When does a HUD required environmental review cost taxpayers millions in wasted expenses
When you dont plan your process and your process includes an environmental inspection before you qualify the homeowner for CDBG-DR Grant funding you are wasting taxpayer money and your own allocated recovery funds.
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By Writers Pool published 4-28-2018 updated 3-21-2019

I noticed in all cases CQ 1 was environmental inspections. That comes before CQ 2 from our reports because of the letter from CQ 1.

If that is correct then read on.


Oct. 10, 2016: Gov. Edwards requested that HUD waive federally required environmental reviews for the recovery program.
The Governors office claimed the costs per household environmental inspection would average $1,250.00.
Governor Edwards claimed the review could cost just about $80 million of the total disaster relief authorized by the federal government for DR-4277.

Gov. Edwards Grantee OCD-DRU known as Restore has caused direct waste of taxpayers money by not changing or modifying the process events to adhere to HUD environmental inspection requirements.
By simply changing the Environmental Inspections after the calculation of duplication of benefits the OCD-DRU (Restore) grantee could have saved nearly $11,960,000.00 in taxpayers money.

According to the Grantees program Restore Louisiana Homeowner Assistance Program situation and pipeline report #37 dated April 14, 2018 - April 20, 2018, 5,302 households were denied any grant award, 2,146 were found ineligible and 2,120 had been withdrawn from the program.
9,568 total homeowners were not qualify for CDBG-DR grants which would have excluded them from any environmental inspections.
A simple process change would have eradicated this type of waste and if proper process and procedural planning was used the Restore Louisiana Homeowner Assistance Program would have saved taxpayers an estimated $11,960,000.00 to date.
It would have also not depleted the CDBG-DR grant funding by nearly $12 million.
Simply by not conducting environmental inspections on homes that would not qualify for CDBG-DR grants.
40,196 environmental reviews have been completed, representing 99% of the 40,476 homeowners in Phases I &ndash VI. ($50,245,000.00)

Allocations under Public Law 114-223 Docket No. FR-5989-N-01

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I don't have the detailed numbers but if based on what our group members talk about you're going to be denied after the environmental inspection.

Unless you were found ineligible because you were outside the disaster area, or you withdrew your application.
In that case it would have been 5,302 denied after the environmental inspection costing $6,627,500.00 to taxpayers and taken from flood victims recovery grant funds.

By making a simple change you could save your program millions. Learn from our program management mistakes so you don't have to explain to taxpayers and disaster victims you ran out of money because of wasteful spending.