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.