"The grant provides up to $150,000 for homes that were outside the federally designated flood zone, yet flooded due to Hurricane Katrina." And that's us. It sounds good so far... Except for a few screwy details. Damage assessment will be made as follows: First they will take the pre-Katrina value of your home and then apply a percentage of damage value to be multiplied against the value - not to exceed $150,000. For example: You have a $100,000 home which is 25% damaged. You are eligible for $25,000. Now subtract any insurance payments received or any FEMA proceeds for structural damage to the home. Now take what's left and apply it toward any SBA loan you were approved for. If there is anything left -- that money will be sent to your mortgage company if you have one -- and you'll have to fight with them to get whatever they're willing to doll out. If you don't have a mortgage company - the money will be sent directly to you. Yay!
Of course the big question is -- where are they going to get the magical 'percentage of damage value' anyway? Well that's easy! They will either use existing FEMA and SBA reports or send out an MDA inspector if you have already begun repairs on your home. That's where things get a little dicey, methinks. The percent damage assessment will be made now? Months after the storm? To see what damage is left. (No thanks to MDA....)
Ah not to worry - they have that covered to! Just retain all of your receipts, they tell us. Make sure you have all of your receipts and you are eligible to be reimbursed for repairs already made. Great! But... during the comment period.. someone has posed the question: "What if you made repairs yourself?" Oh.. well.. no.. they won't reimburse anyone for that. They say it would be too difficult to quantify the value.
I decided it was necessary for me to take advantage of this 'comment period' myself this afternoon... Here are my comments for your reading enjoyment:
I am very distressed to find that damage assessments will be based on the current status of homes. I would like to point out that the hurricane took place in August of 2005. It has now been over six months since the day of the storm - and I'm sure by the time any assessments take place it will have been eight or nine months. This is patently unfair to homeowners who have actually begun repair work on their homes.
Considering that the purpose of this grant was to basically fill a void that was left where those of us who relied on federal flood maps when determining whether or not to purchase flood insurance found ourselves with flooded homes -- then it only seems fair that the logic of the assessment and eligibility process should continue along the same lines. Please allow me to explain by way of my own personal example.
On August 29th, 2005 - we were home to watch two feet of moving water surge through our home. Wave action inside the house actually caused water damage well above the highest level of the water. The downstairs portion of our home was heavily damaged by the nasty salt water coupled with the backflow of the sewage system.
We were here. And we stayed here. We lived in an unlivable home for several months. We never received a FEMA trailer - and we did not move to Vermont when FEMA suggested we do so because my husband worked at NGSS and did not want to leave his job. (The FEMA rep insisted that he could draw unemployment....) Because we were here and had no other housing - we began to make our home as livable as possible. With no flood insurance we were not in a position to make all of the repairs that would have been made had we had flood insurance. For instance - we still live with the cabinetry that was flooded during Katrina. We are not in a position to pay to have them removed.. nor are we in a position to replace them. We live with flooring that should have been removed - and would have been removed had we had flood insurance. We live with sheetrock kindly hung by inexperienced volunteers -- had we had insurance we would have had this done professionally and would not have bowed walls, visible mud lines, and 2 inch gaps around electrical outlets. We would have replaced our interior doors and frames rather than sand and paint them and we would have replaced all of our damaged interior trim rather than slather wood putty over the gashes and cracks from the demolition crow bars. And most certainly - had we had flood insurance there would have been no 'do-it-yourself' repairs to be reimbursed (or not). Ironically - had we had flood insurance... we would be able to produce the receipts that you are requesting... but since we did not... we will come up short.
I would like to point out that in our experience immediately following the storm and for several months - there were very, very few local contractors in our area willing to even come out to give us an estimate when they learned we had no flood insurance. On more than one occasion, the telephone receptionist actually asked whether or not we were covered before she would even take our name and number. When we answered 'no' - we were told that we would not be able to afford them.
All of the repairs were done based on the fact that we could not afford to do everything that should be done. Our goal was to get the house livable while we waited for the assistance that was promised to us.
Now we are in a position where our own initiative has ruined our eligibility for useful assistance. I have spent the afternoon in utter emotional turmoil - wishing we had never lifted a hammer or a paintbrush. If we had lived in tents in our front yard as we were told to do - or moved to Vermont and drawn unemployment.. it seems we would be in a better position today. We thought we were going to die on August 29th... We thought we were going to die for five days following... We fought to survive for months... and now I am totally overwhelmed as my dreams of help from the state fade.
If the grant program is indeed based on the premise that those of us outside the flood plain would have had insurance had the maps been drawn differently.... Then the grant program should also base assessments on this premise. Assessments should be backdated to August 29th. What was the total damage on August 29th? Not - the remaining damage today.
For example:
If our total damage was 30% on August 29th (a figure which I am sure you could obtain from FEMA) on a $100,000 PDV home - and we submit that we received $2000 from our homeowner's policy and $5200 from FEMA and nothing from SBA... Then the grant amount
should be $30,000 less the $7500. Period. Why would you force homeowners to submit receipts of actual expenses? Why does it matter to you whether repairs have begun or not? It seems that the process is being overcomplicated for applicants by asking
for such information... and it is certainly patently unfair to those who could not afford to hire a contractor.
Thank you for your time and consideration of this matter,
Anita Thomer
Pascagoula
4 comments:
Great letter Anita. My guess is they are asking for receipts based on normal insurance policies where monies are given based on quotes for replacements and then the actual replacements being done. The whole thing is nonsense and your solution is obviously the most simple and fair solution, but my guess is simple and fair are not what they are looking for.
Besides, at this point of the game, monies should be handed out based on damage and persons should be able to do with them as they wish. Here in Saskatchewan, many times insurance is based on replacement costs, but you can not use the monies for anything other than replacement of what you have specified in your claim.
Considering that such a long period has passed, reimbursement for damages HAS to be made based on the initial damage, nothing now.
If they insist on leaving things as is, then you should be allowed to ask for quotes from various companies for replacement of sheetrock etc, and then add those to whatever receipts you have? If anyone choses to do work themselves they should not be penalized. Of course I'm sure companies aren't going to be happy giving estimates on what they would have charged on work that has already been done, but jeez, I can't think of another way around it.
Well, yes.. but then most of the time here 'normal insurance' doesn't actually work that way. The insurance adjustor comes out and determines the monetary value of your damages -- he basically gives the estimate for all repairs and they base settlement on that estimate. Then they give you the money and you can go take a cruise if you want.
In the process of repairs though - if you can provide estimates or receipts that exceed the insurance adjustor's estimate -- thus proving that you need more money... You can appeal and sometimes get more money out of insurance. (It doesn't work if you took the cruise instead, obviously.)
On paper - the MDA's plan works just fine. Remaining damage + receipts for repairs since August 29th - less monies from insurance and FEMA would work just fine in a normal situation.
But since people were working under the assumption that they were going to have to use their $6000 insurance settlement to repair $50,000 worth of damage... until now... This is no normal situation.
By the way -- this money is specifically for repairs alone and does not include contents or vehicles. Another discrepancy when it comes to filling the gap for people outside the flood plain who lacked flood insurance. The majority of monetary loss for a flooded home is made up in contents, obviously.
What it comes to is this -- if you remember early on I was upset about this program because it was being implied that it would be only for those who 'lost their homes' completely in Katrina... Leaving out those of us with flooded homes in the flood plain. Then there was talk of a "51% damage" rule -- once again leaving out the majority of flooded homes. Then Governor Barbour made his stupid comment about the program not being for people 'who need sheetrock'. There was a political skirmish over that statement and then it was officially announced that even those whose homes were 'only damaged' (snort!) qualified. Officially announced... but in its application - as it stands now - the program still stands to disqualify the flooded group. You see most of the people who have 'begun repairs' fall in the 'only flooded' category...
But politically it makes more sense to make the program at least SOUND like everybody qualifies... Right?
I give up! Insurance is worthless to me in any form right now, and it appears the same for you. My laptop, which has now been assessed is not going to be covered. Why, well because a pin was broken off of the back attachment. Well, yes it was, it was broken off in my attempt to stick it back in after it shorted out and failed to work and I was told the plug was probably not pushed in far enough to make contact. So the laptop broke, I call for assistance, they tell me to PUSH the plug in as far as I can, I push it in and a pin breaks and now they tell me because of the broken pin it is obvious that the laptop was mishandled thereby nullifying the warranty.
No money, no insurance, fix your home yourself, no power to your laptop, push the plug in harder. OHHHHH so sorry, now you aren't covered cause you did exactly what we told you to do. GRRRRRRR
Ewww!!
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