<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri>Nov. 1, 2009 <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri>CHATNews: <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: red; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"><FONT face=Calibri>1. LRA Housing Task Force Meeting To Be Held on Nov. 9; First One Since Feb. 6, 2009<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">As a member of the LRA Housing Task Force, I just received the following notice. Note that the public is allowed to make 3-min comments at the end of the meeting that are relevant to LRA housing issues even if you come late to the meeting. You just have to ask for and fill out a card from the sergeant-at-arms there (ask someone official-looking who that is).<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><STRONG>A meeting of the Louisiana Recovery Authority Housing Taskforce is scheduled for: <o:p></o:p></STRONG></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Monday, November 9, 2009<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">1:00 p.m.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">University of New Orleans<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto" align=center><B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Research and Technology Park</SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto" align=center><B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Lindy C. Boggs International Conference Center</SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto" align=center><B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">2045 Lakeshore Drive</SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto" align=center><B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">New Orleans, LA </SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto" align=center><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><STRONG>The meeting will discuss rental housing needs and issues. An agenda and materials for review will be forwarded early next week.<o:p></o:p></STRONG></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT face=Calibri size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="COLOR: red"><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri>2. Several More of the Approximately 30 Comments at the Blog for Project on Govt. Oversight about a Road Home Posting from Their investigator about Road Home (RH)<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></B></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri>Below are more comments posted at the blog about Road Home at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO). This blog is entitled “The Far Too Long and Winding Road Home Program,” and was written by a POGO Investigator, Ingrid Drake <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri>To read the rest of the many comments at the blog, see <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><A href="http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2009/09/the-far-too-long-and-winding-road-home-program.html" target=_blank><FONT face=Calibri size=3>http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2009/09/the-far-too-long-and-winding-road-home-program.html</FONT></A><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><A href="http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2009/09/the-far-too-long-and-winding-road-home-program/comments/page/2/#comments" target=_blank><FONT face=Calibri color=#0000ff size=3>http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2009/09/the-far-too-long-and-winding-road-home-program/comments/page/2/#comments</FONT></A><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT face=Calibri size=3> </FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 8.5pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">You are welcome to post at the POGO blog too. </SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><A href="http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2009/09/the-far-too-long-and-winding-road-home-program.html" target=_blank><FONT face=Calibri size=3>http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2009/09/the-far-too-long-and-winding-road-home-program.html</FONT></A><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"><FONT face=Calibri>Or send your post to Brian at </FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'inherit','serif'"><A href="http://us.mc397.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=brahija@pogo.org" target=_blank><B><I><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>brahija@pogo.org</FONT></SPAN></I></B></A><FONT size=3> and you can ask for it to be anonymous.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Just some of the comments at the POGO blog:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; COLOR: #700908; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">J. Michael Malec, Former Advisor</SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Many of my stories are the same as others here, just worse. e.g. On bad evaluations, I worked hard to correct an unconsciencible error, which proved the evaluator had never even seen the house. They classed the home as a mobile home when it was a single shotgun, and to cover, they said it was now demolished. I talked with the owners who were set to get nothing, and stopped on my way home to photograph the home on my own time, with my own equipment. I uploaded the pix, and faced with incontrovertable proof the the house was:<BR>a. a single shotgun<BR>b. recently gutted for rehab by Catholic Charities<BR>c. NOT demolished<BR>the home evaluation unit had to back off.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">This is just one example. The the separate (from reality) Road Home Universe, there are thousands of such stories.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BACKGROUND: #dee5c3; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 24pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; mso-border-alt: solid #B5BAA0 .75pt; mso-line-height-alt: 8.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 3.0pt 5.0pt 3.0pt 5.0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 8.5pt; COLOR: #545452; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Posted on: <A href="http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2009/09/the-far-too-long-and-winding-road-home-program.html#comment-6a00d8341c68bf53ef0120a6475e8f970b"><SPAN style="COLOR: #545452">Nov 01, 2009 at 11:04 AM</SPAN></A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; COLOR: #700908; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Judy</SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">I have read the applicant comments here, and they are sadly, too familiar. Then I got to the official LRA press statement and felt like banging my head against a wall. Has, at this late date, the state of Louisiana got no further in its understanding of the failures of this program than this?<BR><BR>I know of at least two Road Home applicants, elderly neighbors, whose stories, as far as I know, have never been told anywhere. Both of these people were either summarily rejected or became disheartened by the Road Home process. Both were left with few other options. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">When the LRA press release refers to only 8000 applicants remaining, it does not acknowledge those who, like the two neighbors, did not satisfactorily make it that far through the gauntlet even when they did not have “difficult title, legal or financial issues.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">I would not characterize what happened to these Louisiana citizens as mere “customer service failures.” To be clear, the Road Home Program was supposed to help residents regain the epicenter of their lives, their most precious possessions: their homes.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">When the LRA states that it cannot correct these failures of the past, I ask: Why not? Or at least, why not try, unless the real sticking point is that the state of Louisiana still does not see the importance of getting this right. The LRA assures us that it is committed to using the remaining $3 billion on behalf of Road Home applicants because it would need congressional approval to do otherwise. But I think it’s important to note that the LRA did move in November 2008 to seek that very congressional approval to use the money for other purposes. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">How has the quiet abuse of so many people gone unheeded by others? From my vantage point in Louisiana north of the I-10, I have repeatedly observed an ambivalence, if not downright animosity, in the capitol and northern part of the state toward New Orleans and the coastal area. I have come to believe that this sentiment is being harnessed by some to allow this abuse to continue. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The truth about the Road Home Program is too messy to easily draw attention from the simple platitudes of the mythmakers. Unfortunately, the lesson of the Road Home Program to date is that if you make a program unnecessarily complicated enough, in a state with a low enough education level, all manner of corporate and political malfeasance can be practiced at the expense of citizens.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Thanks to POGO for bringing attention to this shameful matter.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BACKGROUND: #dee5c3; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 24pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; mso-border-alt: solid #B5BAA0 .75pt; mso-line-height-alt: 8.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 3.0pt 5.0pt 3.0pt 5.0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 8.5pt; COLOR: #545452; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Posted on: <A href="http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2009/09/the-far-too-long-and-winding-road-home-program.html#comment-6a00d8341c68bf53ef0120a62e26a8970c"><SPAN style="COLOR: #545452">Oct 10, 2009 at 06:03 PM</SPAN></A> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; COLOR: #700908; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Melanie Ehrlich</SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">This posting is in response to the comments of Christina Stevens, Press Secretary of the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) on the second page of this blog (</SPAN><I><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt">editor's note: you may view that comment <A href="http://bit.ly/17S27Z"><SPAN style="COLOR: #003366">here</SPAN></A></SPAN></I><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">). The posting is from Melanie Ehrlich, the founder of Citizens’ Road Home Action Team (CHAT) and member of the
LRA Housing Task Force (HTF) about the Road Home Program (RH) for Compensation Grants to Louisiana homeowners who were Hurricane Katrina or Rita victims.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">1. While thousands have been helped much by RH, other thousands of applicants have been treated unfairly and with inconsistently applied rules through no fault of their own.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Many of the RH applicants lost their homes and possessions because of knowingly faulty oversight of canal walls by the US Army Corp of Engineers leading to wall collapses.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">2. The responses at this blog from applicants are representative cases of a very large percentage of Road Home applicants who have been shortchanged on their grants by RH’s own rules.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Some of the validation of the POGO bloggers comes from more than 1500 responses to our detailed online surveys at our grass-root group’s website (http://chatushome.com ). We made over 300 unedited responses to our most recent survey <A href="http://chatushome.com/chatusfiles/CHAT_Road_Home_Survey_MadeAnonCompiledByWeiss_5_17_09.pdf"><SPAN style="COLOR: #003366">publicly available</SPAN></A>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">These responses have only be changed to make them anonymous for public posting but we have contact information for each applicant.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">In addition, hundreds of emails from applicants and testimony from hundreds more applicants at our CHAT meetings and at HTF meetings indicate the common nature of the complaints raised in the POGO blog responses.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Every issue brought up by applicants in this blog has been independently confirmed by other applicants, e.g., applicants left in limbo, uncorrected mistakes by RH in grant processing, unjustifiable grant-constricting rule changes, the contractor ICF not following applicant-friendly improvements in rules, and personal bias against some applicants who complained to the media.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Our posting of unedited comments from RH applicants is in contrast to an unpublicized survey by LRA and Louisiana State University (LSU) that involved more than 8000 applicants chosen on the basis of being contacted by RH staff within the previous 2 weeks (and hence excluding the many applicants who had been left in limbo and were not contacted for many months by RH). The LRA-LSU survey winnowed the 8000 applicants down to about 650 who were included in the final tally, many of whom were initially eliminated from the final counting because they stated that they did not get the information they needed from the contractor, ICF Emergency Management Services, LLC (ICF) about the Program. The
LRA-LSU survey even with its bias against dissatisfied applicants produced approval ratings for this grant program of only 36% “very satisfied” while 12% of interviewed and counted applicants were “very dissatisfied.” The LRA-LSU documents were not made public by LRA but I obtained them more than a half year after I made public record requests for them and enlisted the aid of attorneys.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">3. Contrary to the statement at this blog by the Press Secretary of the LRA, there was not simply discussion of diverting funds from RH applicants to other purposes.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Rather, there was a unanimous vote of the LRA Board of Directors at their Nov. 18, 2008 meeting to petition Congress to spend "unexpended portion" of RH funds for "other disaster recovery programs after all Program obligations are met."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Ingrid Drake, POGO Investigator’s comments at the top of this blog include two references to newspaper articles about LRA considering diverting RH funds. One from Sept. 4, 2009 states the following.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">"Rainwater said in a recent interview that LRA is in the process of a full accounting of the estimated $3 billion that has yet to be spent from three separate congressional appropriations, about half of that earmarked specifically for the Road Home residential rebuilding program. Any changes affecting money from the first two appropriations must be approved by LRA, a legislative oversight panel and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It would take congressional action to redirect any money from the Road Home-specific appropriations."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Diversion of funds has been planned and pursued, pending Congressional approval.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">At the last LRA HTF meeting in Feb. 2009, the question of this diversion of funds came up. The Chairman of the HTF, Walter Leger, stated publicly at this meeting that there never was any intention to use RH funds for anything other than RH applicants, contrary to official minutes of an LRA Board meeting. Mr. Leger asked HTF members for suggestions on how to use remaining funds to help applicants and said that we (myself included as a member) would discuss this. He received suggestions but no further HTF meetings have been held nor have HTF members been involved in subsequent discussion of this important matter by email or phone.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">4. A major question here is what is the responsibility of the State of Louisiana to meet Program obligations?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Over and over applicants have told us about being verbally coerced to go to a closing on their grant with the amount of grant money inexplicably lowered from what was on their award letter. They were supposed to be able to appeal after closing but appeals were made difficult to initiate (signing a form AND sending a letter within a time limit) and first-level appeals were conducted by the contractor, ICF, who made unusually high rates of mistakes in the first place and was extremely reluctant to correct them. Second and final level appeals were by the state using undisclosed rules, with undisclosed members of a State Review Panel , and a very low rate of approving
appeals.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The "surplus" in RH funds is the result of shortchanging applicants by not correcting large numbers of grant-constricting mistakes and by ever changing rules that often lowered lower grants. One example is the hurtful exclusion of mold and mildew damage from damage calculations, which was made a rule in the summer of 2008, two years after the program began.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">This surplus is also a consequence RH not following the Spring, 2007 <A href="http://road2la.org/about-us/principles.htm%3cbr%20/%3e"><SPAN style="COLOR: #003366">Statement of Principles</SPAN></A> approved unanimously by the LRA Board of Directors in response to applicants who kept testifying at these Baton Rouge meetings about unfair treatment resulting in unrepaired or foreclosed homes.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">5. It is helpful that LRA is suggesting that raising the cap for Additional Compensation RH grants for low-income applicants. However, the main problem that so many of these applicants had is that they were certified as income-eligible by RH staff and subsequently had their eligibility recalculated and told they were no longer eligible for unfair or incorrect reasons. LRA has not suggested fixing this more fundamental problem.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">6. Ms. Christina Stephens, Press Secretary, wrote for the LRA in her POGO blog response that "we cannot undo past customer service failures."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">This is not correct.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">CHAT has been strongly advocating for opening up appeals to applicants who did not have a copy of their file available to them during their appeal so that they could know exactly what mistakes were made; had a summary rejection of their appeal with no specific reasons given; had their documentary evidence for mistakes overlooked; did not have help with their appeal involving convoluted and changing RH rules never clarified to and often never even made available to them, especially the 40% of applicants without internet access; were unable to appeal because their pre-appeal (dispute resolution) was <A href="http://www.chatushome.com:2500/chatus/published/HomePage#improprieties<br
/>"><SPAN style="COLOR: #003366">left in limbo</SPAN></A> by ICF International; were given only a few days to produce detailed documents during their appeal; were led to believe that they had initiated an appeal by filling out an appeal form but did not also send a letter so that they lost their right to appeal; lost their appeal because the same ICF staff person who gave them an erroneously low damage estimate decided the validity of that estimate during the appeal without even going back to the house in question.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">LRA has not made even current appeals fair, independent, or consistent.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">7. The Executive Director of LRA, Mr. Paul Rainwater, told me during a face-to-face meeting in early 2008 that he wished he could re-open appeals but there just were not enough funds.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Now there are enough funds but LRA will not re-open appeals.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">LRA will not make appeals fair with guidelines for how they are determined (vote?, majority vote? unanimous vote? standards for weighing applicant evidence, etc.) and conducted by independent individuals, not the Contractor staff or undisclosed members of the LRA staff (undisclosed despite my more than 1-year-old public records request for the names of members of the State Review Panel and my unfilled request for written standards for deciding State Review Panel appeals).<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">8. It is shameful that so many RH applicants have written or told us that the irrationality and unconcern of the black box of the multi-year RH experience (often an ordeal) with unanswered phone calls and emails and uncorrected, sometimes nonsensical mistakes in grant calculations have hurt them yet more than losing all their possessions and their homes.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">This is not the way our US government funds should be spent.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The answer is not "no-federal-assistance," but rather, consistent and fair federal assistance to disaster victims with appropriate federal oversight of spending of federal funds so that they serve the purpose intended by Congress.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">9. The HUD Office of the Inspector General should fairly evaluate our <A href="http://chatushome.com/chatusfiles/HUD_OIG_Complaint_ForPublicRelease_final__2_2_09.pdf"><SPAN style="COLOR: #003366">official complaint</SPAN></A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">which was accepted for investigation in February.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The only objective way to do this is to include information directly from a small, but representative, sample of the more than 22,000 applicants who filed pre-appeals (dispute resolution) and the more than 8000 applicants who had a chance to appeal (but not an independent appeal with written standards) and lost their appeal (see <A href="http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2009/09/%3cbr%20/%3ehttp:/road2la.org/Docs/pipeline/Week_170_Combined_Report.pdf"><SPAN style="COLOR: #003366">here</SPAN></A> and <A href="http://chatushome.com/chatusfiles/HUD_OIG_Complaint_ForPublicRelease_final__2_2_09.pdf"><SPAN style="COLOR: #003366">here</SPAN></A>).<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Information for the review should not predominantly come from state and contractor personnel. Applicants files also do not tell enough because we know that important documents that should be there are often intentionally excluded.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">10. LRA could and should re-open appeals to those who tried to appeal and lost giving priority first to low-income applicants.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">LRA should also re-examine the reversal of eligibility decisions for previously approved applicants for additional compensation grants (for low-income applicants). These reversals were often based upon recalculating applicants' income from later dates and sometimes from incorrect extrapolations of yearly income, contrary to RH rules.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Lastly, we thank POGO very much and Ingrid Drake and Bryan Rahija for your involvement in these issues.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><BR>Melanie Ehrlich, Ph.D. in Biochemistry<BR>http://chatushome.com volunteer at Citizens’ Road Home Action Team (CHAT)<BR>Professor, Human Genetics and Biochemistry and member of Tulane Cancer Center<BR>Tulane Medical School<BR>New Orleans<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BACKGROUND: #dee5c3; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 24pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; mso-border-alt: solid #B5BAA0 .75pt; mso-line-height-alt: 8.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 3.0pt 5.0pt 3.0pt 5.0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 8.5pt; COLOR: #545452; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Posted on: <A href="http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2009/09/the-far-too-long-and-winding-road-home-program.html#comment-6a00d8341c68bf53ef0120a637a8f8970c"><SPAN style="COLOR: #545452">Oct 13, 2009 at 12:41 PM</SPAN></A> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 8.5pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Best wishes,</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 8.5pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Melanie Ehrlich</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 8.5pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Founder, Citizens’ Road Home Action Team (CHAT); <A href="http://chatushome.com/" target=_blank><FONT color=#0000ff>http://chatushome.com</FONT></A></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT face=Calibri size=3> ; </FONT><A href="mailto:chatlra@yahoo.com"><FONT face=Calibri color=#0000ff size=3>chatlra@yahoo.com</FONT></A><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 8.5pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Member, LRA Housing Task Force</SPAN></DIV></td></tr></table>