.

By the way Randy, ICF gets a percentage on the amount of each claim. So it is to their best interest to run up the cost. Shame they had to commit fraud to do it.

The folks that were overpaid should seek legal council, they are not legally competent to realize what they were signing. ICF was definitely aware of what was going on.

Bill

I'm sick and tired of everybody saying the little guy gets screwed again. Us tax payers are bailing them out by giving them FREE money in the form of grants because they were to cheap to buy hurricane insurance in a hurricane prone area! If they had done the responsible thing in the first place...buying insurance like they should have, then this would all be academic! So stop feeling sorry for the lazy cheap people who brought this on themselves. They wanted to save money by forgoing insurance and should not expect tax payers to bail them out...and when we do give them free money stop complaining that they did not get EXTRA free money above and beyond what their loses were!!!

As long as there is an appropriate payment plan, although it's tough-luck for many families, essentially they got a decent loan. Personally, I believe loans should have been the only way money was to be issued by the federal government. The federal government should not be providing handouts to those who, though lack of foresight, were unprepared for a natural disaster. Instead, the federal government should provide relief loans to supplement funds that the state is handing out. This mentality that our big-brother federal government should be there to bail us out of any situation sickens me. Leave that up to the individual states to handle, let the federal government shrink so that those who have the foresight to live in less risky environments are not having to pay for those without foresight.

Stories like this disgust me. Where is the efficiency, integrity, compassion and honor? Is it possible that the government is the greatest enemy of the American people? I think it is.

Wow, just stupid can our goverment be, this story goes to show that so far we have found no bounds.
After such a horrible tragedy they "get crutches to help them stand again, they later have to pay for the nice rubber stoppers on the bottom and some pillows that keep the crutches from rubbing the skin from under their arms; when all they really wanted was the crutches.

If I was not allowed to read the inspector's claim before submission, there is no way in hell I would repay one penny !
The State should absorb the cost.

I think it's absolutely discusting...As if anyone has that kind of money, let alone the residents of New Orleans who spent every penny they have. Much like it is with our troops over sees.. The Government can take care of everyone else in this world but they can't take care of our own..

I live in New Orleans. Yes, Cindi, I have many disagreements with our local government. We tried to rectify them by getting rid of our Democratic governor and mayor. We only succeeded with the governor. When we get rid of the mayor and all of the hangers on from the corrupt Morial administration, we'll do better. Now, in what charming city do you live, sweetheart?

At what point did the federal government become the saviours of the people who knowingly live in an area that is known to flood if hit by a hurricane. My tax money is not ment for that purpose, yet billions were spent. Yes it is sad, but a great deal of this suffering is self inflected. FLOOD INSURANCE, get it or lose everything. If you can't afford it move away from areas known to flood. If you don't move and don't get insurance then you risk losing everything and it will be YOUR OWN FAULT. New Orleans WILL flood again. This is not an it could, or it might, it is an absolute.

I imagine that it has occurred more often than not, that the homeowners used extra money for non-home building expenses and are now "shocked" that they have reimburse some money –when they clearly read that probability before being given the money.
I think that –nobody– (from the federal government, to the state government, to the local government, to the contractor and finally to the residents) should hold their heads high.

Sensationalized and overstated:
In two paragraphs the TWO MILLION DOLLAR headline drops to 1,750,000. If the 250,000 differnce is not imporant, then send me a check for $250,000.
Next, this 1,750,000 is owed by a whopping 2,000 families: Or on the average, each family owed back $875. Sure these people don't deserve this treatment, but $875 per family is not as sensational as *NEARLY TWO MILLION DOLLARS*.
Then, some families may owe $150,000 EACH! If so, there are only 11 such families – again not as sensational as the headlines.

You asked what I think: Tell JOHN to pay back the $13,000 of the $20,000 gift he received. There is no free lunch.

They should pay, why should we re-imburse all these people to rebuild in a high risk prone area for natural disasters. Can't we learn from the first hurrican.. MOVE OUT OF THE CITY!

And here we have just another example of The Goverment doing so much better than the private sector that we want the same system to be in charge of our Health Care! Think about it the next time you hear about Universal Health Care, do you want the same system that doesn't know how many skylights you have, and then wants money back in charge of your medical care? Just a thought.

What a mess.

But....who signs paperwork without reading it? Who allows this process to even continue without being able to see their contract? And Mongetut wasn't allowed to see the claim?

Come on! If something shifty was going on, these people should have reported it THEN!!!

You don't sign a contract if you don't read it or understand it. Sorry but I don't feel sorry for them. It's time people take responsibility for their actions. It's how many of these people got into this mess in the first place–not having insurance or not having enough. Life is rough, we all have to work hard for the things we want and need, we cannot depend on others to do for us.

The ongoing irresponsibility on the part of the government AND individuals that costs the hardworking American taxpayers money is starting to tick us off!

It seems to me that ICF should foot the bill. I have an Masters in Business Administration, and everything I've been taught tells me that ICF is at fault, not the resident. Since ICF provided no paperwork for the residents to confirm the assessment, why should the resident be held liable for an overpayment to which they were provided NO DETAIL. Poor administration on the part of ICF. I could understand the resident being liable for overpayment ONLY IF THEY WERE PROVIDED WITH AN ITEMIZED BILL FOR GRANT, otherwise ICF SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE, NOT THE CITIZENS. Step up to the plate ICF, you made the mistake, not the residents!

Serves them right. So many people ripped off the government by claiming in excess of their actual damages. We as taxpayers are footing their fraud so I'm glad to see that the goverment is trying to at least recoup some of it...

>>I worked in New Orleans for four months in 2006 with Campus Crusade for Christ, and then again in 2007. I love the city of New Orleans greatly. I love the people, I love the hope they have>>>

To Jamie and all who helped... please accept my heartfelt thanks.

If anyone has to pay back money to the U.S. government, it should be ICF International, not the homeowners.

I am a Katrina Victim that received a Road Home grant. We were told this year that we must add the grant to our income and pay federal taxes on it! Most of us owe between $10,000-$25,000 as it is. Now, I guess I'll be waiting for the state bill!! This is unbelievable! Where do they expect us to get the money from?? I think that they may end up putting leins on properties because we used our money to fix our houses!!!

this is what happens when dishonest people are hired to do a job and not properly supervised by honest people. When it comes to money, we can't turn a blind eye to people with dishonest genes going back generations.

If my house burns down, gets flooded, etc, etc. and I don't have insurance then I am out of luck. I'm still baffled why all these people expect handouts with no strings.

These people should not be billed for the excess money owed, ICF should pony up the money and pay for It considering they wouldn't allow the homeowner to even see the actual paperwork and yet later mad them sign their lives away, Here in California such tactics are illegal, Sounds like someone wanted to keep any excess money and make the people pay for It, even If they can't and that smells like fraud to Me.

Weren't Mississippi and Alabama devistated by Katrina. Why do we hear nothing of their problems. Many in Louisiana are deserving of help. Many others shamed the state by their behavior. Unfortunately it is the images of those who acted like animals that stay with our mind's picture of Katrina.

Our government does nothing for the people now. Its more concerned about not affending anyone. But, I wish the Katrina 'victims' would get off there lazy butts and do something positive for a change.

Don't get me wrong, I DO symphathize with the Katrina victims but when will it stop. If the state overpaid some of these victims, then they should pay it back. They should only receive what is due them to restore their home back to the way it was. In Monteguts case, if they gave him money to replace skylights that he didn't have in the first place, then he obviously should give the money back. I live in North LA and hear these stories every day. At some point, these victims must stand up for themselves and not rely on the government (or our tax dollars) for help.

That is just sickening! Those people have been through so much and not only did they not get everything they were promised, but they still are not being treated fairly years later. The only way for this to go away is Bush must issue a presidential pardon and waive any judgments against them. That will just begin to repair the problems that he should have taken care of in the beginning.

Well, this doesn't surprise me. We need to get the money back from those greedy tax paying americans. God know our government needs the money to send to Iraq, or somplace they would rather see the poor tax paying americans dead.

This is just the same kind of treatment that most of us went through after the Red River flood in 1990. The government agencies are so fouled up it is unthinkable. There is no organizational backup for any of the programs. FEMA is a joke.
After over 100 of us (Red River Flood Victims) filed a class action lawsuit against the Corps of Engineers (who admitted causing the flood) to recoup losses that FEMA would not cover......Corps of Eng attys forced us to sign off on our losses for $1,500 each and threatened us that if we did not sign, we would each be billed $250,000 each. That is the sum that they estimated it was costing them to "protect" themselves from us! This is a well documented case . It was entitled "Abney Farms vs Corps of Engineers 1991 handled by a Texarkana AR attorney. Many of us tried to buy the flood insurance before the flood but couldn't get anyone to sell it to us because the govt. expected private ins. cos. to sell it for them and none would do it because of the many stipulations at the time and also that they would make no money. I have all the old documentation on this if anyone ever wanted to see it. 479-665-2733

How much more pain and cruely is the government going to dish out to the people of Katrina?
This is not a third world country..We pay taxes thinking that when a natural disastor strikes our towns and our people will be helped..And yet every time I hear anything about Katrina I hear how our government is screwing these innocent people..
So what if they were overpaid, it is not their fault.
In the grand scheme of things, it is small change compared to the money our governemnt officials toss around for other things..
Havn't they suffered enough, and for 'far too long' ..?

I think the contractor should absord the costs due to its incompetence, and the Louisiana residents should be left alone, they had enough already!

I think for a long time, our government has been resting on our laurels at the state and federal level. It isn't enough that we have procedures in place, and organizations to use in the time, and aftermath, of natural disaster. When these procedures are flawed, and the organizations prove to be inept at doing their job, more tragedy comes of tragedy. Unfortunately, the problem in situations like these is always given back to the wrong party: in this case, the victims of Hurricane Katrina. It happens with natural disasters, it happens with Health care and it happens in the home loan industry...just a few current examples.

The good news is, that this nation is filled with caring, bright people who strive for improvement. These people are keenly aware of the way America is, and also the promise that it still holds. Let's do our part as citizens to make the smart decisions and to work harder for a better future.

Did everyone miss the part about signing the contract saying the homeowners would have to repay monies they should not have received in the place? Is this story sad? Yes. Is making the homeowners repay wrong? No. It just amazes me that people think contracts are meaningless when abiding by them happens to put a sting on the ole' pocketbook. Why shouldn't these people have to repay? Would everyone feel differently if the story highlighted a muli-millionaire who recieved $20,000 in funds and is now complaining that he shouldn't have to repay?

I used to work with this company (ICF) within the Road Home program. The whole program is a sham. I can't even begin to get into the ways they screw over homeowners in rush to meet "quotas" and then punish the homeowners for the company's mistakes.

It's an embarassment to Louisiana (although the company is not based in LA) and is an insult to those who lost everything in that storm.

The best day of my life was leaving that office for the last time.

Just another reminder of how little our current administration, including congress, thinks of its own people. We spend billions and even trillions on a war that is going absolutely nowhere and NOTHING on folks here in the Uniteds States. It seems that the prospect of oil (by definition not the same as terrorism last time I referenced Webster's dictionary) far exceeds the need for adequate food, housing, afforadable transportation, and education in this country. President Bush, you should be ashamed of yourself. Our elected Senators and Congress people, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Does it ever cross your minds that "we the people" elected you? Maybe if you had to live paycheck-to-paycheck, worked two or three jobs just to make ends meet, worry about foreclosure on your home or wonder how you're going to get to work this week (like many of us do) you would realize how important your job actually is to this country. Get your priorities straight or the voters in this country will have you all looking for new jobs.

Completely disheartened in VA

The home owner shouldn't pay. The company and the the people working for the company should pay. This Company, ICF, was paid to do a job. How were they paid? Commission? Flat rate?
Also, do some more footwork...who is this company ICF. A fine for ICF? NO. They pay straigt up. Then maybe the homeowner.

This story saddens me in addition to the disasters from the tornadoes. We have a goverment that portrays themselves as helping its citizens and then the real story comes out. I appreciate the reporters we have in place who actually want to reveal the ridiculous fumbles of aid, policy and someone's version of justice. Absolutely crazy how this panned out for the victims of this city.

If we're going to start billing our own citizens for grants that they should be rightfully entitled to from our government for a disaster they had no control over - then I sincerely hope that we send every Iraqi who claims to have been helped by the war a bill as well. Why not? If their quality of life is improving (which is somewhat questionable), shouldn't they be billed for our services? I think it is well past the point where the United States should stop focusing other people's problems and start addressing the issues that continually hurt this country. If we have billions of dollars to spend on this war, surely we can divert more of that to helping actual US citizens and not those that may or may not appreciate it down the road.

Amazing isnt it, that America has plenty of money to help illegal immigrants, people that are hundreds of thousands of miles away in other countries, etc. But when people who actually live in America and pay taxes need help, the country just doesnt seem to have enough money... and now not only do we not have enough money to help, but we screwed up and now want you to pay us back!!! This country is just so backwards...

Heres a thought! CNN sets up an address or account, takes charge of the repayment for these folks. This way the money doesn't slip into some buracrats pocket. These folks have been through enough for goodness sakes. Heres my $20.00 to start the process, where do I send it CNN? Now leave these folks alone. Now! Go get the real problem child, ICF.

This is a disgusting display or our inempt government. I am a college student who recently visited New Orleans over a spring break trip that was set up by Campus Crusades to help volunteer to rebuild the city. I was shocked and repulsed by the lack of support of the government. The city seemed to be abandoned by not only locals but also by our government. The time spent in NOLA has affected me in that it has broken my confidence in a strong, responsive United States government. You hear the stories, listen to the news, but nothing is solidified until one see's just how abismal the conditions in NOLA are still. NOLA residents have hope that someday, someone will help them, and what little help our government has given thus far is now being taken away? This is truly a travesty in America, and our government needs to realign their prorities and fix New Orleans, instead of trying to wreck and ravage what little hope the residents still hold onto.

it is amaxing that after all this the government wants the residence to pay that money back. i have an idea, how about the oil rigs that they placed off the coast so as to not have to pay the state any money.....how about they pay the bill. Or how about our wonderful government take some of that money they are spending on this war and invest in its own people. i have many friends and family that were displaced from Katrina. The govrnment called them refugees. WHAT they are our people, my flesh and blood, my people. We help refugees but we cant help disaster victims. Another case of a failing government. This is HORRIBLE, fine IFC make them pay it they made the false estimates. Make them pay.

There is no doubt in my mind ICF new what they were doing. They tried to get over and were caught! Now they are trying to add insult to an already injured and devistated city! I hope ICF is punished SEVERLY! I also hope no one has to pay for ICF's intentional mistakes!!! Thank you for your awesome reporting!

Don't blame the federal government for this one! Louisiana should be ashamed to be doing this to their own people. I guess the Governor doesn't want to be in office after the current term ends.

Why are people so surprised that the government let them down. When you live your whole life dependent on someone else to take care of you, instead of taking care of yourself, then when that person/government isn't there to help you, you can't help yourself because you don't know how.
Every politician, from Obama on down the line, wants you to believe they have the answers for a better life for you. The truth is, you hold the key to your future and prosperity, not the government or any politician.

Sounds like ICF messed up. At this point, it doesn't really matter how or why. The residents, however, should not have to pay the price. ICF should do the right thing and pay the $2 million themselves.

Welcome to the club....Hurricane Charlie was his name. $125,000 damage to the house, $55,000 from the insurance company. Good thing our business was unharmed or we would be homeless. Get a private adjuster, a good lawyer and good luck.

Any disaster of that nature should be fully funded by the government. In this case, salvage what they can, raze the house down to beyond its foundation and rebuild it all. ALL! If we can spend billions of dollars on a war in a country that was no threat to us on any level whatsoever, we can damn well pay for some city rebuilding.

I believe these people should pay back overpayments especially when it comes to condo owners how could my neighbor get a check for 54,000.00 and then road home tells me I'm only getting $17,000.00 very unfair practice. Plus my neighbor says she doesn't have the money to pay it back. WEll she was able to get windows a back porch cover which is not covered by the road home and also gets tons of crap from QVC delivered to her door everyday but she doesn't have any money left. Something is not right with this picture at all and if these people don't have to pay it back them I want the $34,000 owed to me so I can order stuff from QVC everyday and get things added to my condo that the money shouldn't have been used for. I'm not even done rebuilding yet she was done before she got road home because she got a grant from fema. I didn't get crap. Someone rreally needs to investigate these people that got the overpayments from road home and will find that they really were given to much money and should pay it back!

ICF should pay for these overpayments out of there own pockets. As I know it from my time in New Orleans helping a friend rebuild, ICF subbed out the work wich was then again subbed out. and they made boatloas of money for just shuffling paper. I know that in my business if I make a mistake I pay. so should they.

This is dispicable.
The victims are taxpayers, so it is their money anyway.
The State should accept the loss, as there own mistake, or at worst recover it from the contractor that made the mistake in the first place.
Those people have already been through so much already as it is.

I don't know about anyone else, but it seems like our government is taking advantage of the people that are helping them keep their positions. I used to believe that government was all about its people. Now it seems like the people are all for the government. We are being over worked and over charged to make sure that their pockets stay full while we are scraping by while paying upward of $100 a week to get to work and back home in an economy car. Food cost has gone up so much that I can barely afford to go out to dinner because I have to make sure that I have enough food to feed my kids at home. Is the motto of our government all work no play? This happening with the families of Katrina's disaster only goes to show that our government is not worried about our happiness, but rather what we can do to help them profit. Billions of dollars on war and now they want these people who's lives have been tormented and destroyed to pay them for help. That is what tax money is for, not war!!!!

The State messed up and therefore the residents should not be made to suffer for their mistakes.Instead go after the estimators because clearly they did not do their job.
These people have suffered enough.
Don't you just love how the US treats it's citizens?SICKENING.
Next time declare yourselves a foreign country and get foreign aid that does not get repaid.

It is unbelieveable that this people have to pay for the mistakes of others. This goverment have the resources to feed people in Africa, spend trillions of dollars on a war that to my opinion is a catastrophe, give tax breaks to the ones who needs it the least, but can't take care of our own people. The U.S. goverment has neglected our brothers and sisters not only in new orleans but everywhere else nationwide. In this country, the average people are the ones who pay the concequences of the mistakes made by the elite. Please let's vote intelligently, lets have a stronger voice to tell this "corporate own goverment" that they need to take care of their people, Not just the rich ones but all the people..

Un-freakin' believable.

Here's an idea – all those windfall profits that the oil companies have been making??? With 68 Billion dollars in profit you could just about rebuild that entire city and just make it a donation. Then they could write it off on their taxes right?

Seriously, given the amount of money that the richest people in the world have, why can't they do something good with that money, like rebuilding some neighborhoods down in the worst areas of Louisianna (New Orleans wasn't the only place hurt bad). Not a house or two, but how about a few neighborhoods? A few million can build a couple blocks of decent homes down there. Come on Corporate America – you've gouged us this long – how about giving some back! Madonna? Mr. Gates? Mr. McCartney? All you movie stars with your millions – cough some up and help this country. I'm getting a little tired of seeing all your money go to help other countries – We need help here!!!!!

hmmmmm.....
State hires contractor to do assessments.
State-hired contractor does erroneous assessments.
State looks to homeowners, who are still realing from Katrina and all the "help" they've been given. to bail the state out of a contractor's mistake.

Sorry. Doesn't add up.

Why isn't the state looking to the contractor to make good on the mistake? If this was about building a bridge, the state would sue (or threaten to sue) the contractor for any breech or delay.

Guess things are different in Louisiana.

this is a shamed,after all that happen to these people.they are still living in the aftermath ,who every made this error should be responsible for the repayment of money, [icf] this was a scam all
along and no one caught it until people started to enquire adout
money and properties.[icf ] should be held accountable for their
action,or non action until now.

What do we think?

Dunno about the others, but I think ICF owes $2,000,000, and the people who recieved the funds owe nothing.

Don't make them pay for someone else's screwups, especially when that someone else didn't even let them see the documentation on the estimates.

OK, I'll be the meanie...

A fourth grader can do the math as to the question of any overpayment(s) and duh.. they agreed to pay back any overage. In a moral world, the overpaid homeowners would voluntarily give back the excess gift.

Of course this begs the larger question. Part of home ownership is financially protecting the property. It is called I N S U R A N C E. Then, the taxpayers would not have to pay the tab and I guess we would miss out on this wonderful 360 reportage.

This may sound cruel but it is not intendend that way: I am getting tired of hearing about the aftermath of Katrina.

I have lived in Florida all of my life. I have seen every hurricane to come through the state since 1962. But I've never seen a place as screwed up as New Orleans after Katrina. People forget that Katrina hit Florida Before it hit New Orlaeans. And the year before that Florida had FOUR Category 4 hurricanes in one season. I lost my proch roof, most of my main roof, a fence and a tree to one of them. Lots of folks had worse. It took time but we recovered.

After watching and reading about how the people reacted to this hurricane it's no wonder they are in the shape that they are in. This extends from the top to the bottom: From the people who were told to evacuate and didn't to the State and City government who were unprepared, panicky, and just plain stupid. For those who lived between the Mississippi and the lake and were ten feet below sea level with a Catagory 4 hurricane on the way asing "why didn'y you evacuate" is a legitimate question that hasn't yet been answered. I feel terrible that people lost their possesions but to put your life and that of your family in danger with no good reason.... I have a friend who's a Coast Guardsman who was there during the rescue efforts and meet with hostility from the residents because the Coast Guard hadn't gotten their sooner and weren't doing more. I know some residents were grateful but from hearing these stories from my friend there were quite a few who were not.

It seems like all the Mayor and the Governor believed that taking turns passing the buck and the blame was the way to make things better. This game has continued to this day. Yeah, the Feds messed up. But not nearly as bad as the locals. God only knows where the money from the donations and the disaster refielf has ended up. It doesn't look like anyone was really keeping track of it. In this case it ended up in the hands of somebody who actually needed it – but now thay want some of it back !?! The state screwed up again this time. I guess it's the city's turn now?

This is so upsetting to read and Jesus knows I don't understand how in the world this country can continue to STOMP on CITIZENS of this country. Here you have people who have lost everthing. They put their trust in a GOVERNMENT approved organization and look what happens. When is the madiness going to end. Who was over seeing ICF when the estimates were made?

They built a city in a basin surrounded on three sides by water.

A storm finally hit that exposed the threat and we all rush to make it right.

I am as compassionate as everyone, but enough is enough.

MOVE THEM!! DO NOT REBUILD!!

Not a cent should be spent to rebuild. Not a cent should be spent for victims of fires in CA. Not a cent should be spent on anyone that built a house where the Mississippi ran before man moved it and the river decided to go back.

If you build where nature is going to destroy, TOUGH!

We should borrow a few million from Bush's Iraq venture to help pay for some of this.

Not all of our city governments are the same. NOLA has always been horrible when it comes to their city government. Look at SWLA and how effective they were after RITA which was larger and stronger than KATRINA. The city officials in SWLA did an incredible job in helping their citizens. The state level government in La. has always been the joke of the nation – but thankfully with our new Gov. Jindall things are turning around.

So these people didn't complain when they got too much money. Well guess what that money is MY money- that's my tax dollars and I want it back!! If your dense enough to live below sea level then you have to pay for it- I feel the same way about people who have beach houses.

Sorry, but my sympathy for the people in and around New Orleans is about used up. If you recall in the immediate aftermath of Katrina, people were demanding immediate government assistance for the victims, and there was a rush to get money and supplies into the area to try and get things taken care of as quickly as possible. Any time the driving force behind government assistance/action is speed, errors and mistakes are guaranteed to happen, but again, at the time peoples' feelings were "get the help in and we'll figure it out later". Well, later for many of these programs is starting to arrive, and the people affected were aware that this day might in fact come (and I quote:"signed a contract with ICF agreeing to pay money back if overpayments were later discovered"). Now I'm expected to feel sorry for people that have to repay money they shoudn't have received? Not happening.

I lived in New Orleans for a little over a year. The people there are like none other that I've ever met in my life. Despite the complete and utter chaos that the city has experience post-Katrina, the residents of New Orleans have nothing short of HOPE.
Seeing the people stand in those ridiculously long lines for Road Home to rebuild and repair their lives is like nothing that I have ever seen before. What amazes me about this entire situation is that the state and city government put so much of the relief money into rebuilding the French Quarter, hotels, clubs, and casinos to put a band-aid on the city to raise money from tourists. But where is this money going? I mean, the tourists have come to 'major events' such as: Mardi Gras, All-Star Weekend, Essence Fest, Saints Games, Hornets Games, Jazz Fest, and the list goes on. But where has this tourism money that New Orleans "desperately needs" vanished to?
It's almost as though the government is trying to mask the fact that outside of the h Quarter is still in complete and utter chaos. The major companies and businesses have relocated to the Northshore, while schools and hospitals remained chained and closed.
How can anyone tell me that you can reinovate an entire "CBD: Central Business District", but will rape your own loyal and tax-paying citizens of their livelihood?
Visitors may see houses that are still in shambles, compacted and reduced to FEMA trailers, but I see someone's Life. It's not fair to see these people suffer for THREE YEARS and have to overcome even more obstacles. Some say, that the answer is for New Orleans residents to leave New Orleans, LA.... I believe that the answer is the govenment needs to find priority within its people and no longer use band-aids to heal New Orleans' broken heart, and time to show its people some TLC.
God bless the people of New Orleans.

If ICF made the mistake, they should pay the state back. It was their error in estimating. Plain and simple.

So, the state is asking for them to give back the money they shouldn't have received in the first place? Sounds fair to me! As a taxpayer, why should I be the one stuck with the bill?

It sounds like a scam to me. Intentionally WAY overestimate damages on some houses, and pay the money out. Later on, say you overestimated, and ask for the money back. Don't let residents see the estimate report, btw, so they won't find out that you're including, say, six skylights that don't even exist. But yes, say you overestimated, and ask for the money back so that in the end, you don't end up paying out quite as much. Sound far fetched? Not really. Anything to save a buck.. It wouldn't be the first time, and it won't be the last.

It's illegal to not explain (or at least offer to explain) the details of most, if not all, contracts to the contractee. If it is not, the contractee has the right to refute all claims from the contract originator.

Imagine selling insurance without being required to explain what the insured is covered for and the terms and limitations. That will get the insurance company in really hot water, just ask John Hancock or Metropolitan Life.

This would be a good opportunity for Brad Pitt and others who have been helping out in New Orleans to help these people out with their bills!

I am not suprised about anything the goverment does. I have survived through Katrina and I know first hand what damage was done. I live in Mississippi, the forgotton Katrina victums. I still have damage that has not been repaired because the insurance did not pay enough even though I have replacement cost coverage. (By the way my claim had nothing to do with flooding or flood coverage). I applied for help from the goverment and was denied because I have insurance coverage. However, I personally know people that did not have as severage damage as I had who were given a large amount of money with no questions asked. Some of those people have insurance with the same insurance company as I do. So, if you expected anything the goverment to do to make sense; you apparently have never had to deal with them. I do feel that further investivation should be done on all who received this money. From what I have personally experienced; I beleive someone should investigate into where all that money went.

Actually, I worked for ICF for several years, alongside a number of people working on the "Road Home" project in Louisiana. These are hard-working, intelligent people with the wellbeing of New Orleans residents first and foremost in mind, who work long hours and have spent months away from _their_ families to relocate in order to help Katrina victims.

However, the process of assessing the damage to many thousands of sites and getting relief money out _as soon as possible_ is an extremely difficult task, and it is impossible to avoid making mistakes (even for a team as bright and talented as those ICF employees working on this project).

I thought part of the 360-degree perspective Anderson Cooper was going for would involve actually talking to some of the employees of ICF who are trying to speed the post-Katrina recovery, but it turns out it makes a far more sensationalist story to simply paint ICF as the big, faceless, irresponsible bad guy instead of doing some investigative journalism, calling up some folks at the consultancy, talking to them about the difficulties involved, and writing a balanced piece about the epic challenges involved in getting Louisiana back on its feet.

Looks like Anderson Cooper would rather just resort to tabloid-style, David-vs.-Goliath journalism, even if it's not at all an accurate or balanced portrayal of the facts. Too bad.

I appreciate the continual coverage of the ongoing aftermath of Katrina. My family's home in Ocean Springs, MS, was badly damaged and I know firsthand the hell that it was to go through the recovery process. Between post-shock depression and grief, you have to sit on the slab of your foundation everyday, on the phone trying to get a hold of someone (often at the state level) who can help you go through the process correctly. I can't imagine adding in the factor of that person on the other end of the phone asking you for $15,000 when it cost $100,000 to rebuild your house! The fact that it is nearly 3 years later and the government still can't figure out the correct way to handle this situation is appalling.

This certainly is an example of the "plumber's law" (all **** travels down.) I think that the effected residents should file a class action suit against ICF International. I would explore the possibility if I were in their position.

ICF should be sued by the governement and their money gotten back.
But to put these people through all of this remember this is the USA not a third world company. I am sure the people appreciated the President last week there dancing I guess that was because he knew
what was comming down the tubes. This is so sad! Anderson Cooper we the people thank you for staying on top of the job.

Now CNN, Fox,MSNBC,ABC,CBS and NBC have something worthy to
report on other than Rev. Wright get the hint there is real trouble here so you don't have to follow Rev Wright's every move. I am sure CNN
360 will only be the one reporting on. The other newscarriers want to tell you who should talk and who should not.

Can someone please explain to me why the "state" is responsible for covering the losses of these people? The tragedy that NOLA residents have experienced is obviously real and painful, exacerbated by some of the most inept government (at ALL levels) I have witnessed in my lifetime. But the overall idea that ANY level of government is somehow obligated to indemnify us against natural disasters is not sustainable. As pointed out in one of the previous postings, where is the money to come from for these catastrophes? While it breaks our collective heart that so many were devastated, and that their suffering continues to this day, the best thing we can do as a nation is to teach people to start preparing for the next catastrophe. CNN could play a very useful role in this regard.

I feel horrible for some of these people, but... living through a disaster does NOT allow people to treat the Gov't (i.e. US) and this unfortunate time as their personal windfall! There should have been additional checks and balances in place by ICF, but in true form, everyone goes into reactionary mode and starts giving out money so no one gets a black eye or accused of mistreatment. But... bottom line, if people lied on their forms and made false claims, they should be held accountable. We should only assist to bring their property back to the condition it was before. No better, no worse. Plus, I wonder how much other assistance these same people received from all the other "katrina" victims funds that were also handed out.

ICF made the mistakes. ICF should be fined the amount to cover their mistakes.

And here we were led to believe that the Feds were the screw-ups! Paybacks should come out of the Governor's salary.

nothing surprises me much any more with our current administration and its behavior..

looks like an attorney windfall to me – either way, the people will lose, if they stand up for themselves then they will have to pay legal fees, either way, they will be out $$s..

will this nightmare never end.. !!

Make ICF pay back the overpayments and let the homeowners alone.

I am from Louisiana. I can tell you FIRST HAND that the majority of the Katrina "victims" are only victims of their own self destruction. It has been 3 years since that storm hit the gulf coast! When are these LAZY people going to get up off their behinds and do for themselves?!? My grandmother use to say "God helps those who help themselves". This logic seems to be lost on the larger portion of the people effected by Katrina. When that storm hit, it was a modern day version of Sodum & Gomora! God flushed the toilet and all the crap came out! That place is 100% better off for it. I am sure I offended a lot of people with my comments, but the truth hurts!

I assure you not a single applicant for this grant money has any idea how the contractor determined the amount of each grant. Not a single applicant. How can that be? The contractor refused to give this information to the grant applicants! Grant recipients were not able to see any of the reports done by the inspectors. The general consensus was that the contractor had no idea how the grants were being determined. If you questioned the amount of the grant the contractor told you that the appeals process could take months and that it was possible that the program would have no money to pay out by the time the appeal was completed.
For those that are unaware, this contractor was not selected by the City of New Orleans. No one in local government was given any say so in how these funds were to be distributed. This was a STATE RUN program put in place by the former Governor of the state.

Cindy, read it again. It was not the local government of NOLA that made "the mistake". It was Federal.

Also investigate the public adjusters that came here after the storm and lied to get more money from insurance companies for their clients some didn't even have damage and the adjusters lied just to make a dime. I'm so tired of hearing about these poor people keep getting screwed. You know what investigate every single person including me that had anything to do with getting free money and I guarantee close to 75% of all Katrina so called victims received to much compensation. There is so much fraud in this state that it makes me sick. Even investigate pictures taken and given to insurance companies and you will probably find a crap load of people that used pictures of other peoples property to enrich themselves. I know a few it makes me sick. Then the other 25% that got screwed by the road home and their insurance cos. and their condo presidents that spent their insurance money on other things should be awarded compensation for getting screwed. So quit whining and pay back the dam money or show proof that you really had that much damage. Its called receipts.

This is an outrage. IFC made the mistakes, they should pay the state back. Not the little guy.

Our goverment continues to put emphaisis on foriegn affairs while the american people suffer at home. These people should not have to fall for the short fall of our goverment. I am so sick of our countries putting everything before the american people.

While some families used the grants and federal funding to help rebuild, others "took the money and ran" so to speak. I know, personally, of several people who filed false claims and used what money they received for anything BUT rebuilding. Those people were trusted to tell the truth about how much they spent on reconstruction and they lied. These people were not in New Orleans, but on the gulf coast of Mississippi where Katrina actually came ashore. I hope that one day all of this will work out and those at fault will be punished. But I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Is there anyone out there with at least half a brain? Has anyone ever heard of forgiveness? How much more must these American citizens endure, because of the blunders of others? Forget about it!

I think that this is absolutely disgusting! First, we leave these poor people down there to suffer, starve, and die. Now we have the nerve to ask for money back, when it should have never been an issue, and they had to wait so long for help in the first place. Both the state and government should be ashamed of themselves!

If the state is fining ICF for the overestimates and they ask for money back from the residents, isn't that like double dipping? The ICF should pay for their mistakes. If a cashier gives the wrong change they are responsible for making the cash draw balanced!

I am not a victim, but I am from central Louisiana. This is just insane, the victims need to be left alone. If they could afford to repair and rebuild they would not have turned to the STATE of LOUISIANA in the first place!!!!!!!!!! I am not shocked at all for Louisiana to pull something so evil . The state needs to just eat the mistake of their so-called inspector. Better yet, let the state bill him!!!!!!!!! Thanks, Kristie Ardoin

I don't understand, why they would think that it's needed to bill these people who have already suffered, why cause more hardship. they have already lost so much, but i guess in some people's eyes why not just keep taking from them until they really have nothing left.

If any money should be returned, it is the money that was paid to the firm that did the incorrect estimates. Our government needs to do a better job when selecting the companies they want to do business with.

I think this is pure obsurd for the state to even consider such an assinine move due to there poor choices. These poor people have endured enough stress in there lives in the last 21/2 years to last them for a lifetime. This kind of shananigans seems very typical of the whole state of Louisiana, and just like our whole govt. system WE the PEOPLE have to stand up against this kind of corruptness and make the changes so badly needed.

My Question is this. Does ICF make commission off each inspection? If so is it based upon the value or estimate of damage done?
Even though they have been ordered to get back some of the cash, aren't they, the estimators liable?
In Canada if you are given an estimate in writing that is the final amount. Any overage MUST be accepted in a separate receipt.
They were given money to rebuild without knowing the amount?? something sounds fishy.

The government should make ICF accountable for this blunder. One could argue though that the residence should have been aware, but in this day and age, its hard to keep track of and monitor every minutiae law, contract fund etc etc. Thats why we trust these companies.

I think they should be going after the real prbloem here, ICF International. They are the ones who falsely reported damages resulting in the overpayments. They are the ones who are fraudulant, I mean who over estimates. $1.7 million. They need to repay the money and leave these poor victims alone. ICF created and submitted the reports NOT the residents.

This certainly is an example of the "plumbers law" (all fecal objects travel down). I think that the effected residents should file a class action suit against ICF International. I would explore the possibility if I were in their position

The people who received the grant money, signed an agreement stating that if overpaid, they would have to pay the money back. Sounds simple to me.

i think i am going to throw up....hopefully you will bring enogh negative publicity to this situation that the state backs down

Nothing surprises me any more with regard to the absolute mismanagement of recovery from Katrinia.

So lets see it a state hired contractor, state issued grant, federal money. Let the state eat the costs, they have not seemed to have done anything right so far so why penilize the residents of New Orleans unless there was crimminal intent.

I think I am going to throw up.

UNBELIEVEABLE! IT'S NOT BAD ENOUGH THE LOSS THE PEOPLE OF NEW ORLEANS SUFFERED, BUT NOW IT'S A SLAP IN THE FACE TOO! I WAS JUST THERE OVER EASTER WEEKEND TO SUPPORT THE REBUILDING EFFORTS WITH MAKE IT RIGHT 9 AND COULD NOT BELEIVE THE DEVESTATION THAT STILL SURROUNDS THE CITY... AND YET THE PEOPLE OF NOLA ARE SO RESILLIANT AND GRACIOUS FOR EVERYTHING THAT THEY DO HAVE. NOT ONLY DOES THE STATE NEED TO TAKE CARE OF THE PROBLEM WITHOUT IMPOSING ON THE RESIDENTS, BUT IFC SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES FOR NOT DOING THE JOB RIGHT THE FIRST TIME AND THEN FOR EVEN ASKING FOR IT AFTER THE MISTAKE (THEIR MISTAKE) WAS DISCOVERED. THANKS TO CNN FOR KEEPING ON TOP OF THIS!

You have only to thank your great democratic reps who run the state and according to their party are compassionate. Yea right!!

I am amazed that people are surprised by this. LA is one of, if not the most, corrupt state in the union. This really isn't surprising considering they practice civil law rather than common law. Basically, the courts have very little ability to over-rule the legislature. So, there is no pressure on the legislature to pass laws that don't infringe on the rights of citizens. There is also no court oversight of government contracts, so they go to whomever the gives the best bribe.

All of my life I have seen one bungling after another when dealing with the government. I have told my childeren time and time again, do not deal with the government. I say to all Americans, do not deal with the government. Pay your taxes and stay as far away from them as you can.

Not a day goes by where I don't read something like the above...it makes me shake my head in disbelief and wonder what dimension I am actually living in...because it isn't reality. For all those poor people in New Orleans who had their lives irrevocably altered by Katrina...to be further screwed by the government and a system that clearly doesn't work...to then CHARGE them BACK when the money the received probably didn't cover close to all of their repairs...it just makes me sick.

BOTTOM LINE IS THIS. WE ARE SPENDING BILLIONS IN IRAQ TO FIX THERE INFRASTRUCTURE AND LOSING OUR SOLDIERS IN THE PROCESS AND WE OVER LOOK OUR OUW PEOPLE. IS THER SOMETHING WRONG WITH THAT PICTURE

This is no surprise, there have been so many excuses of misappropriation of funds in New Orleans. Now the government has found a way to put the burden on the homeowners while the real theives walk away with millions.

What I don't understand with everyone is if you made an overpayment to your electric company, your mistake. Wouldn't you want that money back? Before using that money, it was their resposibility to ensure that it was their money to use. They assumed it was without verification. That is a shame, hopefully they've learned their lesson. Next time if you live in a flood plain, buy flood insurance along with your home owners insurance. That way, you won't be out any money.

This is typical of our great country, America. We as a society do not care about the less fortunate. Period.

My sister and her husband were in New Orleans the months following the hurricane with other volunteers assisting in the initial re-building of housing. Their group and others like it were eventually forced out by the federal bureaucracy demanding sometimes 2-3 inspectors from different governmental levels be actively involved in their efforts. How many hands are going to end up in these people's pockets??????

Government in action: You make a mistake, you pay for it; they make a mistake, you pay for it.

This is one of the reasons I so vehemently oppose government involvement in people's lives: government is fundamentally irresponsible, and when they screw up, as they do with appalling frequency, it's the people who get screwed.

There's a lot of clamour for various programs that make government responsible for paying everyone's medical bills. Katrina affected a very small percentage of the U.S. population–how bad are the government screw-ups going to be in a government program that affects everyone?

More government is never the solution–it just shifts the problems around, making them worse in the process.

I would have to believe that if the state had a "contract" with ICF – then there is a "fiduciary" responsibility on the part of ICF – if they failed to accurately estimate – due to recklessness- like not spending the time to note that building does or does not have skylights- then the state should be going after ICF- not the recipients of the grants- and what about the federal agencies- if there is gross negligence – it seems to me they ought to be involved in correcting it, isn't the federal grant- sufficient identification of their need to be involved

Simple answer: yes, it is cruel. Come on!!! Had they seen the paperwork, maybe. But, in this situation, absolutely inappropriate.

It sounds like the contractor, ICF made the mess. Let them clean it up! Ask ICF to pay back the money they received for a job poorly performed, and back-charge them for their errors, not the homeowners.

Hi – I am in Gulfport, MS – less than an hour from New Orleans. I am totally aware of the hardship and the process of trying to rebuild that is going on there. For the government to request back funds GRANTED to victims is – in one word – ludicrous. I believe that the homeowners should go through the bills of everything that was required to rebuild their homes and BILL the government for funds not presented to them to make up the difference in what these victims had to pay out of pocket because the government would rather spend money on war than help their own. Basically, it should work like this: the government granted funds of $20,000 to an individual to repair $50,000 of work. Take all the bills, including materials and labor, minus the $20,000 granted and send copies of the bill to the ICF company and to the state governor – even the senator. Let's see how it adds up. And of course it would have to be a group effort with a representative, but I think it would be prudent and would certainly stop requests for repayments of funds that were so sorely needed to reconstruct their homes! I would LOVE to see how they react to that!

If the state is fining ICF it should be for 1.75 million dollars, and the state should not fine the home owners a thing.
I have a hard time buying into the home owner not be allowed to see the estimate of damages and the apparent total lack of oversight at all levels – the entire Katrina cleanup has been nothing but one paper work drill after another delaying any and everything according to media reports – why was this one thing any different than all the rest?

One last rant; last time a tree fell in a wind storm at my house I didn't get a grant to fix it, why are the poor suffering people of Katrina my problem?

If ICF made the mistakes, ICF should have to pay the money back! Thanks to the 360 crew.....no one would have ever known if you hadn't refused to stop covering the story.

I agree. The contract they signed should be void on the basis that the State did not act in good faith by not allowing the residents to review their estimates. Especially if there is a clause saying they'd pay back any money. I very much doubt many people would have taken the chance. This is ridiculous. I'd take it to court.

This entire mess has been mishandled from the day Katrina hit, and it just doesn't get any better. Sadly, the people most affected seem to have too much Big Easy in the blood. If these were New Yorkers, I can guarantee that Washington DC would be mobbed with protesters, insurance companies that have refused to do the honorable thing would be driven out of town and local politicians tossed into Lake Ponchartrain. But then again, that implies that people have some hope things are going to get better. Will anyone ever offer it – or just words, and TV specials?

They should be happy they are alive. Most of them were to dumb to evacuate. I had a flood ruin my house and since my home was in a flood zone it was considered my fault for building there. Fighting with my insurance company was ridiculous, but I got money from them, money from a policy I had paid into for years. I got no federal or state aide. And if I would have I would've paid back every cent. See, I'm one of those people who considers himself a true American, someone who pays for what he owns through hard work. Since when is our government responsible for mother nature. Grow up, suck it up, and repay the money you owe. Who signs a contract they can't read anyway. Let that money go back to the state to repair and fix the levees that broke. In my opinion its pretty dumb to live in an area that is known to be flood prone anyway. Just my two cents!

Before the state gets back one dime....I think the people affected should initiate a class action suit. I think that they should require the state to substantiate their claims based on a case by case – work requirement submitted against work paid for. The fact that the owners of the houses were not allowed to SEE what the contractor said needed repair/replacement should have been a huge red flag. The state didn't do their due diligence per the people they hired – not the fault of the homeowner. If overpayment was made....the state should be required to justify it...line by line.

i dont understand how we can live in the most powerful country in written history arguably, and a scenario like katrina could develop this way. why is it always tough love and tougher legislation for minorities of all races in the U.S.. that bridge fell in minnesota and the federal government was all over that, even in 911 the government stepped in with reconciliation legislation, countless other examples of favoritism. but katrina victims, they get scattered all over the damn country after being left to fiend for themselves for days without aid. the BIGGEST natural disaster in U.S. history, new orleans was almost totally lost and those U.S. citizens are now being asked to give money to the government that drew up this faulty, unconsiderate legislation. – the truth is the U.S. (not the people, but the policy driven government) does what they want to do, when they want to do it. so when they say that they cant fix katrina, guess what....its cause they dont want to.

Considering that the homeowers weren't allowed to see the paperwork prior to submission and the contracted company obviously didn't comply with basic standards for accuracy (spending only a few minutes in a house and including elements not present in the home like skylights in the estimate), I'd say the state needs to release the homeowners from repayment. The state needs to accept that the company contracted to handle the process was grossly fraudulent and go after that company for the payment. Also, any remainder, the state should eat because the state obviously didn't perform adequate vetting and oversight of the company. If I was a homeowner having to spend $100k to repair damages to my home, I would consider a $20k grant to be inadequate and wouldn't have even considered the amount could ever be an UNDERpayment. It's not the homeowners' fault – it's the state's fault.

O and the Road Home didn't make any mistakes its the people that they hired to give estimates on the property they were to lazy to do their job and should be looked into. Also the homeowners probably had alot to do with getting higher estimates. Making the estimator feel sorry for them I've already seen it happen. The estimator usually gave more because it wasn't their money going to the homeowner. They have everything to do with these homeowners getting more money I would bet my life on it.

Typical. I cannot admire enough the people who returned to New Orleans and continue to put up with the crap that every level of government has thrown at them. It's a special place, but the price for living there continues to rise.

Ok, call me totally "selfish", but why are we giving people money to rebuild in a city that is completely below sea level and at complete risk for suffering a similar reoccurrence of flooding should another hurricane happen to cross paths with it again? There should be some assumed risk, in all of this not blind faith in the government, and the rest of the tax payers to bail them out in times of trouble.

Ridiculous.

So now more tax dollars are going to auditors to check ICF's work?

Since homeowners where not privy to the appraisers paperwork, the burden should not be on the homeowners after the fact. Instead of the state insisting ICF collect excess grant money, it should sue ICF for negligence and collect through its insurance coverage. The suit should include overestimation costs and fees to outside auditors to determine the extent of this malpractice.

My wife and I just returned from New Orleans yesterday for a four-day visit. I've been there two times before, in 1994 and 2000, but only briefly. The people there were wonderful to us. The city is a treasure. Katrina exposed the lousy and almost criminal state and city government, and the just as terrible Homeland Security Dept. This latest outrage, and the entire Katrina experience is this – if your town or city is hit with a disaster like this, you're on your own. The little guy has to clean up the mess themselves. On our trip we kept on saying, 'If this was a foriegn country the U.S. would have treated New Orleans better.' Sad to say it looks like we were right.

I'm not going be judgmental. There seems to be somehting missing here. If we have the funds to keep our soldiers overseas then we better damn well take care of our own backyard before we start cleaning up others. It just amazes me everyone looks to the homeowner for everyone's screw ups. What about the contractor, ICF International. They are the ones that over estimated. They are supposed to be the experts. Have they stepped up to the plate and offered anything? What about their insurance company? Not saying they should be perfect but I think they don't have a good system if it takes this long to find out they over paided people. The homeowners should be able to keep it considering the hell they went through. This country was built on the United We Stand concept. How long to we have wait to start practicing what we preach? Just an after thought. Let the contractor give back part of the profit they made ove this event. Not sure how the sleep at night. Sure know I couldn't.

How are you going to sign something that states you will owe your hard earned cash if incorrect without looking at the document first? Yes, it is sad, but at some point someone somewhere is going to have to take responsibility.

As with every story related to Katrina there is more than one person to blame. The families that signed the paperwork without reviewing the estimate, ICF for hiring people that didn't care what happened to these families and the state for not putting in place competent oversight. The repayment of this money should be covered by all three groups. ICF should cover the cost for every home where they included items that were obviously not required. i.e. non existent skylights, windows above the water line, ... The state should cover 3/4's of the remainder and the families the remainder. Harsh? When you think about how we as individuals have quit taking responsibility for our decissions I would say no it's not harsh at all.

The unfortunate part of this is that the remainder of the tax payers in the state are going to get stuck again wiht a bill that they should not have a part of.

The Road Home Program was way too flawed to begin with. Initially few people even knew the program existed – those who did were those who were SHOPPING for these federal grants. There are a good number of folks – home suffered little but wind damage, but ended up getting more than $120K from the Road Home Program. I hope those cheating fools are the ones hit w/ the bill! Unfortunately, those who are in sincere need are those who are denied! My parents home flood every time it DRIZZLES, and the program denied my parents an IOTA to fix our home.

The sad part is that most of the allocated money is still available, but the application process to truly help those who need it is way too complicated and flawed!

I am a college student, and went to NOLA this past March on spring break with my school to help rebuild from Katrina. It is sad the amount of devestation, almost 3 years later. To send a bill for $13,000 is ridiculous, and absurd. Most of America has forgotten about the Gulf Coast, and most of the volunteers are either students, AmeriCorps, or Churches. After all the terrible mistakes the government made in the aftermath of Katrina, and Rita, they should be ashamed of themselves. NOLA itself has lost 60% of it's population. It's just sad.

Thank you, for showing that the Gulf Coast, especially NOLA still needs more help. There is so much aid that the residents still haven't received. I know that I'm going back down in January and in March 2009. I hope more people go down to volunteer. And if not to raise a hammer, for tourism. Some thing to help their economy. God knows that the government is doing anything to help them; they only make it worse.

This is disgusting. Halliburton overcharged the government millions of dollars in Iraq, and the Pentagon decided to not pursue getting that money back, but our government continues to pursue individuals in this insane way when they feel they have too much. Instead of billing these people for this money, they should be given MORE help to rebuild their homes and their businesses. I want to know exactly what the millions of dollars from the government and various aid agencies did in NO anyways, considering the lack of progress and the thousands of people who still do not have the basic necessities of life there.

I worked there as a Catastrophe Adjuster after Katrina. And this does not suprise me in the least.

Knowing that the estimator spent only 5 minutes in your home and then signing a contract agreeing to pay back any overcompensations after being refused a copy or even a viewing of the estimates seems kind of ill-thought out at the least... and even after signing such documents, to use every penny of the refund and not prepare for the fact that you might actually be required to do as the contract says... I really don't know what to say.
NOT expect to pay the government? Maybe I am from Mars, but I would expect most people to rather expect to have to deal with MORE government bulls**t sooner or later. After all, I'm pretty sure that they won't be on anyones Christmas card list these days.
Lots of worse things have happened because people 'expect' and 'assume.' If you signed the dotted line, pay your dues.

OUTRAGIOUS!!.......If America keeps treating its own like this we wont have to worry about immigration problems.....because no one will want to come here! We will no longer be considered a great place to live.

Let's see. The government gave these people too much money and now it wants it back. And you people are crying about it. Well let me tell you, the government doesn't have any money. Its MY money and I want it back. Personally, I don't think they should have gotten any of MY money at all. If you think so, then give them some of YOUR money. I'm sick and tired of everyone thinking they can take MY money and spend it however they like. The people of NO are not victims, they're idiots. Only idiots would live below sea-water protected by leaky dikes.

Ok, there were six skylights that didn't exist and 22 windows that didn't need repaired on that estimate that added to the $20,000 grant total for that one homeowner. But the homeowner spent $100,000 repairing his home, so it stands to reason that there were things that were not on that estimate that should have been. Instead of sending out an arbitrary bill, it seems to me that new – correct – estimates need to be done based on the repair work that was actually done.

This deal sounds like a half-baked solution to the problem and it also sounds a little fishy, to me.

...and the government thought that mortgage lending was crooked! At least when you sign mortgage documents you get copies to keep. In this case, where the grantor is withholding legal documents, how can you enforce something upon the grantee? To make it fair, I would simply ask for receipts, and if the grantee has receipts for proper repair items in excess of the grant monies paid, leave them alone. At least these people are being pro-active in rebuilding. Those who do not have proper receipts should stand to payback at least some of the difference. If the state does not recover the $2 million, oh well. $2 million should not break the state coffers...it is simply not that much money when you are referring to a whole city.

First, I believe there has been more corruption and over payments for this "force of nature." All payouts should be reviewed by some indepent third person that could hopefully determine what was underpaid, properly paid, and overpaid (I'm just not sure this is possible this late). Then the "underpaid" should be compensated and the "overpaid" held liable. It appears these "overpayments" warrant this third party review.

Time out. Has America completely gotten rid of personal resonsibility? The signed contracts that said they would be on the hook and it sounds like at least some of them knew in advance that the estimates were wrong. But they signed the deals, took the money, and are now complaining after the work is done. I could feel more compassionate if they complained before they took the money (which would have made a great CNN story then), but after all we've done to pour money into what is arguably the most corrupt culture in America, I have to confess that my patience and sense of compassion is wearing thin. What is next, people complaining about getting good deals on mortgages and then wanting the government to bail them out? Oh. Um. Wait.

Well the free ride has ended, people who pay no insurance want the Rich Uncle Sam to come to their rescue, well that "Uncle " is flat broke and the "people" need to understand that and once again become the people this country was built on,,,AMERICANS for AMERICA, AND STOP NURCING OFF A DRY TITT. WORK WORK AND MAKE THIS COUNTRY GROW FROM THE SWEAT OF ITS PEOPLE,,,,

If I read the article correctly, the state is asking for money based on the differences between what their inspector suggested and what ICF paid out. If the state inspector overestimated, as was the case with Mr. Montegut, then why is he responsible? He still spent way more in overall repairs anyway. It's not like he went on vacation with the extra money. How is it overpayment if it wasn't even enough? This might be way off base, but it seems like the state is trying to take back all the dollars that didn't come from the Federal Government. LA's government seems to be a true confederacy of dunces.

Seems to me that if the contractor, ICF International, overpaid as many as 5000 residents, then the state needs to collect its refund from ICF International. ("your stupidity does not make it MY problem...")

Also sound like there should be a COLLOSAL class-aciton suit against the state and ICF International, and a complete audit of ICF books, to see exactly how much and where state money comes and goes...

I'd imagine that the state and ICF would probably LOVE to pay only 1 point 75 mil, instead of...say...$1hundred 75 Mil.

This is completely and utterly ridiculous, I believe that the State made the mistake; the State can eat the cost of their mistake. At least these victims used to money to rebuild. They could have taken the money and split. Sounds like that’s what they should have done if you ask me. But who am I???????

Mes Chers,

Someone made money off this one- and in Louisana and New Orleans, this is a way of life for politicians and the prominent business man. I think that the Feds woul be wise to drop thier very important steriods investigation and start tracking -find the estimators, see if that paperwork was fudged, then go to the estimator's boss and see if it was fudged there- in other words- find the errors, then you will will have the error-makers and then you can hold them responsible- not the poor slob trying to get his life back together. And then tell the politicians in Louisana that if that doesn't work, the Feds will go after them and their holdings because of their lousy stewardship of the project. As they always say- Follow The Money.....

Enforcement of those contracts would be unconscionable.

So lets get this straight: people took money for repairs they knew were false, and now are complaining that they have to give it back? Its a crime to withdraw money from a bank account when you know it is not yours, this is no different.

And as well: am I supposed to feel sorry for some guy who got money to repair his 22 second floor windows? Any one who's home's second floor contains 22 windows sounds like their doing well enough to give back the money they essentially stole from the governement....

Further to that: they all should have read the contract stipulating they would have to pay back overages.....because you were too inept to read the contract does not release you from your obligations under it.

no sympathy here.

I have only one comment to make. We paid millions of dollars to the widows of 9-11, but somehow the people of New Orleans is different??? Can someone explain this please because to me it is most definitely discrimination.

Oh, come on now. No one is going to be forced to repay money that was supposed to come to them. It's just where people took more than they needed that repayments will be demanded.

Apparently all you have to do is tell CNN the repair cost was "far greater" than the grant and you are instantly a victim. I'm not going to believe any of this until I see actual contractor bills. If they can show that, then it's a tragedy (or they were robbed by carpetbagging contractors). Until then though, wait for some more information before crying for the Montegut.

And remember, this request for repayment isn't coming from the evil Republicans in the White House, it's coming from all the Democrats in Baton Rouge.

Thank God that 360 is still on the trail on the aftermath of this horrendous situation. What an insult to the good folks of Louisana who are trying (with limited assistance, I might add) to bring some type of normalcy back into their lives. I hope ICF

Come on. If there are mistakes in the estimate then the money should go back. If you mistakenly overpay your phone bill because you are hurried or in the middle of a tragedy you would expect to get your money back when you realized the mistake – right?

Randi,

I appreciate your optimism in the beginning, but the reality is just baffles the mind. It is amazing, yet not surprising, how incompetent our government (be it local, regional, state, or federal) really is. It truly is a model of bureaucratic balderdash. Billing the devastated homeowners for their profound idiocy just goes to show that government lacks the fundamental compassion dictated in the United States Constitution (promote the general welfare anyone?). It is unconscionable that these incompetent pencil pushers should even think about billing people who lost everything, but some bean counter thought it was a “good idea”. I don’t think anyone in this country really wants to hear anymore “good ideas” from our representatives. It is the same ‘pass the buck, darn the luck” speech that we have received for the past 20 years. Oh Harry Truman, where are you when we need you? Thanks for the story Randi, you guys are on top of it.

Once again the little people suffer. The government made a mistake, the people used the money to fix thier homes and have now become tax paying citizens of New Orleans once again . As long as they can prove they spent the money on the house, why not just forget it. Penny wise and pound foolish again, or should I say still? Does the governmetn og after contractors tha tcharge them a grand for a toilet seat? Bet not.

Has no one stopped to think that they should make ICF International repay the money???? After all it was thier mistake. How can you ask someone who has lost EVERYTHING to repay what they obviously do not have?

Having been through the actual process from beginning to end, I find it difficult to believe this gentleman didn't find something fishy about the numbers he was given. By the time you deal with ICF, you've already had the insurance mumbo jumbo dished out. The people actually working with claimants were trying to do their best, but they were often rushed. In the end, we were told where to sign but when we tried to ask about "pay back if" language, we were told, "don't worry, it will never happen". The Feds, the State, the workers have all tried to do what's right, with a lot of speed bumps and mistakes. The biggest mistake of all is hiring a 'for profit" company to manage the process. Somehow bonuses paid out on the backs of other people's misery don't make sense. Am I surprised some people may have gotten more than they should? No. Unfortunately early in the process, standing in line just days after the storms, I realized first hand greed was left behind with the other damage left behind by Katrina and Rita.

I used to live in Louisiana. The way the state government is acting is par for the course. The over the top corrupt state officials do everything they can to fleece everyone, especially the residents of Louisiana, for every single red american cent they can.
The tragedy of Katrina just made it aware to the nation just how poorly Louisiana residents are treated by their politicians.
I haven't notice very many stories like this in Mississippi or Alabama.......

i haven't heard of any of you guys setting up a fund to help katrina victims... all america is anymore is a bunch of pissers and moaners. people have complained about the iraq war for 6 years and what has it been solved? complained about the destruction of new orleans and is it rebuilt? moaned and groaned about bush being president and has he been impeached? if you want to really make a change, get off your lazy duff and do something about it.

I think the people have been through enough! This has got to be a shock! It isn't their fault the damage was over estimated. Shouldn't we give the people of the U.S. some help without expecting a repayment?We certainly give enough money to other countries, not to mention forgiving debt.

You know i am so tired of hearing about poor poor New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina. I live in Mississippi where the hurricane actually did most of its damage and i dont see anyone feeling sorry for our people. The levies did not hold in New Orleans causing flooding of an area that is below sea level.....big shocker there....what about the other areas of Louisiana that were devistated. All the media ever talks about is New Orleans. Why not talk about entire towns that were completly destroyed and are now back up and running instead of the small parts of New Orleans that are still in ruins because people would rather complain about not getting help than they would help themselves. Katrina happened....that will not change, but if people want to get back on thier feet they will have to work for it. nothing in life is free.

"It is beyond me that a country could do that to it’s own people."

Francie, it sounds like it was a few men who scammed the State, not a country scamming Louisiana residents.

Just because a contract says it, doesn't mean it's necessarily so. In a situation such as this where an individual has no bargaining power and is forced to sign a contract to get desperately needed help (which should have been provided with no contract), oppressive contract terms such as this are often thrown out by a court, as this clearly should be. Where are New Orlean's public interest lawyers???

Here's a novel idea. If the government was going to fine ICF anyway, why not make the fine at least equal to the amount of overpayments. That way ICF bears the burden of its mistakes, rather than the hurricane victims. It is astounding that Miami can be hit by a category 5 hurricane and is rebuilt in less than a year, but years after Katrina, New Orleans is no where near being rebuilt.

I cannot believe how these people have suffered and continue to suffer!! Common decency says that the government waives it's "right" to bill the homeowners for these "overestimates" - and holds the contractor liable to repay the difference. Didn't the state require the contractor to carry Errors & Omissions insurance coverage in the event this kind of thing happened? That's just common practice and, since the homeowners had absolutely nothing to do with those decisions, it's just common sense that the homeowners should not have to return the money.

Thank you for reporting the story and keeping it in public view. Our country has to figure out how to fix this and never let it happen again!

So, I'm no brain surgeon, I'm just a regular 41 year old US born Hispanic woman & I'm not even a College graduate. But, I'd like to know why none of our candidates running for President are discussing this?? Why as the current guy in office completely taken this subject off the radar??? The last time he spoke of this he just gave the same speech – "They are slowly coming back", it's too bad the speech is far from REALITY regarding this state. It's ridiculous to me how this country has become so concerned with other nations & nation building (which he stated we'd not do) in lieu of taking care of our own people 1st. I didn't vote for the guy in office now but I hope the next person may do a better job. In reading history I long for a real President who says & actually does work for the entire 50 United States. It is just shameful what these Katrina people have gone thru & now continue to humilate them more. It's just shameful!

Back in May, 2007 on NOLA.com, it was reported that several of ICF's top executives received huge bonuses the same year they won the contract to administer the Road Home Project. ICF's chairman and CEO received a $1.7 million bonus; the company's COO received a $1 million bonus; and ICF's CFO received a $650,000 bonus.

So if they screwed up, let their executive officer's give back their bonuses.

2 million dollars is a drop in the bucket compared to what ICF was paid to perform the inspections. Why isn't the company and their executives forced to pay back the 2 million dollars in mistakes that they made.

Sure, the home owner was probably over paid, but when you loose everything you start rebuilding with the money you have and you base everything off that.

When will the goverment contractors be held accountable for their mistakes?

This is very saddening for those hurt by Katrina. I feel the state should be held responsible for the fact is they hired the unqualified idiots to inspect these damaged homes. I myself felt the effects of Hurricane Charlie and when my home was inspected it wasn't even a portion of what it cost to repair. My heart is truly with all of those 300 people affected by this tragedy. I feel the state should suck it up and move forward.

I really feel bad for Katrina victims like Mr Montegut, HOWEVER, I have lived in Houston for over 12 years now. Crime, and slums go with city life (don't get me started), yet after Houston opened it's arms; subsidized homes, apts, and condos; provided Aid Services (at no charge, on top of the Federal Grants); the Katrina victims who left their homes in ravaged Nola then proceeded to destroy Houston.
Rapes, breaking/entering, and homicide jumped 200% in the first year they were here. They started shreiking "UNFAIR" when we told them to get a job and pay your own bills – after 1 year and a half of living off our generousity. Some of them broke down and started working, GREAT – no problem. The ones who didn't, though, trashed the free housing they had received before they left.

I think that, yes, some people probably did get more than they should have, but take a look at what the money went to! Did it go to repair Nola? or did it go to "D-Boy's Rolex and the bling for my baby's momma"? There are many people who should give their money back to the government because they cannot handle money/finances – Mr. Montegut is NOT one of them!!!!!

The State of Louisiana itself demanded hundreds of thousands of dollars back from people whom the State "overpaid"–at entirely its own discretion–during the first 2 months of Katrina. I know because after having lost everything, 2 full years later I received a notice from the State demanding back monies with the threat of sending the matter to collections. Louisiana and nearly every federal and state agency involved in the Katrina aftermath is simply reprehensible. The federal government should not be "ok" with its people living in trailer homes forever as a result of this natural disaster, nor should our govt. accept the magnitude of New Orleanians who will never return to the once-fantastic city because of its deplorable treatment of the rare and wonderful people who are trying to make the city heal. Shame on Louisiana agencies for neglecting and now harrassing Katrina survivors.

How DARE they!? What about those people who still haven't seen a penny? If ICF "overestimated" they should be responsible and should bear the costs. What a shame. It makes me sick.

Why would a person invest $100,000 in "repairing" a house in the Lower Ninth Ward to begin with? There isn't a house in that area worth $25,000.00.

The way the people of New Orleans have been treated by our goverment is beyond sad. As a volunteer who has traveled to N.O. many times to help the rebuilding process I have seen the hardship these people have faced with the relocation of family and friends, then to have OUR GOVERMENT expect them to pay for a mistake THEY made, is too much for these wonderful people to bare. FEMA still has thousands of ruined trailers sitting in a field outside of N.O. that are completely useless now, and guess who paid for those...thats right....taxpayers. Give them a break for once and call it even.

$1.75 M divided by 5000 residents is $350 each.

Does anyone smell a skunk in this whole thing. These people where in a desperate place. They would have sold their souls to the devil, to get back in their home or have anyplace for their children to stay other then the street. For them to even put such a clause in the contract to begin with leads me to believe that there intentions where to not only defraud the state but the people that qualified for assistance. I will loan you 15,000 dollars to fix your home but you will have to pay me back, 13,000 of it. Sounds shady to me. I hope the government doesn't allow these people to be treated so cruel and crass. This is suppose to be American, the greatest country in the world. Uhmmm, I don't see it.

Meanwhile roughly $12 billion dollars is being spent every month in Iraq. Where the priorities at? I suppose people are like eggs in the eyes of the government as the break a few to "make a cake."

It is clear what should occur. ICF should pay not only fines but the amounts in overpayment (2 million) plus the cost of reinspection...period. Homeowners have already spent the money in good faith. It is obvious that the grant money would not cover all the costs...so the homeowners are tapped. That's not to mention the devaluing of their homes they have had to endure due to the housing crunch, dollar devaluation, and property value decline due to total devaluation of the New Orleans community due to the damage.

Taxpayers should also not be held responsible for another poor choice of contract assignment by the Fed. Why is it that our government insists on always going easy on the corporations perpetrating the damage and instead take it out on the american people. Case in point....housing crunch. The banks get bailed out by the Fed with the Gov's blessing while homeowners lose their homes and the taxpayer is footing the bill through national debt and huge dollar devaluation through inflated money supply.

This trend has to change...

ICF gets paid to make mistakes and then also gets paid to correct mistakes. For ICF, mistakes are a win-win. The more mistakes they make the more they earn. I wish they would spend as much effort identifying and correcting mistakes to the disadvantage of grant recipients as they do the over payments.

The way the Road Home Program has handled our elderly and disabled rises to the level of a crime against humanity.

Yes, New Orleans' homeowner families feel 'entitled' to these grants. The US Army Corps of Engineers designed and built our levees, which were maintained just fine by locals, and these levees fell down like movie props without even being overtopped. Our losses were caused by the federal government. we should at least get help to get back into our homes.

Ever notice that the government is more eager and insistent about getting money back than it is to get it out? The victims should hang onto it for about three years, delay and be ignorant, then give back only a fraction of what is owed.

It is what politics has taught us to do.

This is absolutely ridiculous. If someone should not have gotten a certain amount, then why should they not be expected to give it back? People are forgetting that this program was designed to help people by giving away money – taxpayer’s money. This program is not an entitlement. If you gave the cashier at the grocery store a $20 bill and thought you handed them a $5, you’d expect your overpayment back when you realized it. And you’d have reason to.

Wow, when I saw the title I was shocked. I feel so bad for people in New Orleans. =[

Let the State of Lousiana cover the mistakes the feds and ICF made.
Maybe next time they will be more careful.

As long as they can pass the buck, they and the department heads who blindly approve these oversights will never take accountablity.

Nor will they be fired for being incompetent.

As for the inspectors, they should immediately pull their licenses, and
charge them with fraud.

As for the Fema, and the idiots running the Katrina cleanup.
The entire program is flawed. And, like the IRS is over extended
with no cash flow to back it up.

As a tax payer, I am exhausted paying taxes for programs, wars and
faulty ideals that no longer serve Americans.

If the Bush adminstration had spent the money rebuilding America instead of IRAQ, can you image where we would be as a Nation.

Educated and safe.

Not now, not for a long time...We are nearly broke.
And, its because we are always in a reactionary state of thinking.
We need to operate from a state of Action...

I am sorry for the Families in Katrina.

I just hope no looses their homes to taxes or fines after all of this.

Since grant money is really tax money and these people were and are still taxpayers what they really got was some of their own money.

As I see it, if we can spend billions evey month on foreign interests and foreign aid, we should somehow be able to find the money to aid and address the domestic interest of our people first. What our government has done and continues to do not just to the people of Louisianna but to so many other affected areas of our country when something like this happens is no different than leaving the money on the nightstand so to speak.

The contractor that the government hired should not only have to pay a fine but also be responsible for restitution, (they write it off as a loss on their taxes anyway).

The government on the other hand should be held accountable to the people of Louisianna for yet another bungled mess created by the policies and performance (or lack thereof) of the current administration.

welcome to America!

If ICF made the mistake – they are the ones who should be billed. I bet they were not living in trailers......

This is absolutely horrible.... we are forcing american people that were devistated by a natural disaster, who in the wake of tragedy were treated like third rate citizens, to pay back federal dollars after everything they've been through. All because of some shady IFC operation, used by our government, that probably abused the situation on purpose to turn larger profits. In the meantime we send billions of dollars to Iraq to help rebuild. Which, Iraq has seen a sharp increase in GNP because of oil sales (hmmm I wonder?!?) and has not contributed a cent to their own rebuilding. Sometimes you just want to puke. Everybody gives the Rev. Wright a hard time for not being patriotic.... but seriously how is "our government" (and I say that very loosely) being patriotic here???? "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism" -Thomas Jefferson

Because this administration can spend literal billions on an illegal war, but can't afford to absorb a pittance like $2 million dollars to victims of a city completely devastated through that same administration's utter incompetence?

How far does it have to go before we finally rise up and STOP THIS? WHAT have the American people become, that we allow this to continue? Haven't we already paid in enough blood and sweat and tears and pain for this administration's egregious and outrageous conduct and greed?

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! NO MORE!

New Orleans is not the only community hurting...the overpayment they got is what Biloxi, Ms. never got...to see fema communitys, and homeless people disgusts me...rent went up in insane levels, now gas, the government is a JOKE

How much did the CEO and executives of this company make? I would think their pay was overestimated too. Let's see if they will pay anything back!

Insult Upon Injury. Take it out of Michael Chertoff and Michael Brown's skins – I say! The Gall! These DHS & FEMA clowns got away with a lot and not the victims have to pay ? No Way! Take it out of the Military and their subcontractors that's sucked Billions too much for Iraq contracts while Katrina raged!

The constant news regarding the poor state of affairs continuing to cripple the taxpayers in our country is so disheartening. A country so capable of great things is ridden with irresponsible and careless lawmakers who continue to line their own pockets while others go hungry, sick and homeless. It's got to be so exasperating for the people of NOLA. It is for me and was not effected.

This is a black eye on the state, the citizens, and above all the media. Disaster victims have historically come up on the short side in situations like this and it is no surprise to me that there is now a blurb about repayments. While I am sympathetic for the citizens who do not know any better, I hardly give kudos to the media for carrying on with a new subject that gathers more attention. I suggest reporting on something that is actually conclusive. This blog is either for praise or publicity for the common American to stand up and flood state and federal governments with electronic petitions. The government would have more than likely overthrown this issue out as soon as the victims stood their ground.

Not amazing at all, but if anyone needs to pay up it should be ICF specially if they were padding their estimates with false damages.

HOW IS IT THAT THE POOR HOMEOWNERS ARE BEING ASKED TO REPAY GRANT. THIS IS A DISGRACE ON AMERICA. SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME THAT THE SUPERDOME IS FIXED AND UP AND RUNNING AND PEOPLE ARE STILL STRUGGLING TO GET THEIR HOME REPAIRED. THE US GOVERMENT SHOULD BE ASHAMED AND EMBARRASED.

My faith in my government to make the right choices continues to be eroded. It seems to me that the only way that the people of New Orleans are being helped is through individuals and non-profits. When will our government wake up and realize they are failing us.

What AMAZES me the most is that we can spend billions of dollars on a war and rebuilding other countries but yet we leave our own behind in the dust...it's sick, sad, and WRONG! Charity starts at home...why should victims be responsible for a government that failed them? We can send all this money to ther places, why not send it here, let the govenment pay for their own mess!

You have got to be kidding !! This outreageuos. ICF Should be 100% responsible for this sitiuatation. They are the ones who made the mistake not the homeowner . ICf is the suppposed expert in this,I understand the families signes saying they would held responsible for errors but This company certainly took advantage of these people in NOLA. WAKE UP AMERICA and read the fine print dont trust GOVERMENT contractors insist on looking at the paper work.

Based soley on what you reported, and without the benefit of ICF's version. I can only speculate that if indeed ICF did error, then they and they alone are responsible. Their escape clause,( overpayment is later discoved, whether/not their-ICF- error), is unconscionable! There would be no overestimates if the job was done right the first time. there are no excuses! If Fraud was commited on ICF's part, then ICF should be held accountable, not their intended victims,(the suvivors of Katrina.
This is just another example of a Broken goverment!

Katrina missed New Orleans by a mile. This disaster was caused by man made levees failing prematurely due to decades of neglect.

When a real category5 hurricane hits New Orleans, and it's going to happen, a twenty foot wall of water will shoot right down Bourbon street and engulf the whole city. Even the great and mighty liberals in Washington will be able to do nothing but watch in horror as the un-listening drown in their bitterness.

Makes me wonder why New Orleans even has an emergency plan, with disaster drills, to begin with...

This is pretty simple to me: ICF made the mistake, ICF pays for the mistake. These dear, tragic Louisianans should not have to pay back any money to the government. Trying to find a scapegoat for this malady is a fool's errand. But holding innocent people responsible for devastating amounts (legal or not) is positively inhumane at this point. I could understand 1 or 2 cases, but over 300?!?! If more companies had to live up to their inadequacies, this country might have a chance to heal itself.

Is there any way these people are going to be helped (in actuality this time)?

I agree with the State. God Forbid some of these people that received the checks verify they received the correct amount before spending the money. I would be curious to see how much money was blown on a bunch of crap they didn't need. It's so easy to blame the government for things. The problem with this country is NOT the Government, its accountability!! Take responsibility for yourself for a change and STOP BLAMING SOMEONE ELSE!!!

Since when did a grant turn into a bill-me-later? Absolutely not. These people should not have to pay a dime. By no means should anyone ever have to pay back a grant, nor should anyone ever expect to receive a bill for grant money. The contractors did not spend enough time inspecting the houses. How is that the fault of the homeowners?

This idea scares me. Imagine if the government starts taking back other grants it considers to be overestimated. Sorry- your education was worth less than we thought. Here's a bill!

The contractors are the ones who overestimated. They were paid by the government. The families living in these houses had no control over how much money they'd receive. The government needs to settle this issue with the contractors. . . not the people living in these houses!!!

First of all, read "The Great Deluge" and you will be stunned at what went on (or didn't go on) surrounding Hurricane Katrina.
Secondly, I've recently been to New Orleans myself, and toured several areas including the Ninth Ward. Some places are working to reconstsruct their neighborhoods and some just don't seem to care. It galls me to see the FEMA issued house trailers parked next to some STILL water damaged houses where there is NO reconstruction going on 3 years after the hurricane hit. It is obvious many people are now content to just live in these FEMA trailers and let their house fall down next to them (I'm sure the neighbors who have repaired their homes love these dumps with 2 ft. high weeds next to them.) What galls me even more are the expensive SUV's or luxury cars parked next to the trailers.
I know a lot of people needed help and were honest and fair about what they needed. But the taxpayers of this country have also gotten taken by a LOT of people who are just scamming the system.

When are the State of Louisiana and all other agencies involved in the Katrina fiasco going to stop visiting additional pain and suffering upon the unfortunate residents of New Orleans? How many disastrous screw-ups with consequences only for local residents before someone in charge takes charge and stops the madness? This situation is an ongoing national disgrace and is worthy of a Peter Finch "Network" moment. People of New Orleans, throw open your windows and shout "we are mad as hell and we are not going to take this any more".

So the contractors overestimated and too much grant money based on the inaccurate estimates went out. It's a pity. The estimators should be held responsible.
Bush could step in and indemnify the homeowners but that's a long shot.
.

This is terrible. It really shows how much our government is actually willing to help the American People. They will jump thru hoops to help other countries and immigrants, but not American Citizens. Sickening.

At my bank I'm given 60 days to dispute any inaccurate items. In this case the state took longer then 60 days to catch their mistakes. To bad and too sad. ICF should eat their error.

I had a tragedy years ago and lost everything to my name within 2 hours. The tragedy was a house fire and we had no insurance at all. The community helped with clothes and such but the rest was up to us. We recieved no grants or loans from the government. We rebuilt our home as we made the money and it took us almost 4 years to complete. You can not overcome a tragedy overnight. My heart does go out for the people of New Orleans but remember they do live in the State of Louisiana. If Louisiana could have a middle name it would be "Corruption". I should know, I have lived in Louisiana all of my life. I feel the ths state should take on part of the repayment since the families had no control in this.

What I want to know is how do you sign paperwork that you are not allowed to see? Did they blindfold him and guide his hand to the appropriate place to sign? OF COURSE he is going to say he wasn't allowed to see the paperwork – he doesn't want to follow the rules that he himself agreed to! This is the same thing that is happening with the mortgage crisis – people signed all kinds of agreements that they didn't bother to take the time to fully understand, and then cry foul when the time comes to honor those agreements. And the taxpayer is expected to come to the rescue and bail these folks out. I agree that what happened to the folks in New Orleans was a tragedy, but for heaven's sake, before you sign your name to something, please have the personal responsibility to read and understand it first!

The same thing happened with FEMA. I moved to New Orleans nine days before Katrina and received the initial grant money ($2000) which I used on food, clothing, and other essentials while I was displaced in Florida. Now FEMA wants their money back saying that because I hadn't lived in New Orleans for six months prior to the storm I wasn't eligible in the first place.

I don't know about you, but it's never taken me six months to relocate to a new city.

The state and federal governments have failed this city and its people in a big way.

Wow! Let's turn the knife in the back just a little bit more, right? Put yourself in their shoes for just once. How would you feel? I would hope the folks affected by this 'mistake' can find legal counsel to help with this. I would be willing to bet that a good lawyer could fight the fact that the residents should not be held accountable since they were not allowed to see the final assessment. How can we have such an endless budget for international 'assistance', yet nit-pick these 'victims' of such a devastating storm here at home? Putting all the red tape and politics aside, can't someone just use common sense and compassion and for once DO THE RIGHT THING? How do these people in charge sleep at night? It's amazing.

There is no need to make these people suffer any more. Let them keep the overpayment.

I was a law student in New Orleans when Katrina struck. I evacuated like most other citizens and received the standard $2000 check from FEMA. A year later I was told that I owed the $2000 back. The battle with FEMA to even understand their rationale in seeking repayment was incredibly frustrating. As a person trained in the law, I could not fight through the levels of employees that are untrained and give conflicting information. Eventually, I just paid the money back. After this ordeal, I wonder how any person, with a legal degree or not, can manage to stand up for their rights in our current system.

I think that pretty much anytime you receive an overpayment from the government you have to pay it back, no matter whose fault it is, right? I am not saying that this is okay or doesn't totally suck, but doesn't the same hold true for food stamps, social security benefits, tax refunds, etc? I guess with tax refunds you are allowed to see your paperwork, but with the other programs you are not either, but if you get overpaid, you are expected to pay it back no matter whose fault it is. I guess that's why they have you sign the contract that you will pay back overpayments, so you know the risk. That does really bite though.

About 40% of my family did live there, and after this have no plan to return! On the subject of levee ever one that live there for a long time knew those levee were bad, just no one took the step to do something about it. New Orleans is still awful in some areas. and the repeated slap in the face while your down just don't stop! We all know government, intelligence, USA don't even make sense

Sounds like they should fine ICF about TWO million dollars and leave the homeowners alone.

Who do you think pays if the homeowners don't??? TAXPAYERS! It was an overpayment folks – the recipient should absolutely REPAY!!! DUH!

Personally, I am so tired of hearing about Katrina victims...what about all the people that were afffected by the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes...they got nothing but a few hundred dollars from FEMA to help with food and maybe a trailer to live in while they tried to work things out with their insurance company. Those that didn't have insurance were on their own also. Folks supported each other emotionally and labor wise to re-build and it took a while....It seems that you get so much more if you have nothing in this country......those that lost their jobs found new ones, they didn't complain they just did it. I feel bad for so many who handled themselves well after Katrina, but not for the mass that had nothing, did nothing but still expected everyone to help them.

Lets talk about California and the wild fires the mud slides the tornadoes that destroy cities....they are in the news and them out as old news.....Enough already!

This is the story as I see it....A person lives in a flood zone. This person does not purchase flood insurance. It floods and destroys, ruins, cause all sort of kaos. Now this person wants and gets FREE money. The company giving out the free money appearently like all other companies, hired the least talented, thus the cheapest, to help distribute this free money. The company makes several mistakes handing out the free money. Now the state overview committee determines there were mistakes, errors and people not reading what they were signing. Who's fault..........It is the person who started this process. THE HOME OWNER.
You are not entilted to free money. You took a chance not getting flood insurance and you LOST. You lost big time. It is sad and I wished your home did not flood, but it did This person took another chance signing paper work he did not read. Now this chance turned and bit him also. How many chances is this person going to take before he assumes responsiblity for his actions. We the people are not here to fix your mistakes or give you a free ride. PAY BACK THE MONEY!

What's amazing (but not totally unexpected) is that the multi millionaires who were affected by last year's wildfires in California got their money right away to fix up their houses and had emergency services on the ground within hours, but the poor people of New Orleans who can least afford it are still living in FEMA trailers, and had to wait FIVE DAYS for FEMA to deliver water to the Superdome.

FEMA claims that they "learnt lessons" from the way they handled New Orleans. Why aren't those lessons they learned being applied in New Orleans, but are being applied in other areas of the country.

Of course, the government claims that the fact that most of the residents affected in New Orleans are African Americans has absolutely nothing to do with their decisions.

Martin Smith, Kelowna, BC, Canada

Hold on Cindy! don't say NOLA is at fault, its the federal government not the city!
Get your comments straight!

The point is "They gave him money..." This sounds like what happens when you wait for government to bail you out rather than buying flood and homeowners insurance. Visit areas outside of New Orleans and you will see a tremendous quantity of homes going up, or already up! The difference? They took care of themselves rather than waiting for the taxpayer to bail them out. Remember, "they" is not the government. "They" are those that buy insurance and pay the taxes to bail out those who will not care for themselves.

just like when wal-mart sued their own disabled employee for her money she was using to take care of herself after a terrible accident

find the politician behind this and hold him responsible CNN!

you do great work but dont give up on reporting the tragedy, investigate it and hold thos respsonislbe accountable!

Jesse Akers

This is absolutely ludicrous. You tell someone that they will have to pay you back if you overestimate their funds, but you don't let them see your estimate???? Isn't the government tired of screwing the people of New Orleans? At what point are they ashamed of themselves?

Why doesn't the state just fine ICF the entire $2 Million? I personally wouldn't sign anything I had never seen, but I can understand these residents must have been desperate to get their lives back in order.

I can understand if the repairs were less than the money they received, that they would need to return the remaining amount....However, it looks like the grants did not even come close to the actual cost of repairs. It sounds like these folks didn't get enough..opposite of what is being claimed. But that is often the case.

My parent's house was flooded (to a much lesser extent) back in 1998 from El Nino (in California). All I know is the cost to repair the home far outweighed any benefits they received from FEMA or from flood insurance. Luckily for them, they had savings to fall back on, but it sure put a big dent in it.

Good luck to the residents of New Orleans. Louisina and the Federal Government should be ashamed.

I just moved from that area and things are getting better in some places, but NOLA will never be the same and if companies and government keep beating them down (financially) how will they ever come back?
"But he and every other homeowner who got a grant signed a contract with ICF agreeing to pay money back if overpayments were later discovered. Now remember, he wasn’t even allowed to see his paperwork." I just have one question about that part ....how can he sign a contract when he hasn't even been allowed to see the paperwork?....don't you have to sign on the paper, and shouldn't the contract contain all the informational paperwork (supporting documents). I think that ICF should be held responsible for a vast majority of the overpayments! It isn't the homeowner's responsibility to estimate how much the repairs were going to be...it was ICF's. If the state/federal government needs the money back they should go after the one that is responsible! off the track, but still relevent... why would ICF include a clause like that in the contract if it hadn't intentionally planned on overestimating the repairs?

One of your bloggers asked "how does one ever prepare?" One prepares by being responsible and buying flood insurance in an area that averages 2 feet below sea level and storm insurance in a city that has a Cat 3 or greater pass every 5 years (average over last 40 years). Those of us that were responsible and have insurance are now paying an extra 10% per year to subsidize those that don't want to be responsible. The government did it's job and more than helped with displacement costs and assisting to cover the deductibles. Since when is the Federal Government supposed to replace personal accountability? If you can't afford to responsibly own a home, you can't afford to own a home.

Old news.

We can spend billions a week in a country halfway around the world, but we can't spend a fraction of that on our own.

Who was it that said that we can judge a society based on how it treats its worse-off?

Isn't it illegal to make someone sign a contract without reading it first?

There must be a US constitutional ammendment protecting citizens from this sort of thing?

Martin Smith, Kelowna, BC

Seems as though the first place to look for give-backs ought to be the profits of ICF, which made the mistakes. No way should the same company be in charge of the "compassionate" process of reconciling amounts. That's the definition of conflict of interest.

Utterly amazing...but not surprising. Does ICF have any relation to Haliburton or the mortgage industry? Hmmph.

I for one am tired of the whole whoa is me attitude these people have down there. What happened was a bad thing. So was Andrew and Hugo. You didn't hear about all of the bad things after these storms. I believe that the people of NO believed that they are owed something and would say anything to keep this money.

I think this is DISGUSTING but am not surprised, this is what happens to people in this great country,

I hate to even read stories like this. My family was living in new orleans for 8 years when hurricane katrina hit. I have had lots of hope thinking maybe some day we could move back there. I dont ever see that happening. It's just nightmare after nightmare with the government.

The government should have never given these people money to begin with. New Orleans is a city below sea level and should be allowed to go under water and all property should be abandoned. Tax payers should not have to pay for these idiots to repair their homes;.

Cindy – I don't see how this is NOLA's govnt fault..sounds like ICF dropped the ball so they should cover the costs. Kinda makes you wonder how they received a big RAISE after 3 years of making a mess out of the rebuilding funding!!

Thats just wrong...

This is just funny to me! I mean, lets consider ALL the facts...People complained about all the red tape and how long it took FEMA to distribute relief. Now we are saying more checks and balances were needed. We are upset because estimates were done quickly and contained errors? It obviously isn't the peoples fault!! I mean not only did they live in houses that they had no insurance on, but they signed a document agreeing to the estimate and agreeing to pay back any overage. How many people, honestly, that are reading this would ever sign anything without reading it?!?! Can we please start enforcing a little something called PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY? I mean, the guy in the story, John Montegut, spent about $100,000 fixing up his home, but only 20,000 of that was from the state grant. So he somehow came up with $80,000 to fix up his house, but can't come up with 13,000 to pay the state back!! And I would be willing to bet that when that 20,000 dollar check came, it included some sort of disclosure or a copy of the estimate with it!! But nobody complained about the over estimates until it was time to pay the money back!! This can be summarized by saying, "People are mad that they have to payback money that was not rightfully theirs!!!"

Why won't the Feds pull the money WE are ALL spending to rebuild Iraq and use it in New Orleans?????? Have they fogotten where their TRUE allegiance should lie? Leave it to the fedgov.

If it was in the "no show paperwork" that any overestimate would have to be repaid BY THE GRANTEE, did the state also ask for receipts of materials and labor? Seems a moot point to estimate how much each individual would (but shouldn't) have to pay back based on the state figures. Did anyone EVER get a copy of the grant paperwork that they signed? Get a class action to sue ICF for non-disclosure AND the STATE inspector for fraud.

when a family is really using the money to fix their house it is terrible if it has to be repaid but maybe further investigating will prove that there has been so much money wasted by homeowners money that has NOT been put into rebuilding their homes which is what the money was dedicated for in the first place. Why is this side of the story never reported.

Why would anyone be so ignorant as to sign a contract without seeing all of the details? Tell me these same people are the ones signing those variable interest rate loans and now want us to pay for their poor judgement?

What I don't understand is why the residents of New Orleans continue to elect the same officials back into office there...

It's not the residents fault; sounds to me like the contractor didn't perform their task correctly, they should be liable. Government has to get tougher on contractors across the board and hold them responsible for poor performance.

I feel for the people in NOLA. I really do, but lets all be sane and gut the city. Re build it somewhere it won't flood again. What is the point of rebuilding a city that is below sea level with a levee that can't hold back storm surges from a category 3 hurricane?

make the ICF, pay it all back !!!!!!

How horrible. Something similar happened to me when I was on food stamps for a while. Months later I was billed by the state for overpayment because it had miscalculated my benefit. It felt like a kick in the ass when I was least able to handle it and trying to get back on my feet financially.

The state admits it knows that ICF "made mistakes all along," and is proving that by fining ICF. Were all residents denied access to the claims that inspectors submitted on their behalf? If I'm signing something that says I'm legally obligated to repay any overpayments then I would certainly insist on having copies of that claim estimate. It sounds like something fishy was going on with ICF and their inspectors, and the state should be obligated to fully investigate the company and obtain repayments from them. I don't think the state should be requiring the residents to repay these funds when they were obviously taken advantage of by ICF.

Regardless of the ineptitude of some of these governmental programs, the Road Home and others did deliver millions of dollars to homeowners who would not take on the reasonable price of flood insurance to mitigate their potential for devastating loss when they were living in a rather high risk area. I just don't see it as "the little guy gets screwed" when EVERYTHING they got was a hand out.

This is, indeed, a cruel situation to inflict upon New Orleans residents that are trying to rebuild and recover. The state and federal government should be ashamed. Compare it to a Food Bank asking for its food back after a person in need was given a meal. Indefensible.

There's no such thing as "Free Money", folks.

If you've ever received any type of grant, student loan, housing allowance, etc., then you know there's always fine print to read before you sign. Just because someone's an idiot and doesn't read the fine print, doesn't mean they're entited to a consequence-free award. It's that type of attitude that helped cause the mortgage-finance monetary crisis.

Good luck collecting that money though. If past performance is any indicator, then the government will spend more money through collection agents, than they will ever recover.

If they got more than they were supposed to why shouldn't they pay it back??? those are my tax dollars. Saying they don't have it anymore is a joke. If it cost you 13000 to fix it and you were given 20,000 how dare someone not expect to pay back the rest of it. If they made a mistake and it actually cost more than what they now say it did i am sure they have an apeal proccess. People in this country need to stop looking for handouts!

If a family was indeed to owe 150K themselves they knew they were overpayed and simply chose to say nothing about it. This isn't a lottery, those recieving money should take what they need and not pad their claims. I am sure anyone who has had a house burn down anywhere in the country would love that opportunity to skim.

If you spent 100K repairing your house you should have just leveled it and built another. Given the average New Orleans home in the worst hit areas before the storm and contruction prices there and the South in, 100K is more than enough to build a fresh fresg there. Katrina was obviously a horrible experiance, but it doesn't entitle them to anything more than the aid programs are authorized to give. For every family that gets overpaid, another might not get paid at all.

If they were not allowed to see the papers they were signing then their rights to full disclosure were denied and they should not have to pay one red cent back. Sounds to me that these families should band together and get a well known reliable lawyer. Its time Americans start fighting back when their goverment on any level pulls stunts like these.

What no one realizes is that finding competent people to fill jobs was nearly impossible after the storm. The same is true for the people hired to do these estimates. There were so many jobs and so few people, you almost had to hire anything and everything. I don't care where this would have happened, it's got nothing to do with the government or the people. It's sad that this is going on, especially when there is so much left to do, but I cannot put the blame solely on the government. It is impossible to have competent people waiting in case something like this happens.
Another problem that people did not anticipate is that anyone who received a grant, is liable for the taxes as income. Not many people knew this, nor did they plan for this. This is one problem that I have to blame the government for. Why not hold out the taxes when you paid these grants, instead of leaving people with thousands of dollars in unforseen taxes owed at the end of the year? No matter how hard we try to finally get our feet under us, something seems to continue to come up that yanks them from under us.

Randy
I am from Louisiana, there is so much abuse here it is unreal. People are working for the road home program that can't spell "CAT". ICF is paying them $19.00 per hour to shuffle paperwork and those same people were the inspectors that filed the paperwork. My insurance has gone thru the roof because so many people here did not have insurance, I'm thinking 42% did not. Why would anyone live 13 Feet below flood level and not carry something as cheap as flood insurance? Don't talk about pain and suffering when most of the State is subsidizing people that don't carry enough insurance to fix or rebuild there home. Same for car insurance. I pay the highest car insurance in the US because people don't have insurance on there cars either.

Thanks
John

First of all, how does the state (or anyone else for that matter) KNOW that the contractor overestimated or exactly which homes were overestimated and by exactly how much? Then second, if this is a federally-funded project, it is probably the Feds wanting their money back from the state so the state went after the contractor. The contractor is saying the state is forcing him to ask for refunds but the state probably doesn't care how the contractor gets the money returned. To me, if the contractor did shoddy work, then the contractor is liable...even if that puts him out of business...which is how it should be if he can't do a better job than he did. When people ask you to sign something without a chance to review it and there's a clause that says you have to pay money back for some reason, then it sounds like you probably "got took" as my grandfather would say! Shame on everyone who took advantage of those homeowners when they were in need. Shame! Shame!

If nothing was signed then I would consider the money to not be owed. If an individual signed the paper without looking at it, then it is the individuals fault for not being resposible enough to read what he is signing. This article needs a bit more information before a final judgment can be had but people need to step up and take some responsibility for their lives.

not one family should be responsible for re-payment. the contractor should accept the fault as their own. how could any decent human being bill someone that has literally been through hell and have the audacity to say that they do not feel it will affect a lot of families. one family is to much. this is absurd.

If the people didn't get enough, they would be asking for more. They should absolutely be required to repay ALL overpayments.

Thank you CNN for keeping the continuing horror of Katrina in the spotlight. I lost my family home and was lucky to sell the property, but my friends and neighbors continue to go through the lunacy of state and local government to put their lives back together. There is NO EXCUSE for a MAJOR US CITY to continue to be in shambles. You can bet if this happened in a foreign country, the greater news media, Hollywood, and our government would be there to fix it right up quick!

Maybe the State would have more money to help people if there wasn't so much abuse by so many people. I understand the state gave them to much, but when they realized that what did they do with the money, they probably spent it... why should they profit? same with all the abuse of the government relief cards, people used then for season tickets to the saints, hawaii vacations, bottles of crystal... To many people down there abbused the system, and it took away from the people who needed help.

What are my thoughts?? Well, I'm glad you asked. Folks build below sea level, don't have adequate insurance and then hold out their hands for money to rebuild below sea level. Interesting. Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

You shouldn't have got the money in the first place. Pay it back.

What about those homeowners that spent their Katrina money on new Escalades? Will they have to sell their "deluxe spinners" or remove the window tinting or the 50 million watt stereo to cover what they might owe back to Uncle Sam?

ICF should be making those payments to the state, not the residents that received the grant, how could they have possibly made such a huge mistake?

Rahni, please stop calling people "Katrina Victims". First of all, the damage suffered by the overwhelming majority of my fellow Orleanians was not caused by Katrina, but by the Federal Levee Failure. Secondly, the word "victim" implies a complete powerlessness, which may have been a decent descriptor two years ago in hte immediate aftermath of the flood, but at this point, using that word tends to undermine the spirit of our still fledgling recovery.

And now to win even more friends... Blackballing ICF is a very convenient way for the media to paint an extremely complex situation with a very wide brush and stir up public indignation without presenting all the facts. Although the immensity of running the Road Home program is unprecedented in US History, the biggest challenge ICF has had on this program is to manage the constantly fluctuating requirements and regulations set forth for the program by the State and Federal government agencies who are SOLELY responsible for the program's design. These unfortunate cases are the results of the program's design, not its implementation. ICF has never once been accused of incorrectly implementing one single directive it has received from the government. Blaming ICF for this situation is simply a case of shooting the messenger, writ large.

And frankly, in a ten billion dollar pprogram, if only two million was allocated incorrectly, that is an amazing accomplishment. I'll help you by doing the math - that is a 1 in 5, 000 or .0002% margin of error.

This is just another example of the level of irresponsibility that exists in our govt. today. The Administration ignored New Orleans when Katrina first happened, & everything I have read says they are still ignoring them. My prayers are with these people–the economy & all is tough enough today for the "average" American–let alone someone trying to rebuild after a disaster. It will be interesting to see AC360 tonight & what Anderson & all have come up with.

As a survivor of Hurricane Katrina who now resides in San Antonio, Tesas, I am not surprised by this revelation. I received a SBA loan (not a grant) for my losses in Louisiana but I had to pay back to FEMA approximately $5000 out of the loan because you are not allowed to receive a loan and a grant. Of course I am paying back the full amount plus the $5000 that was sent to FEMA.
Although my home was insured, the federal government does not recognize nor compensate bond-for-deed homeowners. All monies went to the primary mortgage owner although I had been paying the mortgage since 1998! These are our stories and trust me there are worse than mine. If you wonder about taxs breaks for us, well no one understand how to do it or how it operated so there was no tax breaks for many of us, either.
I still get comments from folks who tell me that we spent our free money on jewerly and beer or that we brought crime and voodoo to areas we evacuated to.
I am still trying to gain back all that I lost, 14 years of living in the same home, raising my children in it. I have no animosity towards people but I wish people would think about who is standing around them when they make these ignorant, general statements about Hurricane Katrina survivors (I am not a victim).
Thank you,
Donna Tucker

I lost everything. Got 14 feet of water. Was offered $6000. Was like getting spit on. Losing everything was hard, but what we had to endure from the local and federal govt enities was\is unheard of. Katrina's winds are still blowing for a lot of folks including me.
I also know people that made out on insurance and received 60,000 from the LRA. The LRA is highly flawed. Best thing I can tell the people is "do it by yourself" like I am trying to do. It is hard, but dealing with a bunch of morons is worse

Anderson: Let me get this straight...the government of the State of Louisiana is involved...and you expected this to work for the people? Of course the State has a program requiring people to agree to reimburse any over-payments, while not allowing people to see the claim paperwork. Of course the State hired a contractor who performed shoddy work. Hello...it's Louisiana. (I lived there, worked there, and worked for the Governor's Office, once upon a time.) I would delve further and see who the contractor is related to in the State Legislature. It's got to be somebody's brother-in-law.

Anderson: If ICF was responsible for the estimates ( or for that matter if the state did them) and the homeowner was not allowed to review them ( and this is consistent for all others ,i.e. they were not allowed to see the estimate and were not required to sign off on it)o r did not sign off on them then I would think that the State should go after ICF for the overages not the person at the bottom of the Federal State feed trough. I would ask ICF/State why were homeowners not allowed to see estimate? Why they were not required to sign off on it...not for the dollars per say but for all the items contained in the estimate. If this program was under Gov Blanco then no wonder it is such a mess.

I think it is absolutely wrong to bill anyone until each incident is properly investigated.

Having said that I was down there for 8 months working. I would work from 5am to 4pm on contract and from 4pm to midnite and sometimes beyond I would work for free for poor people and elderly people.

I was cheated by alot of people that had money for my work and some times the people I would volunteer for would take thier money from the gov. and head to the casinos in Biloxi. It made me very angry.

I can not imagine that there is a more important project than rebuilding homes. If done in a rush, a clerical error on one house can be expected, but clerical errors on hundreds of houses when every dollar can be the difference between a leaky roof and a fixed house is just plain negligence on the part of the inspectors. Regardless of the legality behind signing a blind contract, the government needs to pick their battles better and stop acting like they are the only ones with problems. There should be some leniency when dealing with such a sensitive case.

This is just ridiculous.

I agree that the contractor that the state hired who overestimated the payments should be the ones responsible for THEIR mistake and not the people of New Orleans. What a slap in the face!

Maybe someone should investigate whether or not there is a "good ol boy" relationship between whoever did the actual hiring of the contractor and whoever owns ICF and take it from there.

ICF Inc., for those like Cindy that apparently skimmed the article, is an OUT-OF-STATE company, hired by the State of Louisiana, to manage disbursement of the funds. The State specifically hired an OUT-OF-STAE company to avoid any appearance of mismanagement. So, the citizens of Louisiana were victimized by this company. And hopefully when the state sues them, they will recover enough funds to wipe out any debt these homeowners may be liable for.

I worked with a disaster contractor after Katrina, some of the things I saw happen in the aftermath was unbelievable.Some people, who were renters, people who before the storm, didn't have very much in the way of property or belongings, were given 10,000 to 15,000 dollars in the form of grants to help them replace things they might have lost....whereas people who were property owners who may have not had insurance coverage were given, in some cases nothing to help themselves get back on their feet. It just seems that things were very unfairly handled by many people from many walks of life that had no idea what they were doing...hence the american taxpayer has had to foot the burden of stupidity!!! thankx for the vent.....gene

This is an almost unbelievable story. I would not be surprised to also hear that it cost the tax payers twice the awarded amount for the government to administer the grants.

Poor FEMA response time, over payments on waste disposal, trailers people can't live in and now this.

Those poor people, nothing like knocking them back down every time they try to stand up again. Why is it everytime the government tries to do something (New Orleans, Iraq), the situation get worse for innocent people rather than better!?!?

Of course it is cruel, senseless and maybe premeditated – knowing our government and in this instance knowing how they did NOT respond to the Katrina disaster it is not unexpected. Am I surprised at this subversion NO am I disgusted YES.

So they overpaid people who really needed the money. Big deal! I find it very hard to believe that the Federal government needs to collect $1.75 million from the people who have suffered so much when we spend just as much on a few pieces of military equipment. What good is all that defensive power if the people of this country are treated this way? What good are the masses of earmark projects when people who are rebuilding their homes and lives are being asked to make up the difference? We could find the money elsewhere, but as usual, the government would take the easy road rather than find a more humane solution.

I live in Texas. In August, Katrina hit Louisiana. In September, Rita hit us. Because of what hapened to New Orleans, everyone evacuated for Rita. Hurricane Katrina was devastating, and the loss of life was unbearable. However, Rita was also a category 5 hurricane. We were victims of many tornadoes as well as flooding. It was downplayed due to Katrina's devastation. Many of our citizens lost homes and their lives. There were many Katrina victims who were staying at the same hotel as we were that received money for Rita, even though it did not affect them. I have seen many Katrina victims living high on the hog with their hands out, benefiting from everything they can. Rita victims did not do this, nor did the Katrina victims from surrounding states. Katrina was horrible, and many good people lost everything, including their lives. But there are people out there living on charity even after 3 years. They are making it bad for the good citizens of N.O. Rita victims bonded together, helped each other, and life went on. Katrina is still hapening here in Texas, with city crime rates going up in Houston after thousands of Katrina victims took refuge there, My hometown is small, and we took in Katrina refugees even after Rita devastated our town. They were brought to a local church, where they vandalized the walls and stole the church van. There is a legitimate need for Katrina victims, but some of these people are making it bad for the rest.

I have worked closely w/ the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Many people DO owe money back and took for granted the funds that were given to them. I have spoken to many people who received enough money from their flood carrier to pay off their mortgage, enough from their wind carrier to repair or rebuild their home and received grants from the Road Home Program which was "money in their pockets" two residents of New Orleans even told me that they submitted an application just to see if they would get money and it turned out they did.. over $100k when their homes were already rebuilt with no money out of pocket. Unfortunately the greed of a few takes away the need of the majority. If you are a Louisiana Resident that lived in a dilapidated house pre-Katrina with a monthly mortgage payment and post-Katrina through the help of the government / state etc.. now have a free and clear mortgage with a beautiful new "upgraded" home than you are one of those that should give the money back for the families that are really in need. The Local and Federal Governments may not have given the accurate funds based on the actual damages but last time I checked when I go to an ATM and it spits out money, legally I can't run off with it.

This does NOT surprise me at all. When a disaster occurs in any fashion or state people will take advantage of it. Many people lined up to get money and food and water that did not need it, they also took money for homes that were not even touched by the storm. I lived in Fort Lauderdale Florida until last year and I we had the same thing happen there. People actually bragged about the free money and told their friends how and where to get it.
Its like when a bus is in an accident , people actully jump on the bus and say they were involved to sue mass transit.
If this storm would have hit the richer areas of new orleans it would have been re-built last year bigger and better than before.

The government barely lifted a finger to help these people and now they want money in return for what they did do? No wonder my Canadian friends think this country is a joke, ...I'm starting to agree with them.

One disgusting act of betrayal after another. The pact tacitly entered into by citizens and governments has been ignored and trampled by the government yet again. As if the hurricane, its aftermath, the faulty FEMA trailers, the corrupt HUD situations, etc, were not enough, now the government fails to defend its most vulnerable citizens from financial rape... How many more passively political attacks will New Orleans suffer? How long will the rest of the country sit by, read news articles, and then go on with their day? How long will the culture of 'those people, not me' continue to rend us, nationally, apart from our fellow citizens, whose rights are crushed due to the history of a racially divided land?

It is amazing to me that when I receive a bill that I am required to pay it....oh wait, that is expected of me as an adult. Just because there has been a tragedy doesn't mean that I am no longer held responsible. Yes it is a shame, but when Oklahoma needed help after the ice storm there wasn't a lot of hand wringing and wailing and gnashing of teeth, just people helping each other to make it through a hard time. Poor New Orleans, they can't make it with out someone giving them a pass for everything especially poor local government oversight. This is what is to be expected from 50 years of Democrat control of the state, and isn’t it the state that is asking for the money given by the federal government? I for one am tired of liberals trying to have this tragedy continue so that they can “make points” by blaming the president.

The Road Home Program was in principle a very good & generous program. The contractor ICF faced some serious hurdles just getting set up. However they were paid 10% of the program total close to a $1 billion .

Of course ICF never lived up their promises and their performance was horrible. Granted the task was enormous, difficult and time consuming, but there was no performance accountability. The original plan was modified and holes were punched into the program's accountablity.

The Governor , Blank0, was in fact responsible for the program's poor performance, lack of accountability and over compensation. The blame should be placed squarely at her feet. She even unilaterally approved an extra payment of $100 million in the days before she left office. 360 should do an analysis of the ineptitude of the Blank0 administration and her husband Coach who was the de facto governor under the Blank0 administration.

As for the $2 million dollars of over payments, take it out of the $1 billion of compensation paid to ICF. They made the mistake and they should be held accountable for their errors, unless fraud by the participant is involved and proved in court.

With all the government wastes and spends on foolish programs, the government is going to demand 1.75 million back?
Insult!
how much did it cost to find the error and how much will it cost to recover the money?
Most of these homeowners are probably working class or retired people, so of coarse the government wants the money back.

We all know how much money federal and state governments waste each day. A few million is a spec in the sea of pork barrel projects and inefficient processes of government programs. That makes this injustice even harder to accept. Let the poor people alone. If anything, fine the incompetent contractor the two million and be done with it! If I were a lawyer I would take up the cause of these 300 families and see that they never have to pay this.

This is typical Louisiana. I was born and lived in the state for 37 years. The last 5 of which I lived in N.O. before Katrina blew me to greener pastures in Northern California. Louisiana is a backward state with backward people running it. Local government rarely dots its "i's" and crosses it's "t's" and leaves the citizens holding the bag (but they are the ones voting the gov. officials back in office each year). Louisiana is a complete joke as a state.

OMG. Please, how can these people be expected to pay that money back? The fact that the contractor made this horrendous error, this should not fall back on the people that have lost everything they own and had to basically start from scratch. Now that they're getting back on their feet, let's go in there and pull the rug right from under them. Gees, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to say that's a terrible idea. This is a rich country, let's reach into the pockets of the politicians, entertainers and all those other folks out there, with big huge wallets.

I moved very recently from New Orleans (for reasons unrelated to "The Storm"), and although I appreciate that the national media continues to pay us attention (b/c goodness knows goverment doesn't), I must take issue with your opening sentence. You say that every time you visit you hope that things are going to be better, the community will be more healed, and NOLA will look more alive. Well, as some one who was living there pre- and post-Katrina, let me tell you things are better; the community is more healed; and NOLA does look more alive. More restaurants are open now than before the storm. Jazzfest, French Quarter Fest, and Mardi Gras have been back. Conventioneers are beginning to clog the streets again. Please don't give people such a negative impression. We want people to come visit, spend money, and spend time because there is plenty to see and do just as there always was. Yes, there is much more that needs to happen, but that doesn't mean that New Orleanians haven't accomplished a lot in the two and a half years since the storm. That said, please keep reporting on us. Just make sure you give credit where it's due–to the wonderful, crazy, courageous people who continue love living and working in New Orleans.

Leave it to the Government to give you something and then ask for it back. I would wait a couple of weeks before I spend the stimulus check.

I have lived in the HPT ROADS most of my life. I am well familiar with Suffolk. Believe me when I say this is something many residents have never seen and more than likely were ill-prepared for. My family still lives there and they say it is a mess.

It is a very sad situation all around. The people of New Orleans keep getting kicked down when they keep trying to get ahead. And it's not right.
Personally I feel that ICF should be the responsible party and the overpayments should come straight from them. The government likes to try to keep the small person under their thumb.
As always our family will continue to keep New Orleans in our prayers. Answers will come from above.
To the people of New Orleans continue to keep your head held high.

This is yet another fine example of people in power having no accountability. The state and it's contractor screwed up, so instead of admitting and accounting for their mistakes they're going to pass the mistake on to the homeowner, which could either sign the contract and get the money to repair their house, or not sign the contract and get nothing.

And I'm sure there's a clause in there that says something to the effect that if it's not paid by a specified time, interest will be applied.

What needs to happen is other states, governments, organizations and citizens put pressure on them to own up to their mistake and leave the homeowner out of it. It's the right thing to do...PERIOD!

Surely, no one thought they were actually going to get real help. More double talk BS. We can all hope that the government (local, state and federal) would actually do what they say they are going to do. Remember that as you elect your officials. People in New Orleans have an awesome sense of spirit and THE FOOD WOW. Hold on tight to your future. GOD BLESS.

I'm sure that I'm in the minority, and will probably get flamed, but here goes...I see nothing wrong with the government asking for a portion of money back. He still received some "free" money to repair something that should have been up to him to repair. It irks me that people think the government should be responsible to give people money in times like this. I think people should be responsible for themselves. If people decide to live on the gulf, below sea level in a hurricane prone area , they should be prepared for something like this.

Its an abomination. They were raped by the insurance companies and now raped by their own government. Its an outrage. An all out outrage. What do I think? I'm furious.

This is just plain disgusting. It amazes me the preposterousness of the ICF to expect people to pay back money for a mistake that they made. The people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast have suffered ENOUGH! That money can be made back over time by a large organization, but it may take years for citizens to recover from the financial blow of having to pay back what they are being asked for. Grant money is supposed to be given without the expectation of repaying it. It is shameful of the IMF to create contract loopholes that hurt the individual. They should have put the time and expertise into making sound judgments before giving the money to the home-owners. Shame on the ICF!!!

I can only hope that the government will come to its senses and pardon the overpayments. And I also hope–make that, strongly desire–that ICF completely goes out of business for their stupidity. If a company drops the ball, it's their responsiblity to clean up the mess; if they don't, then may they experience the same misfortune they have bestowed upon those in their care.

Trying not to sound mean hearted, but don't most home owners have house insurance for this exact reason. I pay around $2000.00 per year in house insurance to have some peace of mind. If you don't buy it, why do you expect the government to pay the bill.

Considering the sums that ICF has been paid (and continues to be paid), overpayments should come out of their pocket! If they go out of business – so much the better! Hate to say it but this is a classic case of patronage, incompetence and pure downright greed to make money off of the backs of the people involved in disasters like this. However, that is business as usual.

I'm not a fan of big government but I'm becoming even less a fan of big business and think it's time to make sure that we have mechanisms and procedures in place BEFORE events such as Katrina and Rita happen.

Sadly, this would have happened no matter who is in the White House or Congress. Both parties, Democrats and Republicans, have proven that all that matters to them is winning office at any cost. Once in power, they will do all they can to remain in power. Maybe it's time to reevaluate campaign funding, set limits on the dollar amount that can be spent, money that can be donated and how long you can remain in office. Until the people take back government, the professional politicians and bureaucrats will continue to screw up like this!

How do you spell relief? C-O-R-R-U-P-T-I-O-N

I am not all surprised, this time it was the state-watch out for FEMA – I live in Pennsylvania, I had a flood about 3 years ago, late in 2006 FEMA notified me they wanted the money returned, paid me to much for damages and that I received $5,000 from a rider on a Homeowners Policy. Please tell the people, do not appeal, they want you to, (I did presenting them with actual paid invoides) not only does it not matter it helps accrue interest for the state or the Federal Government. If they don't receive the money, they will do what they did to me, took my Income Tax Refund without notice in January of 2008.

STAY AWAY FROM STATE GOVERNMENT HELP AND/OR FEMA.

I'm personally glad that they're being billed. Millions and billions of dollars have been sent, and yet they still live in squalor. These people have no concept of what to do with money: how to make proper investments, housing choices and insurance choices. That much is clear from the very beginning. I am from South Carolina, and Hurricane Hugo ravaged the coast, particularly the Charleston area. And yet not nearly as big a deal was made. These are folks who are irresponsible make bad life decisions, and in a time of crisis they blame the government and say "Oh, poor me." Ridiculous.

I have worked with FEMA before on a diaster project. I know many people take advantage of the help the government gives them, but in this case if the homeowners weren't allowed to see the damage claim, there is no way they should be held accountable.

Bottom line it is our tax dollars that are paying for this mess so someone has to come down on and hold accountable ICF for these huge errors. I am not holding my breath...

This is so sad. After everything these folks had to endure, another agency wants their money back. let's not forget, these people also had to pay taxes on this so called grant to the IRS!! How can you rebuild your home and your life and still owe the system that was supposedly designed to help you?!!!! What a JOKE our government is!!!

Being originally from the New Orleans area and knowing how poorly the city operates, the fact that they are now billing residents doesn't surprise me at all. Keep in mind the scores of residents who were billed by the electric company for the time period after the storm when their homes were under 22 feet of water and the power was not operational! I have no doubt that this situation will find its way into a court room where i hope the people of New Orleans prevail and do not have to pay back monies to a city that can't manage finances properly to begin with. The people of that great city deserve to have their homes as well as the city itseld rebuilt, maybe we should be investigating the city to see what they have done with relief funds and other donations that we can plainly see haven't been used to fix anything at all instead of picking on residents who are trying to get on with their lives.

This is a great story, and a big tragedy for the people of New Orleans yet again. But do you think you could manage to report without using exclamation points like a 12-year-old girl!!??!! It kind of takes away from the gravity of the situation.

Why does it seem like the contractor overestimated on purpose by not letting people read the inspections and making them sign an agreement for repayment if there are mistakes? Did the mansion-owners in the California burnings have to pay back? Why does it seem like everytime I read an article about Katrina the government is always too little, too late for the people there but yet they are very responsive and helpful elsewhere. I'm an average, white female not from the south and even I can recognize the discrimination.

I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say that I filed for my Road Home grant the first day the opportunity was made available and needless to say, after many unproductive telephone calls to ICF, much aggravation, and the submission of each and every document they asked for, I received my small grant in October of 2007. At no time were we allowed to speak to anyone who knew anything at all at ICF regarding our application, and we were not allowed to see any paperwork. It was a nightmare of misinformation time and again on their part, and I believe an impossible task to award a grant properly when the person receiving it had no access to the paperwork or could even discuss the details of how ICF arrived at that figure. If a mistake was made after working on a file for almost two years, it's not the grant recipient's fault. Any fraud should be investigated, but innocent grant recipients who ultimately became the victims of the shoddy work of the The Road Home program should not be held accountable. We have suffered through enough. I have handled enough paperwork to last a lifetime and jumped through so many hoops that I'm dizzy. Shame on the federal government also for not relaxing the standards of the Stafford Act. Hurricane Katrina was no ordinary disaster. I sincerely hope for the sake of the victims of our future disasters that the Stafford Act is adjusted to fit the size of the disaster and the needs of the people.

Katrina is a sad story. I wish people would have and could have gotten out of the city when the hurricane was moving in. But it did happen that way. I am sure I do not have a popular opinion of the event, but I did not believe in the federal government bailing out a state government because it had not taken proper precautions (knowing they are in a hurricane area). I fear a precedent that could lead to states not paying for these precautions and assuming the federal government would bail them out when needed.

That being said, I find it appalling that the victims who were given money to rebuild their homes and lives and could have some taken away due to an error in the contractor's estimate. That burden should rest on the state, not the people who desperately need the money.

I hope that the light that CNN has shed on this issue puts pressure on the state to not take money away from these people. If the state and federal governments force these people to pay back the overestimated money, the country has truly lost the values on which it was founded.

This disgusts me. The company that did the estimates that weren't signed by the victims should pay all restitution. As if these people havent been through enough now this....how dare we talk about third world countries and how they are so awful when we do this to our own citizens!!

Is it terrible that this mistake happened? Yes.
Is it terrible that the State is asking that the overpayments be returned?

No.

If these people were small business owners and they found that their accountant had overpaid all of their employees they would have no problem demanding they get that money back. Or if they overpaid on their taxes, they would insist that the IRS pay them back. This is no different. Trying to turn this into another "poor Katrina victims" story clouds the real issue. The money that was overspent on some families probably left other families short on grant money. What about those "poor families"? Once they get the money back it will go into new grants for more construction - it's not like it's going into some greedy corporate CEO's vacation fund!

You would think these people would have figured out by now that the government of New Orleans (State and Local) do not have the best interest of the people at heart and demanded to read everything they have to sign.

Then again, these people are insisting on rebuilding a devastated city below sea level in a hurricane zone with levees that still leak. If they will be able to get flood insurance at all it is likely going to be more than the average family can afford, so the next hurricane that comes through is leave these people right back where they are now.

Their judgment is questionable to begin with.

And people wonder why Jeremiah Wright made the statments about America.........

As a Level 3 Real Property appraiser, I went over all of my inspections and evaluations with the property owner; made my appraisal determination and again shared that result with the owner before I turned it in to the State. After submitting my appraisal, the owner had one more opportunity to refute my evaluation, and appeal for another appraiser to re evaluate the property- this would become finalized. Now that is what is fair and reasonable as all citizens were treated with the same respect, irregardless of where they lived, or their finacial condition.

I am not surprise but disgusted with the entire system from the mayor's office of New Orleans to the white house. When ICF was constantly asking for more money, why questions were not asked instead just giving ICF more money. Now we are being victimized again, and I am pretty sure we will be victimized again. When will it END?!

Couldn't get past the 3rd paragraph. As a former journalist now working for a recovery program in Louisiana, I have a bit of a unique perspective on this article. First of all, you and everyone reading this have NO idea how much fraud there really is. Look, the federal government created a 10 BILLION dollar aid program. Essentially, this program, Road Home, provides free grants to homeowners to get them back into their damaged or destroyed houses. 10 BILLION. Do you really think, that when the government decides to hand out that much money, that people will not come out of hte woodwork to try to rip the program off? Do you really think that?

Typical response from someone who has never worked in Louisiana for a significant amount of time. There is a problem there the country fails to understand. Look these folks were hit hard and we all want to help them. But the reality is, and I know what I'm talking about, is that a lot of folks down there play the victim card with regard to EVERYTHING. Many people fail to understand the difference between eligibility for help, and entitlement. There is a widespread sense of entitlement in New Orleans- that the rest of the country "owes" them something- basically our tax dollars.

The fact is that it should surprise no one that out of $10 BILLION, 2 million is being recouped due to fraud or other problems. That's like 2% of the aid money.

Do some research.

I'd say the homeowners who are being billed under such conditions...need legal representation.

And ICF needs to be sued for the money.

This is America – not Russia. We don't have to sign for something we don't get to read.

Let the lawyer for the homeowners explain this to ICF and our stupid government.

Man this gets my skirt in a bunch!

Oh yeah! and then the homeowners need to sue for pain and suffering from the harrassment of being put through this wringer!

Well, I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop. What are they going to do now, take their property if they can't pay. The vulchers are beginning to land to steal property for nothing then make it into a multi-million dollar profit for themselves. ICF should pay the State back.

I'm so sick and tired of hearing about New Orleans and Katrina! Florida and other U.S. states and cities have experienced weather damaging conditions and everyone just pulls up their boot straps, makes their repairs and gets on with life. But not in New Orleans. The major problem there is all the welfare folks! Some of them moved to Houston, elevating our crime here! Those folks have already been given so much money and aid, they should all be living in mansions! About time this story died and those people got on with living like everyone else!

In theory the process of collecting overpayments makes sense, but in reality it is really pretty tough to enfore. My thoughts are, since this was not fraud on behalf of the residents (they did not even see the estimates) they should get to keep the money. You can't give money to these people to rebuild their houses and then ask them to cut you a check. ICF should get fined for the mistake, in the amount of the overestimates. That way, ICF pays for their mistake......

This is absurd, but unfortunately, completely believable. If the government commits to spend money on a program, they must not be allowed to come back and say "Oops, we are idiots as usual, give us the relief money back" It is the government's responsibility to do some due dilligence before cutting checks to people. Had the ICF been audited during the process and not after the fact, this could be avoided. But again, as our wise government's history shows, we are reactionists, never preemptive in an attempt to prevent potential problems.

Why are they going after the home owners? These people if anything are the smallest piece of the pie when you consider the millions that were squandered. Not that they had anything to do with stealing from the system. The real question is why does the state not put the focus on who really made off with the cash? Corrupt politicians and contractors. They go after the defensively poor home owners and take the focus off the corruption and dirty contractors involved. That's where the money is that needs to be recovered and put back into reconstruction.

Let me first say that I am sorry that the folks in that region suffered great losses at the hand of mother nature. With that said, let me say this. I am quite tired of hearing how these people continue to be "victims" of our government. If the individual in the story did not see and/or sign the written estimate but chose to sign a contract with the understanding that he was responsible for over-payments, then that person needs to "lick his wounds" and pay the money back. All I keep hearing , when it comes to hurricane Katrina is how these people feel the government "owes them" and how they are getting the short end. To this I say...what about all other citizens who have lost property and loved ones to mother nature (ie tornadoes, floods, fires) after the storm you never hear any more about these folks' plight. None of them were ever given debit cards with free money, grants, trailers to live in, etc. It is time to either start leveling the playing field and give every citizenm, who is a victim of an "Act of God" the same services and financial assistance, otherwise the residents of New Orleans (who by the way chose to live in a city that is below "sea level" and in a hurricane zone) to quit whining and "grab themselves by the bootstrap" and deal with their own situation without the constant placement of blame on the govenment or others. Our country has far greater problems to worry about than whether people, who failed to read the "fine print", have to pay back over-payments.

This is a good example as to why government should not control health care. Look what a mess they are making of this. Total incompetence.

Boo on cnn for not displaying my comment. i guess this isn't a place for dissenting opions. not everyone in nola is deserving of our pity. i guess i doesn't make for a good article if people don't agree with it. it is true that a lot of people were effected by the storm, but it's also true a lot of people abused the system after the storm. let everyones comments be heard or i'm switching to fox.

More of the same...more shame. Is anyone out there surprised? So, if they can't or won't repay, then the government owns the houses? Then the houses could be sold to a developer, who in turn could really turn a hugh profit....yep! sounds like our wonderful government to me.

Not only did they overpay some, but underpaid others. I know several families that got the paperwork with the "approved" amount of money they would receive and then when the check came it was significantly less than the stated amount. Sounds like there was a dirty company making the decisions.

This is absolutely appalling. Why should these poor people have to pay for ICF's sloppiness? Katrina victims were in a desperate position when they signed these agreements. How convenient ICF gets to add a clause in their contracts giving them cushion to allow for mistakes. When do the Katrina victims get some form of protection and safety net? Never, I guess.

Amanda, San Francisco

This is a sickening situation. The familys that spent the money on rebuildind their homes should owe nothing, ( ICF should eat it) however the familys that bought the flat screen tvs louis vitton purses and xbox 360's ( like the one family in the hotel room on, I think it was a CNN special who so proudly showed all the new electronics they purchased with the releif money, and who were not concerned with finding a place to live because the room was paid up for 3 more months!) should be made to pay back every single penny plus intrest and penaltys. They were given debit cards right? All the purchases should be easlily tracked, and the person issued the card owes. The billing of people who really needed and used the money for what it was intended for "overestimated" or not is just assinine.

Give these poor people a break! It's totally ridiculous! The Katrina victims have already suffered so much and are just trying to
re-build and have a place to call home agai. This mistake wa made do to no fault of their own, and the State expects them to pay money back! Most of these people won't have the money to pay it back, and what are they expected to loose their homes all over again! I feel the state due to their lack of organziation or planning should have to suck it up!

Committment. One thing that our government is lacking in regards to being committed to their citizens. I read a news article about these innocent and exploited individuals a few months ago.

I find it extremely offensive that our government can spent billions of dollars to defend other nations, but they can't seem to take care of their own kind.

The constitution grants any citizen in the United States the right to "life liberty and the PURSUIT of happiness. It doesn't guarantee it, nor does it say that it will provide it. Americans must make sure that they take care of themselves because the government will not take care of innocent hard working Americans.

I left the only home I ever knew after 58 years since Katrina. There is not a day that goes by that I realize I did the right thing. New Orleans will never be the same. People that stay there will have no quality of life. If you are into beer, pick-up trucks, no education and partying...then move on down. I am thrilled that I moved after Hurricane Katrina and this article validates it all. I don't even want to visit any lonter.

This suspiciously sounds like the "Walmart story" that happened recently, in which the victims were asked to return the money paid to them. I hope the hurricane victims get the same outcome and get to keep the money. Please continue to follow this story.

Lilibeth
Edmonds, Washington

I'd like to know where Cindy is from and who she thinks she is to judge the people of New Orleans. People who for decades have been working to make NOLA, in my mind the most culturally signifigant city in this country, a better place. For some reason, I have a feeling that Cindy is not from a place that has struggled to deal with the poverty levels that NOLA has for so long.

non stop fraud, waste and abuse at all levels from homeowners to govt agencies and the ineptitude of the civil service system and its contractors have once again done a wonderful job.

To me, it seems that if the state is hitting ICF with penalties, they should just get the $1.75 million from them & be done with it. It's not the homeowners' fault that the estimates were overblown (I'm sure that was done to line someone's pockets), so why make them pay??? Give these people a break already!

I just got back from a trip to NOLA yesterday. I had never been. I was amazed by the fervor of the people- the laughter, the smiles, and the resolve to rebuild and be as they were.
Then I was deeply saddened to see all that still lies untouched in and around the city. The Lower 9th ward is like a ghost town- these people didn't have money for regular home upkeep- let alone mass-destruction rebuild. People still live in tents under bridges- almost 3 years later! One man, surrounded by all his posessions- has to guard them day and night.
People are being robbed and pillaged by the government in New Orleans- project residents being thrown out and not allowed to retrieve their belongings so that revenue-generating condos can be built. Forget that you're displacing many poor people- they are taking their belongings and personal memories. These are projects that did NOT have damage from the hurricane- yet that was the excuse to keep them out after the evacuation. Metal plates attached to the brick walls over windows so they cannot be broken into.
I think U.S. money could be much better spent to help raise these people up- if ICF overestimated so grossly- then THEY should be fined- not the people of NOLA who could not and cannot defend themselves. I'm so angry I can't even complete one direct thought- there are so many tangents and I can't believe this is AMERICA we are talking about. Our government has FAILED and LIED on too many occassions with respect to New Orleans and it is high time that all those involved be held accountable.

On the one hand, if you signed the paperwork saying you'd repay any overpayments, you should have to repay. On the other hand, if ICF never let anyone look at the estimates, then I struggle with holding homeowners responsible for mistakes that resulted in overpayments. In the end, I think ICF should eat the difference. Their shoddy practices (which I'm sure were designed to save them time and money and net the company more profit) led what can only be described as a systemic issue (5,000 mistakes is not someone having a bad day). I know we need to hold people accountable for their mistakes, but we need to do the same for corporations.

...so once again our federal government shows it's ability to handle our money! Where was the federal oversight of ICF? It evidently is good government to converse with buddies on a Virginia golf course about how well things are going in Louisiana. And I'm sure once again the tax-payer will foot the bill instead of the contractor who screwed up. I wonder how many degrees of separation there was this time?

If the recipients weren't allowed to view damage estimates on their own homes, then they had no way of knowing whether the estimates contained correct information. Had Mr. Montegut been able to view the damage estimate on his home, he could have corrected the information about the skylights and windows above water level, and he likely wouldn't be in this situation.

It seems patently unfair to demand that he – or other Katrina vctims – repay home repair funds when the victims weren't allowed to see the initial estimate and agree that the information was correct.

I lived through Katrina, lost my wife following Katrina, realized nothing from FEMA, Louisiana, the City or Parish I lived in, I now live in Houston and will never go back, you can bet that somehow, someway the Louisiana politicians will profit from this, it is the most uncaring state system anywhere in the US always has been and always will be, sadly it could be a great place to live but for the politics.

Why aren"t the people from ICF being charged with fraud?

I first went to NOLA in April 2006 to do disaster relief (roughly eight months after Katrina) and I returned last week for another round of demolition. I was appalled to see how much demo still has to be done. Turns out that these government inspectors won't appraise these houses until they've been completely gutted (I'm talking nails out of the walls and everything). We worked on one house in the Seventh Ward that was noticeably sinking in the middle, the door frames all leaning to one side or another, depending on which side of the house you were on. We worried at one point that the house would actually fall in on us. Yet this family has received NO financial assistance yet, and won't until the house can be assessed. The continued mishandling of the Katrina victims is atrocious and a disgrace to all that this country is supposed to stand for.

I worked down there after the Hurricanes hit. Rita and Katrina devastated much more than New Orleans. I agree many many people deserve much more help than given. The state should not have the right to make these demands. They should go after the contractors who failed miserably and pocketed 100's and 1000's of government money. Phillip and Jordans relationship with Northern should be a great place for Mr. Cooper to start. And could someone please send a crew out to see if Southwestern LA. has rebuilt yet. New Orleans at least had buildings standing afterward.

Now how is it that a home inspector can inspect a home damaged to such magnitude in only five minutes and still manage to fill out the undoubtedly lengthy damage claim form? And how was it that this inspector wouldn't ALLOW the home owner to verify his report? This reeks of poor management, poor organization, an outrageous lack of checks and balances and not a little dishonesty! And why was the state so quick to bill the residents first? Why not fine ICF the amount they overestimated? Why not audit every case and THEN send out the bill according to the audit's findings? I recognize that a signed document is legal and binding, but what happened to all the compassion? This seems more like "Indian-Giving" to me.

I'm disgusted.

I think it is outrageous that the residents of New Orleans and Louisiana would have to have any personal responsibility for what they signed. You can't have people be completely supported by the government almost their entire life and then be forced to be responsible. What is the federal government thinking? These people just need boatloads of money, because money solves everything. Especially personal responsibility for what you sign for, like fictitious skylights.

I think that is terrible and horrific that any of the citizens of New Orleans should have to pay the state back any money. It was not their fault at all, it was the inspectors' and state's fault. The New Orleans community has gone through many emotions and a lot of money to repair buildings, houses, and not only physical stuff but emotion problems too! They lost a lot and now the state wants them to pay it back? That is not right. I say to all the people living there to fight back!

Why is this even a news story? When did someone have the idea they get to keep "extra" taxpayer money? Clearly ICF did not do a good job but that doesn't entitle homeowners to keep the funds. A good steward of taxpayer dollars will require the homeowners to give back the extra funds and then allow the homeowners to sue ICF. It just is amazing that 360 thought this is an example of how the folks in New Orleans are being victimized. The real victim here is the taxpayer who will wind up paying more to a homeowner for skylights they didn't have and windows that were not damaged. Give me a break.

I can't even think about New Orleans anymore without getting a pit in my stomach. When will the American people stand up and be smart enough to elect a government that works for the people?!

Can anyone tell me where it says that the government owes them, or any disaster victim, anything? The government does this out of caring for the people but whenever they do they get yelled at and blamed. Maybe they should just wrap it up and use the money on something else, like schools. People need to remember that the citizens of New Orleans chose to live below sea level. There is a reason we call it sea level, that's where the sea goes. If you take the risk to live below sea level then you need to expect that this can happen. People complain about the damns and water control systems failed. They were rated for a Cat 3 hurricane, Katrina was Cat 5. So what do we do? Blame the Army Core of Engineers. Here are a group of people smarter than 99% of the people who read this page and all you can do is blame them for building a system that failed exactly when they said it would. It's like the Space Shuttle Challenger. The engineers said, "Don't fly in this cold weather, she won't hold" and they flew anyways. What happens, blame the engineers. People need to start taking personal responsibility for their choices. I'm not against helping people, just show a little gratitude for goodness sakes. Don't come outside and shoot automatic weapons at relief helicopters.

I think that it's a shame for the State of Louisiana to ask them for a dime back! First of all it isn't the citizens of New Orleans fault that the State made a mistake. I think that ICF International should be made to pay back all of that money!

It's just a shame! The way that the Hurricane Katrina victims have been treated is a darn shame! Nobody, especially American Citizens should be treated that way!

For anyone that has not needed the government to assist you in any way, trust me when I say that your day is coming and you will one day need them for something! Just remember to look back on how this country treated it's citizens since hurricane Katrina. You should know that they will NOT treat you any better!

This makes me ill. Meanwhile, our government spends literally billions upon billions of dollars on weapons systems the pentagon hasn't asked for, on military contractors that defraud the government or who provide the same services as our military should for 4x the price, and give tax breaks to oil companies to "encourage exploration." (As though $120 oil isn't enough incentive.) We stop auditing the tax returns of the rich and of corporations, and then hire folks to persecute these poor victims who should be suing our government for its dereliction. This country's priorities have gotten frighteningly and sickeningly perverted in ways that could bring us all to our knees. You can be sure that if Osama had done this to NO, we would have gotten them on their feet. But since it was Katrina, we just spend the $$ to get the Iraqis on their feet, and can't even do that. We've dug ourselves into a moral and financial hole that we may never emerge from.

There is only one solution. Get George Bush to declare war on New Orleans, and then tons of Federal Government $$$ will flow to them afterwards. Look how well it works in Iraq!

I was paid too much by Social Security when I first started receiving the benefits. I was threatened if I didn't pay it back bad things would happen. I paid it back immediately. That's life. You owe something, you pay up. Being overpaid comes with no entitlement that you get to keep it.

ICF screwed up. ICF should eat the bill.

My thinking is that if the homeowners didn't get to verify the appraisal (and who would know better what the homes had than the owners?) then the entire appraisals were null and void, but in the interest of appearing capable, the government didn't do any double checking either, so the fault lies somewhere between ICF and the government.

The homeowners should be allowed to appeal the repayments with appraisals and bills they've already handled from licensed contractors in the region to show what they've already paid out or what is still needed to rebuild.

This is an unfortunate circumstance but I'm having a hard time feeling bad about this particular incident. The entire Katrina debacle started before the hurricane even struck. Inner city residents refused to take the transportation offered, then had to be rescued. The shelter situation was horrific. FEMA screwed up. Housing and shelter were offered to many refugees (at no charge, I might add) who insisted that they be given better living quarters rather than be grateful for those they received. Alot of those living quarters were better than what they lost. Didn't those people get checks pretty quickly too? And was that money spent on food and temporary housing or was it spent on flat panel television sets? And don't forget about the loooting that took place soon after the disaster. Yessir...I'm having a hard time feeling compassion about over-estimates of damage.

Unfornately, if they were overpaid, they should pay the State back – otherwise they are getting free money. I think the State should split the difference at least though.

The AC360 team has been dedicated to telling the story of the storm victims and the Bush Admin’s botched response from he beginning – which is why it’s disappointing to see that someone didn’t do their homework on this story. Two of my neighbors work for the Road Home contractor, and volunteered for temporary reassignment to Louisiana – away from their own children – because they believe in helping these families get back in their homes. Instead of acknowledging their 16-hour workdays, or the monumental recovery effort, or that the state has been constantly moving the goalposts in response to political pressure, the reporter chose to discredit the work of so many dedicated Americans working nonstop to get help to the victims. Did anyone bother to find out the rate of accuracy, or talk to the majority of people who received their correct grants? Yes, it is a terrible prospect to face repaying part of a grant, and I hope no one tries to minimize that – but in the real world of limited resources and only 24 hours in the day, would families prefer to wait to get any money until 100% of grants are triple-checked, or to get funds sooner with the knowledge that a minority will need to be adjusted? One day an investigative reporter will actually do their homework and put these pieces together, and I hope Randi and Anderson won't have egg on their faces.

If you’re looking for another story idea, I might suggest visiting some of the people who fraudulently applied for grants and messed things up for the law-abiding citizens – the attorney general can get you a list of those.

What's more shameful is that almost 3 yrs later, the gov't is still paying for housing for victims still here in Houston. I feel like a victim, too. My hard-earned $ going to someone who has had free housing for 3 yrs?! C'mon, man...GET A JOB!! If you can't work here in Houston, you're just plain LAZY!

What an outrage. Yet again the People of New Orleans are suffering at the hands of an incompetent Governmental agency. I believe that ICF should be held accountable for the loss not the homeowners. Punish the one who actually made the mistake. It is time that the victims stop being taken advantage of.

Why is it that the government is the "bad guy" here? Isn't it one's own responsibility to insure your house against disasters? The dumbest thing is to build a city in a hole with insufficient levees to hold back water and it 's even dumber for a homeowner to build a house in that hole. Why is my tax money going to pay for all this dumbness? You might call me cold and cruel to say these things, but I'm sick and tired of bailing out dumb people. Consequences to every decision we make and New Orleans will get flooded again and again. So we're throwing good money after bad. Now this is DUMB!

As much as I have sympathy for citizens who have suffered so much, are you telling me that they signed legal paperwork without even looking at it? If someone tells me, "sorry, you're not allowed to look at your estimates, but please sign here," I'd tell them "no freaking way!" This situation is ridiculous, unfair, and unbelievable, but there's something to be said for reasonable suspicion on the part of the residents when it comes to dealing with the government. They should have that part down pat by now, at least.

Cindy, your comment is ignorant. This about a federally funded contractor scewing up, not the city of new orleans. have some sympathy for the people of new orleans who are the true victims of continous government blunders.

I lived in NOLA for 25 years and yes I was there during the 2005 storm. Regretfully this is typical of the State and Local governments. But what a town!

If the company (ICF) had any ethics or honor THEY would repay the overages in compansation given to these people. It was their inspectors that made these mistakes. I can not imagine what they are going through.

I don’t understand for the life of me why most everyone I talk to thinks that it is the government’s job to rebuild these houses? My folks live in Moore, OK and went through the destruction of the 99 tornado and not for one minute did we think anything or anyone should build or fix the property other then OUR hard work and doing without was going to rebuild. What happened to survival of the fittest? I know it sounds cruel but really is it? It’s just life and I guess if you think this is all there is to it, then yes it does seem cruel and sad. Man up and take care of your own, quite depending on everyone else.

Francie, this isn't a "country's" fault, it's an individual–i.e. the inspector. The government is simply seeking accountability for grant money funded by TAXPAYERS, something that I, as a taxpayer, fully approve. Please read that it also mentioned a compassionate process.

This has nothing to do with the government, it has to do with a grant program totally unprepared for the devastation dealt by Katrina. Blame the government all you want, but soon after, please head up to Canada or down to Mexico.

My family has lived in Southern Louisiana for over 18 years now. We love the area and have a lot of pride in calling ourselves residents. As more and more time goes on, I am realizing that the people of New Orleans are facing a "Road Home" with road blocks and impassable bridges. Do the policy-makers really want New Orleans to recover or are they just trying to make the appearance of effort? It is unbeliveable that things like this are still happening long after the flood waters have gone. The national government was mostly to blame for the initial aftermath but the whole group from top to bottom are to blame for this.

Ummm... seems to me that the ICF numbers were...... ESTIMATES?

Good grief! It is lunacy to expect money back, especailly after the real costs were invariably higher.

It's not like this is a big moneymaking scam.

After rereading it, I see that it was not necessarily expected to totally cover it. But still, it's pretty low to ask for the money back.

Honestly - does it really surprise us at all?! Let's take a long look at the corrupted history of Louisiana politics and how the state government has treated their people. Remember - this nation was ready to help them before and immediately after Katrina; however, their noble New Orleans Mayor and Governor said, "No, we have this under control." Yea, right! It took the city of Houston as well as other cities in Texas to open their doors and get those people out of that horrible mess. Louisiana has always been corrupt, and I don't see that changing anytime in the future. So, does this surprise me that the State is now requiring those folks to repay the overages? No, not at all.

If it's not in writing and you didn't sign it there's no legally binding document. Case closed.

Seems to me that ICF ought to pay back the gov't for the bad estimates. Let the homeowners keep the money – ASSUMING that they actually spent the money for repair work.

How come CNN doesn't show this particular man's home? Instead they show a run down shack. My guess (and CNN only leaves me guessing) is that it was a very nice house and that may take away from the pity factor. The man got more than he was entitled to and according to the agreement he signed he needs to give it back. Way too many facts left out here by CNN.

If the grants were overpaid, the money should be returned in a fair way. We can't be expected to look the other way when the amount exceeds 1.7 million in over payments. Every taxpayer is the ultimate loser, when goverment spends without any recourse. We need to take note the next time elections roll around and pay attention to whom we are voting in!

I am not surprised at all. How unfortunate that this has to happen to them. But we are a greedy country, what do you expect?

Randi,
I understand that this is a huge story that the state of LA would ask for money back. I just recently moved to the Mississippi coast, and there is still a lot of damage here. Could there be a story that someone could do about the Mississippi Gulf Coast?

The problem was not created by the government in NOLA or by the State. It was caused by the OVER paid company: ICF International, based in Fairfax, VA. ICF was hired by the State and it was supposed to have the experience needed to manage the rebuilding money.

The federal government should have insisted that audit controls be put in place from the beginning. The state government was supposed to oversight the contractor. The contractor wouldn't let the homeowner review the grant application. This was a system guarenteed to have lots of mistakes occur. Everyone is at fault except the homeowners getting screwed. To ask for repayment is absurd and a cruel joke.

Our tax dollars at work. Pathetic.

Our government does very little for the people now. Its more concerned about not offending anyone. But, I wish the Katrina ‘victims’ would do something positive for a change instead of whining all the time.

You would think the government would fine ICF for not showing the homeowner the paperwork that they are signing and agreeing with.
That is a legal document and legally has to be read before being signed.

hey cindy, the"ridiculous" government we have here is the same one you have. You seem to be fortunate to not have gone through a catastrophe that this country was not able to handle....on ANY level. Enough about our local government. I know that the entire world thinks that we have the market cornered on inadequate & corrupt everything, but maybe we just don't hide these things like, say, the governors of NY & NJ? or perhaps DC...Marion Barry anyone? I just hope that you love your home as much as we cherish our crazy world. Would you go through all of this BS & stay? We wouldn't be anywhere but here.

Unfortunately many people abused the system and took money dishonestly. Now the government who screwed up in the first place is going after everyone.

ICF should be responsible for the overpayments, not homeowners. You can't squeeze blood from a turnip, so to speak, and you can't honestly expect the average homeowner to be able to pay these bills. They have enough to worry about. When will they stop tormenting the people of New Orleans and instead hold the right people responsible for this awful mess?

It sounds more like the guy doing the work on his home added additional stuff to his damage claim and he got stuck with the bill for the extra. Investigating the company that did the repairs would go a long way, especially since he wouldn't let him see the paper work. I never would have signed off on it.

I find it disgusting that our Government will pay BILLIONS upon BILLIONS of our hard earned tax money they so easily collect to build and rebuild other countries, then turn a cold shoulder to our own citizens in their times of need. Where have our priorities gone?

My family was fortunate. I moved from NOLA a year before the storm and miraculously moved my mom from NOLA ONE WEEK before Katrina hit. She had not had time to sell her house though, and when the city was flooded so was her house and she took a financial hit. She gutted her own home (to save money) and sold it for a fraction of what it was originally worth. Now, the city of New Orleans is trying to get money for utilities that she never used. The week she moved out, she shut off all water, gas, etc. Then she sold her house. The city is trying to collect on services that she did not receive from the time of the storm through last year. It wasn't even her house at that point.
I love New Orleans, but nothing will get better if the government continues to financially rape its residents.

It is a shame that these people are getting screwed again. And I don't mean to say this in a angry or insensitive way. I'm sure people in this part of the country love the place where they live and can't imagine living anywhere else. But the fact is this is going to happen again and again and again. These homes can't be rebuilt time and time again. With the grants that these families received they should have moved. The rest of the country now has an abundance of brand new homes that builders can't sell. With foreclosures sky rocketing money should be spent getting these families into homes and communities that need people to strengthen them. The rebuilding of New Orleans and the surrounding area is draining American resources. The only way that the city and the surrounding areas can and should be rebuilt is by the natural need to build. New Orleans will never be the pre Katrina city it was. It's going to be something different. It would appear the only thing that the rebuilding effort is fostering is the same corruption that existed before. That's the only thing the hurricane didn't blow away.

Cindy,
It is not NOLA's government that is causing all of these problems. It is the USA government.

If they were grants by the Federal Government and written by a third party company, why do the homeowners need to repay the State Government? Sounds like another case of fraud on a local level in Louisianna. I don't believe that you can ask for repayment from the individual homeowners unless they had the opportunity to sign off on the estimate. This one falls on the shoulders of the State of Louisianna and ICF. If ICF inspected these properties and did not let the homeowner look at the estimate, then ICF should have to pay the bill. Someone at ICF should be fired and whomever hired ICF should be removed from office. It boils down to responsibility. Personal responsibility to read what you sign. Corporate responsibility to notify customers and train employees properly. Government responsibility to contract the best company for the job.

ICF should be fined twice the amount overbilled and the people should be left alone.

What about personal responsibility? Why is it expected that the government come in and bail everyone out? Seems to me that everyone affected was aware of the risk posed by the weather and yet

-Chose to live in New Orleans

-Chose not to carry enough insurance to cover their assets

-Chose to accept grant money which carried a stipulation that it may have to be repaid

I'm sympathetic, but I don't expect anyone other than my insurance company to pay to bail me out in these cases. If you get caught with your pants down, you live and learn and do what you can to ensure it doesn't happen again. You don't blame the government because of events brought on by your own lack of personal responsibility.

This company got BIG bonuses not too long ago! For what i dont know. The staff and director were showered with huge bonuses under the pretext of doing a good job. A good job of screwing the victims of this great tragedy. Maybe the new governor has a bit more backbone than 'Henny Penny.' Maybe. We have yet to see. Stay tuned.

I'm glad they are demanding repayment. If the people received too much money, it should be repaid or it is fraud. It's about time the government is going after people that receive benefits that either don't need it, or that receive too much!!

I think this is horrible. There ought to be a law holding the ICF responsible!

This is ashame! I have friends that didn't take the road home money because they knew there would be some kind fiascal. The feds gave billions for road home and only a small portion ended up in the hands of people. The rest was skimmed off by greedy governments, buisnesses and contractors. Now they want to take back what little they did give out. People would just be better off telling the government they don't want there money nor there help. It's so insulting ....... that the poor man gets a 20,000 grant and they want 13,000 back and he spent 100,000 repairing the house. How wrong is that. Not to mention that we all pay taxes and this is how we get taken care of when we are in need. Sound like taxation without representation.

This just goes to show you the USA is in NO WAY the greatest country in the world, it is the current super-power of the world. But this is a situation that just adds to the many problems that this country faces. This is a counrty that has LOST its proirities, while the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. Interestingly enough that John Montegut had spent $100,000 fixing his home, and then the same people that sent him $20,000 to help him out, later states oh, by the way, we over estimated you owe us $13,000!! Now, id be interested to know how much interest the state/corp. wants as well.

If a tornado came and took my home from underneath me tonight I would'nt receive any "grant" money from the taxpayer. I am a little upset to constantly hear of people not having insurance to cover their residences and commercial businesses. Personal responsbility is the answer to many of lifes circumstances...

Ok I do feel sorry for these people. To an extent. When this happened everyone org out there asked for money to help these people and millions were given out... Not one or two million but MILLIONS with a Capital M. Were did that money go? What about the people and towns who took these people in but then the crime rate went thru the roof?? Or the people destroyed the apartments and or hotel rooms they were staying in. What about the FEMA cards that were handed out with a couple hundred bucks on each card. This money was for food, clothing or what have you. Later it was found out that many people used the money at strip clubs and buying booze.

I am sorry. It has been years, MILLIONS of my tax's dollars have been spent. If it is not working for them down there then they need to move on and stop looking for hand outs. I just cant feel sorry for these people any longer.

Ok Flame me. Wont hurt my feelings and I believe a lot of people feel the way I do...

Another fine example of government at work. It frustrates me, to no end, to see how the people of our nation receive no, or very little, benefit from our government yet continue to look to "Big Brother" to meagerly dole out the money we hard working citizens earn. Our current Presidential candiate's continue to tell those whom are hurting that "we can do more, give more". When we realize that we (the people) have to hold government accountable for their wasteful spending and start demanding value for every dollar they take?

Um, I own a house. I have INSURANCE. It is required by my mortgage company. And if I lived in a place that was below sea level I'd have flood insurance as well.

If you can't afford the insurance then you can't afford to own a home. You rent. Or you live somewhere that is, say, above sea level.

I'm not without compassion and helping out folks who got screwed first by nature and then the government, but why are we paying money to people who will AGAIN not have insurance to rebuild where they WILL get flooded again so we can bail them out another time?

The deal should be this: If you get cash from the government because your home flooded you have to relocate somewhere else that is not in a flood zone. And that land can NEVER be used for building again.

ICF shoudl be held accountable not he people of LA. The people did not malicously take the money, it was given to them based off of an assessment they were not allowed to see or verify. As for the individual who assesssed Montegut's residence, they should be fined for filing a false claim.

Why doesn't the government go after the people who really cheat? I watched hundreds, if not thousands of people take FEMA money after the Northridge earthquake in 1994 that they were not entitled to. People built in-ground pools and redecorated their homes when all they had initially lost were a few cups and saucers. The people of New Orleans lost everything in Katrina and deserve whatever the state of Louisiana and the federal government can give them, not take away!

I’ve been dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina since the beginning and am still actively involved through my work. Over the course of the last two years I’ve tried to wrap my mind around why this event has been so difficult for the citizens of New Orleans to get through, and it has finally clicked. It takes a complete paradigm shift to understand it, or you will never get it. Imagine you’ve lived your entire life through government handouts, living in one of the most poverty stricken areas of the United States, where education is minimal at best and dealt with government corruption down to even its lowest levels. Once you get that part down you may be able to start to understand how a simple government grant program designed to help Hurricane victims could be completely botched. My advice; stay tuned in, we’ve only reached the intermission of Hurricane Katrina, the eye of the litigation storm is beginning to come ashore.

If a tornado hit my home, I wouldn't ask the government for money. I would call my insurance company and take care of business. If I didn't have insurance, then that is my fault.

If you signed a contract, then you owe the money.

First of all, this was a tragic event on a grand scale. The way the article is written – is to invoke an emotional response to a tragic situation. And obviously by some of the comments – it does.
There are errors made on small project all the time, so something this large is going to have errors. What I find amazing is that all of the fingers go pointing back to ICF and contractors.
Every one of those 300 families should have known what they were having covered. And the example given suggests that they signed off on what ever the state inspector put down.
Would you sign a contract without knowing the full contents of it ? Responsibility runs both ways.

Wait.... they were given a grant... and had to claim in on their taxes. Now they want it back?

As others have said a grant doesn't have to be paid back. And the fact that they had to claim it on their taxes supports the fact that it was a grant, and not a loan. Monies from a loan are not taxable; monies from a grant are.

So... they paid the taxes on it... let them keep it. It's a GRANT.

You want to get the overage back? Get it from the contractor who overestimated. They're the ones who made the mistake! Bet they didn't administer the program for free... so take back the money from them!

Sue the federal government for the dyke failures? It is a sate and local responsiblity. I think we should have cut off all relief funding when they re-elected that mayor. We dumped enough money into that hole. Who would live under sea level anyway?

I have been a resident of Louisiana my whole life and must say that this does not suprise me . I expect next we will find out that one of our polititians had a hand in the cookie jar with this contract deal that went bad. These homeowners deserve better than a third world country ran state government. Did you also know that there are still familys in FEMA trailers in Baton Rouge? Louisianians count on yourselves! Boby Jindal you have a mess to clean up!

Michelle- You just amaze me. I understand your concern for your friends and family in VA and I do sympathize, however, this is not a competition for sympathy. The effects of Hurricane Katrina continue to weigh very heavily on its citizens. This blog taking notice of that is just one way of keeping the rest of the world abreast of the city's progress (or the lack there of )and to point out that residents are still suffering. So while the focus of this blog is about Katrina, I'm sure its in no way discounting the tragedy in VA (fyi, the VA story is on the front page). Thus, your statement was completely unnecessary and totally devoid of the compassion you wish the rest of the world would have for your friends and family in VA. Your friends/family are in my prayers and everyone else affected are in my prayers. And so are you!

I am a Hurricane Rita "victim", and almost a year after the inspector came to inspect my apartment, I received a letter from FEMA stating that I had to repay the money I received from them. FEMA said that my apartment was NOT damaged, and I had thirty days to repay the "assisted living" money. Apparently when the inspector came to view my apartment it was already in the process of being rebuilt (even though I showed him the pictures of it). I had to write a letter of appeal and attached the original pictures plus a letter from my former apartment complex stating they evicted me due to damage/mold.
I guess when you are a victim of a hurricane, you become a victim of the government.

I am outraged by this developing story. How dare the goverenment try to charge residents of New Orleans when they have made no efforts to help them in the first place. So what happens if the families are not able to pay? Are they going to rip the families from the homes and leave the on the streets as they are just starting to get back on their feet?! This is ridiculous!!!!!

This is a travesty. Grant recipients being forced to sign contracts with the clause of having to repay if overpayments were "later discovered" – that doesn't seem right . . .

What a disaster. I've been down to NOLA 2 times to volunteer with ACORN and it makes me sad, but doesn't surprise me that the government is adding insult to injury. In America we still have a city with
hotels, gambling, Bourbon St., shopping, and bus rides through the lower 9th, but we can't seem to get anyone in lower tax brackets back up and running.

Maybe the government will start charging residents for their oxygen usage.

Chris, Maryland

correction to previous comment:

Nice to know that Louisiana did get a new governor. Too bad it wasn't sooner. I wonder how long he will last when trying to clean house. Hope for the best..

Something smells funny in this story. For 100k you can tear a good size house down and darn near rebuild from bottom up. Where did the other 80k come from that he used to 'repair' home house? Are we to believe that they 'underestimated' the repairs on the house by 80k(now 93k) but overestimated others by 150k? There certainly isn't a home in the ninth ward(as the graphic implies) worth over 100k.

Something sue stinks to high heaven about this ICS group doing such a poor job, and the goverment holding the wrong people accountable for the mistake. But you also got to question something real smelly about this story and the way its presented. Give us the WHOLE story here, not just what you can sell. Who is John Montegut, and what exactly did he spend over 100k on? How much was actually necessary repair?

i just cant believe their inneptitude... what a sad sad day. the state on la. should eat the money because they have failed miserably..

who is judging these people...rating them at work for their performance?

How could he have signed it if he wasn't allowed to see the paperwork? There must have been something on whatever he signed that alluded to further documentation.
It's messed up, but how can you not be allowed to see paperwork for a contract agreement you sign? That doesn't make any sense at all.
He should have done his research first before he signed, or realized something was shady when he was told he couldn't see his own paperwork, or the company is at fault for misrepresenting information.
That's a tough case.

Responding to LB –

No, we want a democrat in charge of the health care system.

Screwing the little guy (actually, anyone but the really big guys) in the republican credo. I guess they felt that the Katrina victims hadnt suffered enough.

Oh my GOD are you serious? You mean to tell me that we can intrude into other countries , destroy the lands then turn around and pay to repair it. But our own country is destroyed by mother nature and we can not repair our own country. Boy, what is really going on... This makes us as a country who work so hard to get so little back think ,
"Are we really living in the last days"...

ICF should pay back the money instead of a fine. The state wants both the fine and money. The State has added to the suffering of the very citizens they are responsible for and account to...

This story almost left me speechless. Speechless except for a few shocked thoughts like,"How can this possibly be happening?" ; "Are you *!@$*!@ SERIOUS!?" and "Why are the victims of Hurricane Katrina STILL continue to be victims of other sources YEARS later?!" I got to drive through New Orleans last month and I teared up thinking about what the residents have been through for the past few years when I saw the place. As I stood outside the gate of where Six Flags amusement park used to entertain families, it was so beyond me that this place and it's people have suffered so much and weren't helped anywhere near as much as they deserved. NOW THIS?! In my opinion, the homeowners didn't make the mistake of overestimating. Either the contractor and/or the state and government need to shell out for that mistake, especially being that homeowners were underpaid for damages to their homes anyhow. That's my opinion for now; hopefully better news regarding the situation will come out for the sake of those residents....still shaking my head...

Typical beuracratic thnking....ratherthan just write off the amount these people owe the state, the State is going to investigate the contarctor they hired and appoint someone to review the cases....in the end they will end up spending more taxpayer dollars than they doled out to begin with.

I live near Charleston, SC. Charleston got thrashed in '89 by Hurricane Hugo. Ya know what you heard 7am the next morning? Chainsaws and ppl yelling cuz we werent waiting for anyone to help us...we were helping ourselves and our neighbors. The saddest part was the piles of debris that were still sitting waiting to be picked up by the towns and counties a year later. These ppl need to stop their sniveling, wipe their, noses and fix their own problems. The government isnt your mommy and you arent 5 years old. Shut up about it. If anything NOLA should be razed and forgotten about. You live on a river delta and then you have the gall to whine when it floods...get over it!

This notion that people should not build in NO seems a bit hasty. First off, to prohibit habitation just because of weather is ridiculous. I mean, are we going to tell people in Kansas that they can't live there because there are too many tornadoes? You people in Virginia – get out of there now!! Second, why is (or rather, was) there so much settlement in an area below sea level? Because our gov't built levees that allowed people to feel safe there. If there were no levees, there would be no New Orleans, it's a bit difficult to have Mardi Gras under water. I know, Mardi Gras for fish and frogs, it'll be a big hit. Third, I'm a little confused how the Netherlands has managed to keep the sea out for centuries while we struggle, is the water thinner over here or do they just make better dirt?

The bottom line is that our country, the government AND the people, have our collective priorities skewed. Instead of trying to solve problems and overcome adversity as we did in the first 175 years, we now spend most of our time hunting down someone that is to blame for some injustice to some person or people, or listening to some member of the media telling us who to blame. Can anyone quantify how much time and money we waste on witch hunts and issues that will not change anything for anyone? How can anyone think that things are running right when we spend millions trying to figure out who's using steroids but we can't house all of our citizens?

I recommend that everyone who received such a "bill" from the state hire a lawyer. If the state funds were relied upon to make the repairs for which the money was intended, and the homeowner relied in the funds to his detriment (i.e. he put the money into the repairs of his Katrina-damaged home and cannot repay it), there is a good chance that the homeowner will not have to repay.

It's a shame that the homeowners will have to resort to this. Seek out an attorney who may be willing to represent the effected group pro bono.

Is there a charity where people can make donations toward that debt. If not there should be. The families should not have to suffer again because the govt. made mistakes.

The grant was to repair damages from Katrina. If the homeowner was mistakenly given more money than he was justly due, he should pay it back. The fact that he spent it, on whatever he spent it on, doesn't absolve him of that responsibility. If your employer overpaid you, or sent you two paychecks – or if the IRS mistakenly refunded more than you were entitled to – would it be any different? Katrina was truly a disaster – but it is public tax dollars that are being used to remedy the situation, and if there is money that can be reclaimed it should be.

I think It's wrong to ask the residents for money back. Why should the residents pay for mistakes that a so called professional organization made; after all, the residents did not hire the (ICF) and they had no way of knowing or understanding what should or should not be put on an estimate. And another thing, desperate people will sign anything. Those People were trying to get their lives back to normal. They thought those agencies were acting in their best interest. I don't think any money is owed, some one is trying to fill their pockets at the expense of unlearned and hurting people. The inspectors were hired by the state or goverment officials; the katrina victims did not hire those "professional Inspectors" so why are they being targeted as if they did something wrong? They should leave those people alone and suck up the lost. And if they cannot suck up the lost, charge the inspectors and the agencies responsible for causing the overfpayment. No Katrina victim wrote any estimates. Why are they being charged?

What is appalling to me is that after all this time the people of New Orleans seem to think that we as a country still owe them. They were ordered from the city. Lots choose to stay. Why would we help them when the victims of other hurricanes and tornados and earthquakes all across the country have not gotten a cent of help to rebuild there towns. Take Homestead. After Andrew hit it was left devasted. Did they get money to rebuild? Maybe but nowhere near the amount that New Orleans did. Also after so much time why have these people not gone and gotten jobs? Why must I pay taxes and work my butt off to make ends meet for my family while I have to pay for them to sit on their butts.

That to me is appalling.

Comments like this one:
"What’s the big deal? Money that was paid out erroneously under the auspices of the state, is now being asked to be repaid. I call that fiscal accountability. If a family found out they were receiving $150,000 beyond what would be reasonable, don’t you think they would notice? This is just sensationalist reporting."
might be valid if the government was equally vigilant in recovering money billed inappropriately by KBR in Iraq. Hundred-dollar cases of soda and other similar overcharges resulted in the waste of many times the paltry two million dollars they are trying to recover here. If the government exhibited the Christian values supposedly espoused by its leader, the displaced people in New Orleans would have long ago been back in their homes. If that same government had applied a little preventive action (proper maintenance of the levees) instead of spending incomprehensible sums on unnecessarily overblown military budgets, they might never have been displaced at all.

It never fails to amaze me how our government can find money to spend to kill people in other countries but can't find the money to help our own people.

Simply pathetic and I hope that every law maker and president sleeps with nightmare's knowing that they are the ones causing American's to suffer more then what they should have too.

Why hasn't anyone from ICF gone to jail yet?! The country really needs to dig into how crooked these leeches are.

Usually I don't post comments...but this kind of situation just really irriates me! ICF is clearly liable in this instance and should be held accountable. It's just like our backwards government to make vicitms who do not have the money attempt to pay. What will happen is these people's credit will be adversely affected and worse their pay eventually garnished for something that was not their fault to begin with??? This is the kind crap that perpetuates poverty and homelessness in our nation. I'm simply outdone by the stupidity and inconsiderate nature of our government.

I have to say this is one more sad situation, however, who would sign a paper that important without reading it. If someone told me I couldn't see the paper I was signing then I would go to someone else within that organization. If that paper said I had to repay overpayments then that's the law. Then again if it is a grant you don't repay a grant. Seems to me the contractor is at fault and should pay the overages. I do have to agree that there are many of these who I agree are victims have taken great advantage of the situation. As someone who lives in Houston and helped when this tragedy happened I see it here all the time. To be honest I wish some of them would go back because they have become a problem to us because of their behavior only. Not because they are someone in need but because of the things happening all the time and we read once again it is someone from Katrina. I do hope and pray all the honest, hard working people of New Orleans get all the help they need and deserve, but the ones who signed a contract without reading, well this is what happens.

As desperate as the Katrina victims were when they accepted the grants, I would never have taken the grant if I had not been allowed to review any paperwork. I would not have signed anything without first reading it carefully and understanding what I was signing. However, because the people who accepted these grants were already having a hard time financially, I believe it is the responsibility of ICF and the state govt to suck up their mistake they made and not be billing these people for the mistake they made. These people should not have to repay when they were not the ones making the mistake and a big mistake that was highly costly at that. We lived in New Orleans 4 years and we understand that there alot of people who are hardworking and good people who just dont have much and needed every bit of the help they could get and still need help. However, there are alot of people who are crooked and commit fraud whenever a disaster occurs and abuse the system taking money away from those who truly deserve it.

Some people mentioned in this blog that they pay insurance companies for protection in situations like a bad hurricane hitting and damaging their home. What many people do not seem to realize is that people should never rely on insurance companies to pay up when a catastrophe occurs. My entire family was hit by Katrina on the Ms. Coast and had severe damage to their homes, but the insurance companies severely underpaid my family what they deserved to get according to their contracts with the insurance company. They were not the only ones who had this problem; the majority of people living in MS and LA were having this same exact problem with the insurance companies. What people are learning now is that the insurance companies are not only doing this to Katrina victims and other hurricane victims in Florida, Alabama and other states but they are doing this to California fire victims, Earthquake victims, and tornado victims. My family members paid their premiums for decades on time and in full and when it came to needing their insurance to pay for the repairs needed on their homes, the insurance companies paid only what they wanted to pay and most of the time it was not what was promised on the contracts. So to those out there who lose their homes to fire, tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc do not believe that you will get the total amount of money stated on your insurance contract because the insurance company will certainly cheat you as much as possible and will not get much, if any, money to make the necessary repairs on your home. Many of my family members had to take out second mortgages to pay the repairs needed on their homes. Most people could not afford to take out second mortgages to get their homes back to normal. The insurance companies are so crooked that if you do have damage to your home and need repairs you wont get the amount of money you need to repair your home back to the state it was before the damage. Two of these households in my family were not flooded either and the insurance companies still refused to give them what they were supposed to. This is why I pray that my house never needs repairs due to fire or any natural disaster because I do not trust the insurance companies to pay up when it is time. The next President of the U.S. who is elected to office needs to enact a law that forces insurance companies to pay according to what is stated on the contracts.

This is just another example of why goverments run by corrupt politicians do not work. If the human race is to survive, we must find another method to create society. Unfortunatley only a major world-wide disaster will be able to enact such drastic change. (Where is an astreroid when you need one !)

Hello! Does anyone think that New Orleans was the only town to be destroyed. What about the people in Mississippi that lost there homes. All you hear about is NOLA, NOLA, NOLA. I do business all along the Miss. Gulf Coast and that place will never be the same. I'm sorry for the lost to La, but Ms was just as destroyed but I guess if your a party town you'll get all the press. I don't think the people should have to pay back money that was not their fault. Also we people in Alabama took one heck of a beating from Katrina also.

I have heard many stories over the years since Katrina. Overall, the whole thing sounds as if there are multiple scams going on in all directions. But the bottom line is that the most helpless always suffer.

But NO (and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) ought to learn from The Netherlands or tne next huricane will KO what is left of NO.

This is no different from any insurance plan one can purchase. The replacement cost is just that, a replacement cost. I would image their is a way to readdress the cost estimate that would fairly value the remodel/rebuilt. The major point that is missed in all the heartfelt human issue, is that we as a nation cannot afford to continue to rebuilt areas in that type of hazadous geographical area. I lived in New Orleans and I know first hand that most do not have insurance (because no one will take the risk) and most homeowners EXPECT the government to give them monies anyway. This is a wakeup call to America that coastal flood areas are too expensive to take tax payer risk with. If people wish to live there, then it is at their own risk. The amount of money spent in the last 25 years rebuilding Dolphin Island Alabama would bail out Social Security for another six years. Peolpe should only be compensated for what they insure. I do not like paying to rebuild sand bars and flood zones.

Just to set the record straight, even with the origianl amount of the Road Home Grant I was still out about $$10,000 based on the high cost of repairing 3-5 months after Katrina after estimated damages and I repeat low estaimted damages of $82,000 not the $150,000, flood insurance paid $62,000 leaving a balance of $20,000 which Road home paid, now with their mistakes they want $13,000 back.
Under the Federal Grant Prorgram actual costs are allowed over estimated costs with third party documenatation, up until now ICF does not accept actual costs according to their contract which is against Federal guidelines. I still have another $10,000 total of repairs not covered under under Road home or insurance which is nearing completion.

Those few who say pay up please send donations, well just a thought.

The most impoverished sections of N.O. were hit by Katrina, but so were very upscaled residential areas where the homes were 200K+. Also, there was another hurricane one month later by the name of Rita, which did as much damage as Katrina, to a wider area than N.O. These people also qualified for Road Home, and bless their hearts, are having as much or more problems than the people in N.O. The problem with Road Home is the fraud involved. People who have gotten money for homes and have not repaired them but rent them out without ever repairing them. Spending money on new cars, vacations, big screens, etc. Those people who have had inches and inches of water inudating their homes have yet to collect from Road Home. Why? Because the monies were given to people who didn't even live in an area that was damaged! Fraud Fraud Fraud! And beleive me, not all people who collected Road Home are frauds or have committed fraud. But the high number of people who have collected with no actual rights to the money are why the majority of individuals that should qualify have NOT collected from Road Home yet. They need to look at the individuals who did not live in areas that were the hardest hit, or were flooded, to see which ones of those individuals received monies that they never should have gotten.

I live in New Orleans and lived through Katrina. The Road Home program is both a joke and an insult to us here. Also, the program is extremely difficult to navigate through, even for educated people, and even more so when you consider the average person here has less than an 8th grade education. I think that so long as the person can show that they spent all of the money on home repairs then they would not be required to return any of it. You can't get blood from a stone.

I live in Meraux (12 miles outside the New Orleans area) an area that was devastated by Katrina, thanks to all of you who really express concern, that alone means a lot to us. I would love to take the time to thank Anderson Cooper for his dedication to this area and his reporting accuracy. Most reporters report and move on, I truly think he as connected with this city.

Thanks for being here and reporting the truth Anderson
Meraux La.

My heart goes out to these folks. I have a question? Why do you wish to continue to be seen as the victim? What was the property value before the disaster... Absolutely pay back what is overpaid to you. Do you not read what you sign? ... Hello... How bout some honest reporting here another 360, please. How did many of these folks live before the disaster? How about some real reporting of the government tax dollars, fraud, waste and abuse. There are disasters in every state in the nation. People are expected to take control of their lives at some point in the game. Folks were given money from FEMA and reported recently that they are continuing to receive rental assistance who is paying for this? and still many are displaced all over the nation. A home that belonged to a family for generations and three generations were living in the home not contributing to the household income. Grandparents left to pick up the pieces while adult children ran off to purchase large screen TV's and designer clothing in government funded free living. Is HUD not currently funding rental payments today? Funds from FEMA, the road home program, American Red Cross, Church's and other volunteer agencies. Living in hotel, cruise ships, refusing to leave when leaving leaving the place in squallier. Why are renters and homeowner treated equally. If you rented you paid rent why is the government still assisting renters??? I would like someone to help me with rent I lived thru a disaster and got one month rental assistance and was gratefull. Folks were given phone card, gas card, and free airfare, free medical from volunteers from every state. Donation from minimum wage earners, and sweat equity from youth all over the nation. I would venture to say that everyone funded given there was a stimpulation that if there was a duplication in funds Federal tax dollars would need to be returned. So return it... Is there a stimpulation that if you accept the money and rebuild without insurance and it happens again that you would not be eligible for additonal funding. Sounds as if there is no individual accountability. Where of the stories of people waking up moving on and building a life for themselves as others in disasters have to do. I would venture to say that many of the folks living situation was at least alittle better than it was before.

Thank you for covering this story and honoring a promise made almost three years ago. It means more than any of you will probably ever know. While I'm not from New Orleans, parts of my family are, and some of my fondest memories are of times spent in New Orleans, Slidell, and Arabi (in St. Bernard Parish). i will always be saddened by the storms and their aftermath. I will always know good, decent people were hurt and treated like trash after Katrina in a way no human being should ever be treated. And pitifully, some are still being treated that way today. I will always also know that good, decent people have my greatest thanks for helping this state to recover after Katrina and Rita. I know this state has a long, long way to go and will get there eventually. I know Katrina is still a topic of pain and sadness for many who grieve the losses she brought. Ditto for Rita. I'm one of them. But life moves on. And people are trying. I encourage everyone to come and see the damage and talk to the survivors before you judge. Share in their tears and joy. Then try to decide who is worthy and who isn't of help and hope.

Here is my take on the Katrina mess: everyone is pointing fingers – remember there are three fingers pointing back at you. So let's start looking at within. What is my part in this deal. Let's face it- you just got a check for $150,000 for 'repairs' – you know damn well you could never get $150,000 for the house even before Katrina. You know damn well it was an overpayment. You know damn well that the thought came across your mind- 'they will never come back for it' – 'the bureaucracy is too great' – 'I cant believe i got this windfall'- well guess what – the individual compromised what was the right thing to do- they took the money. Hum- now we have the poor victim scenario again.

When are these so called victims going to take accountability? When are they are going to ask themselves – is this the right thing to do?- choices and consequences- hum a new thought.

Yes this is like the mortage crisis like people said it was, and they have a point about people reading and understanding the document before you sign, but what about the banks that loaned people the money and in the end loss the loans to foreclosure? the Fed is giving them billions of dollars and helping banks so they won't go under. they are the ones who got the bailouts and the people get the short end of the stick, also Bush is opposing any bill that would give people that same bailout, come on. Its all about profit, thats why CEO's of banks got so much money in they paychecks but yet the banks themselves went down. Sure! god bless america right? if u ask me they are goint to turn New Orleans into a billion dollar profit by making houses only the rich can affortd.

Let's see if I read this story right. A whopping $1.75 million is owed by as many as 5000 families. And "some" of those families could owe $150,000. How many is some? 5 or 10? 10 at $150,000 would amount to $1.5 million, meaning that the other 4990 would divide up the remaining $250,000 or about $50 each. But wait, the gentleman in the story wasn't paying back the $150,000 rather only $13,000 so there must be others that are being billed large amounts. So most of the people would be paying back even less than the $50. And for this, some of you are getting angry?

Just when you think you had seen it all regarding anything to do with the mess that is Hurricane Katrina,something else pops up.
It is hard to believe that it will soon be 3 years come August.

Is Ray Nagin still the mayor of New Orleans,he is never seen on anything much it seems,is he keeping a low profile?

I also hope 360 can also focus on some of the OTHER places along the Gulf Coast damaged by Hurricane Katrina as well,like those in Mississippi-Waveland,for instance,among others.

I am a recipient of a Road Home Grant and served as a Notary Public for many closings for such grants. Each notary was instructed to inform each recipient as to conditions for the grant and situations that could require repayment. A document signed and notarized at the closing was the restrictive covenants that attached to the property for at least three years.

We did not know how the amounts were calculated at the closing, but I informed everyone who sat with me of their appeal rights and how they could get that information in the appeal.

For me, the grant was the only way I was able to complete the repairs to my house and I am grateful for that. I have not received any letter asking for any money back yet . . . but I know I will need to give money back when I finally settle with my insurance company.

That is one of the covenants that I explained to everyone who sat with me. Using the damaged house as rental property within three years is another covenant I explained.

This suspiciously sounds like the “Walmart story” that happened recently, in which the victims were asked to return the money paid to them. I hope the hurricane victims get the same outcome and get to keep the money. Please continue to follow this story.

Lilibeth
Edmonds, Washington

wow ~ what a blow to an already hurtful situation: 2,000 people dead, 80% under water for an average of 57 days, 400,000 jobs lost and 275,000 homes destroyed, … and the best our government can do is to demand that grants be repaid when it should have free money because you all are taxpayers? what a loathsome, detestable country we live in!!!
icf's past financial messiness should have made them ineligible for being awarded a government contract in the first place. even in the face of several conflicts of interest, and icf was recently awarded a merrill lynch contract!? i sound a HUGE rat in requiring the residents to repay for what was an inflated grant in the first place!
it just goes to show what being aligned with blanco and bush can do for the haves while leaving out the have nots and making them pay for not having ~ is that the american way!!

Bev,

Homeowner's insurance policies do not cover flood damage. The VAST majority (I'd say at least 75%) of the damage done by Katrina was done by flooding. If you had flood insurance you were OK. If you lived on the coast or in N.O. below sea level and didn't have flood insurance, that is your own stupidity. Live and learn and quit trying to blame your mistakes on others.

IT'S BEEN (3) THREE years since Katrina. How long does it take for someone to get back on their feet?

Should the money be repaid? YES! Repay debts just as you would with the IRS, food stamps, student loans, social security.

My 62 year old dad has to repay 8k b/c the state made a mistake when issuing him his social security checks when he had ankle surgery. They claimed they overpaid him. That an emergency life situation and he had to return to work fulltime so he won't lose his house after my mother died but he's willing to satisfy his debt. The government isn't perfect and neither are the loudmouths who keep claiming the government doesn't act quick enough like during the Katrina incident. The money is coming out of our pockets so PAY IT BACK!

Randie:
So what is the government going to do, start foreclosing half-recovered homes? This is a disgrace.

I am from Louisiana and I will tell you what is going on. The Road Home program that our State was running only had a certain amount of money and it was sooo confusing to know if someone qualified. One week certain parishes, next week No wait, then: the money was overspent "according to homeowners/contractors" estimates but our Intelligent former governor was running tv ads telling people to keep on submitting claims even though a fourth grader could see money was technically gone!!!! Gov. Blanco was counting on pressuring the federal gov't. into pouring much more money in and it DID NOT WORKOUT. NOW they want the financially strapped people to bail our gov't out of Blanco's non-sense..

Honestly I am outraged at all the free-bees the government gives out. What's with all these grants? If this happened to my house I would not be getting any grants, nor would I expect the government to fix things for me. Most of these homeowners (as they are called) didn't even own their home. A lot of these people were in assisted housing, and on wellfare. This is what happens to people who expect the government to take care of them. And when has the government ever been able to make peoples lives better, for crying out loud?!!

Something he said in the interview hit me... The state would not allow him to review their inspection report. I'm not a lawyer but it would seem to me that if the homeowner is denied access to the inspection report they should not be held responsible. Had the homeowner had access to the report they could have pointed out mistakes earlier on to avoid repayment. As in this interview the 6 skylights the homeowner never had.
I think if the state wants the money back from overpayments they should go after the company who did the inspections not the homeowners.

CNN did a story a few weeks ago about the US government allocating 600 million for assistance in the rebuilding efforts for the victims of Katrina. In that report it was stated that the funds were diverted with the intent of using the funds for a "casino and to improve the harbor".
Maybe CNN could investigate these appropriations from the state &
federal government with regard to accountability, malfeasance, and
determine who is responsible for seeing to it that the funds get where they are supposed to go. That 600 million could go along way toward building housing for those people living in the FEMA trailers.
Low cost housing projects could also be used for eventual housing for the elderly as the Katrina victims eventually relocate when they get
back on their feet. There doesn't seem to be any accountability for
the funds appropriated. Maybe with some press coverage identifying the apparent void in monitoring these projects, there may be improvement.

The residents of New Orleans, La. continues to suffer long after Katrina; they are no longer victimized by the howling winds, rapidly rising waters, and the stench of death both human and animal brought on by Hurricane Katrina, but now they are bombarded with the ineptitude and arrogance of a gov't that was suppose to mitigate their suffering. For ICF to use the word "compassion" is insulting and hypocritical. Since ICF with-held documents that could have revealed critical info on expenditures allowed and not wait until after monies were spent, ICF should reimburse the State.

Since the overpayment came about from the contractor's estimates, it should be the contractor paying the overage and not the homeowner, especially when the homeowner has spent more than the grant in fixing the house. Conversely, the amount of actual repairs should be factored into the grant repayment and the contractor should make it good. It's certain the contractor didn't lose on the deal.