Weekly Situation Report: Week 13 September 26 October 2, 2006 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. State Assistance Required. Deliverables

Transcription

1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Weekly Situation Report: Week 13 The Road Home Program continues to make strides toward servicing the needs of Louisiana residents by continued efforts in assisting homeowners to receive needed aid. The Program continued to schedule, meet with applicants, review, evaluate, and verify applications during the period. In addition, the Rental Program and HMGP continue to vet programmatic decisions in supplying service to the State and residents. The Homeowner Program completed another week of meeting with and assisting applicants in 10 Housing Assistance Centers. Verification of potential aid recipients continued with the verification of applicants and the closing of two homeowners during the last week (including one Rita affected homeowner). The period also saw a marked decrease in the number of cost report rejections from the Evaluation team (85% to below 50%) and the percentage continues to drop steadily. The Rental Program made progress in the last week, but still requires state-based policy decisions be made to progress with the design of the Program. The policy decisions affect the development of the Rental Program Information Systems, the Rental Program Forms, and associated procedures. The Rental Program submitted requests to delay information systems and forms deliverables until policies are finalized (the Information Systems deliverable was granted a delay and the forms deliverable request is pending). The Hazard Mitigation Grant Program worked on the submission of the Acquisition and Individual Mitigation Measures (IMM) applications to the State. The Acquisition application was submitted for final review and the IMM application is scheduled for delivery on October 4 th. The HMGP requires input from FEMA to progress with the design of the program and establish methodology for the integration of CDBG funding. The supporting functions of the Program also made progress this week with External Affairs reaching out to media outlets, community groups, and state and federal organizations to disseminate important Program information and correct errant information. In addition, Human Resources continuing to recruit and hire to the 100% phase I resource level. Lastly, The Road Home Compliance, Fraud Prevention and Quality Assurance Departments worked closely with two separate HUD visits and State Legislative inquires to coordinate the supply of information to HUD monitors, HUD OIG, and State legislative oversight bodies and committees, respectively. In addition, The Road Home Program began preparing responses to questions and materials as requested by investigators for the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations. State Assistance Required MIS: Needs to coordinate with OCD on HDS collaboration Deliverables Del. ID Deliverables Homeowner Pipeline Report 9/26/ Weekly Report 9/26/2006 1

2 THE ROAD HOME PROGRAM STATUS HOMEOWNER PROGRAM Verifications Evaluations Assisted applicants by meeting with them in Housing Assistance Centers to advise them on the process of applying for aid, gathering and verifying applicant information, and evaluating homeowner s home condition Coordinated with Call Center on applications assistance and receipt through egrantsplus software Provided recommendations for aid to the State Completed two closings, including the first Rita affected homeowner closing Completed verifications and assisted with two closings Implemented call-in function for evaluation teams to increase communication Worked to shore-up technical infrastructure to support evaluations Made progress on recruiting and hiring help for the evaluation team Reduced rejection of cost reports from 85% to below 50% Special Needs Advisory Team Began process of integrating special needs language into Program policies and procedures Identified and implemented special needs at Housing Assistance Centers and throughout the Program (including planned integration in Houston Center) Worked to disseminate message of Special Needs integration into The Road Home SMALL RENTAL PROGRAM Continued development of the structure of the Rental Program and sought feedback on policies that will govern design from State and local organizations Submitted request for postponement of deliverables Fully Functional Information Systems for the Rental Program & Rental Program forms developed (received acceptance of delay for Deliverable 00023) due to State policy decisions HAZARD MITIGATION GRANT PROGRAM (HMGP) Submitted HMGP Acquisition application and schedule submission of HMGP Application for Individual Mitigation Measures (IMM) on Wednesday, October 4 th Discussed required written responses from FEMA to complete methodology for integration of the CDBG funding for acquisitions, elevations and individual mitigation measures so that requirements for subsequent recovery in accordance with HMGP rules 2

3 PROGRAM SUPPORT STATUS LOGISTICS, FACILITIES, & SECURITY Mailroom Conducted site-surveys for the Houston, TX Housing Assistance Center Provided support for existing Centers with equipment, special needs, and security No. ID Service Category Description Totals 1 I1 Inbound Mail 2 I2 Inbound Mail Total number of new applicants / mail that is new. Total number of duplicate applicants / mail that is a duplicate. 28, % % 3 I3 Inbound Mail Total number of applicants with multiple mail that is in this category % 4 I4 Inbound Mail 5 I5 Inbound Mail Total number of correspondence received through mailroom - PO Box 4669 (count) for scanning and attaching to existing records; Percentage of mail that is in this category. Total number of correspondence received through mailroom - PO Box 4669 (count) for scanning and attaching to existing records - without an application in egrants (i.e., orphans); Percentage of mail that is in this category % 5 0.0% Inbound Mail Count 29, % HUMAN RESOURCES Completing hiring for phase I in existing Centers and hire additional resources for the anticipated Houston Center Worked with several external hiring organizations to recruit for the Program, including Department of Labor LA Works and Loyola University Danna Center Integrated several students from LSYOU to work on the Program POLICY & PLANNING Met with the OCD to finalize outstanding policy issues and submitted decisions to the OCD for approval, which affects award calculations Hosted HUD monitoring team and was point of contact for requests 3

4 TRAINING Weekly Situation Report: Week 13 Held training development meeting with Home Evaluators to revise the format and materials for Home Evaluator training Held training/information session with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) whose case managers serve as advocates for homeowners Met with OCD to resolve outstanding issues with non-approved deliverables EXTERNAL AFFAIRS Outreach Made several presentations to community groups, including UMCOR, GNODRP, NO Bankers roundtable and community groups in Vermilion Parish to provide The Road Home message Met with several state and federal organizations, including New Orleans COO, staff of the Welcome Home and Journey Home groups, and US Senator Mary Landrieu s office to provide The Road Home message for constituency Communications Created standard metrics reporting process Continued to provide messaging for the Program, including messaging for the New Orleans Hornets Basketball team, Program special needs, and Housing Solutions Summit Received approval on legislative letters from the Governor s office and preparing distribution Public Information Met with several print and television media to disseminate Program particulars and correct errant information MIS Implemented inbound calling for Center scheduling at the Call Center rather than at the Center level Worked on changes to egrantsplus for processing applications and calculating awards Began processing hardcopy applications into the automated egrantsplus system Finalized Information Security portion of the Information Management Policy Call Center Total Answered (#) 4 (%) Average Length of Call (Min) Agent Wait Between (Min) 9/25 1,245 1, /26 1,236 1, /27 1,467 1, /28 1,235 1, /

5 Total Answered (#) (%) Average Length of Call (Min) Agent Wait Between (Min) 9/ / Totals to 6,936 6, Applications Requested Online Application Assist Hard Copy Application Assist Spanish Vietnamese 9/ / / / / / / Totals to FRAUD PREVENTION Reviewed applicant data that is forwarded by verification teams as anomalous Reviewed Program policies and procedures to recommend fraud prevention touchpoints within each Program area Communicated with HUD monitors and State representatives on Fraud Prevention measures and fraud assessment issues QUALITY ASSURANCE AND CONTROL Conducted phone interviews with applicants to determine satisfaction levels, sat with Housing Advisors to determine process effectiveness, and compiled Program Metrics for reporting Met with HUD monitors and discussed QA/QC actions to-date Home evaluation telephone survey of 39 homeowners: How would your rate the overall quality of the evaluation service received? Percentage Excellent 61% Good 26% Satisfactory 7% Poor 3% Very Poor 3% COMPLIANCE Acted as the primary contact for HUD OIG team and coordinated delivery of requests for the visit 5