State Audit Raises Questions About Louisiana Road Home Data

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Errors in the loading of tax data resulted in a need to re-examine the eligibility of more than 12,500 Road Home applicants, according to a state legislative auditor’s report that also raised other questions about the reliability of data – including information provided by insurance companies – used for the program to help hurricane-affected homeowners.

The performance audit was requested by the state as it prepares to wind down the program set up after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It questions the reliability of insurance data, saying limited response from insurance companies resulted in ICF International, the contractor running Road Home for the state, relying on applicant-supplied data in many cases.

John Thornton, the chief administrative officer for ICF, defended ICF’s work in a Dec. 5, 2008, letter to Paul Rainwater, executive director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority.

Thornton said the audit mischaracterized the tax data’s significance and noted ICF had so far verified occupancy for at least two-thirds of the 12,546 applicants by other means. He said the analysis showed no grants improperly issued due to earlier mismatches.

He said the company understands the auditor’s goal of assessing the reliability of information contained in the program’s so-called data warehouse but is disappointed “that there seems to be a preoccupation in the audit report with the absolute precision and completeness of the data contained in the data warehouse rather than considering the overall quality and timeliness of grants themselves and the purposes they are intended to serve.”

“What appears to be missing from the auditors’ report, in our view, is a sense of the urgency surrounding implementation of the Road Home program and how this unavoidably impacts the areas subject to their review,” Thornton wrote.

Road Home, once criticized as being too slow in buying out homeowners or helping them rebuild, reports $7.6 billion in grants had been disbursed as of Jan. 12. Benefits under the largely federally funded program are capped at $150,000. The average award has been just under $63,000.

Rainwater, in a statement, said the state agrees with many of the findings and is reviewing its legal options and contract with ICF to determine if ICF should be paid for certain work and can be held financially responsible for any incorrect payments resulting from any ICF errors.

The audit also faulted the state Office of Community Development for such things as not sufficiently monitoring implementation of an ICF information system.