One legged amputee told by State Office of Community Development you will have no wheelchair walkway to home.
Misty Hopkins received a HUD CDBG-DR Grant for the replacement of her condemned old manufactured home. The new MHU was setup, but the location is 280 feet from any surface she can navigate with her wheelchair. Restore Louisiana says No to wheelchair path
By Murray Wennerlund published 4-10-2019 updated 2-28-2023
Make a contribution PrintADA LA Office of Community Development Disaster Recovery Unit (OCD-DRU) Floods and flash floods 1.6K views
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If you need a quote for a new manufactured home for the Louisiana Restore program send a note with your old VIN number and your status in the program. All we can do is help you get the quotes for the MHU you are looking to replace. Contact me
If you what to talk with Misty Hopkins it's best you join the Facebook Group Restore LA Program Info Exchange because Misty is profoundly deaf. She has to communicate via email or chat programs to people trying to assist her with her need of roughly 280 feet of wheelchair walkway and path. Her Facebook.Com page Misty Hopkins.
The Restore Louisiana Homeowners Program has cited Section 504 about what they are willing to pay for and what they will not pay for continuously with Misty Hopkins.
The program can submit waiver request to HUD and issue exemptions to homeowners with needs not covered by normal every day policy and procedures.
Misty has done everything right, it's the program that is making it impossible for her to roll to her front door.
By not having access to her new MHU setup and paid for by American Taxpayer Dollars is shameful on the directors of the Restore Louisiana Program and those in management over her case file.
The program via their Construction Technical Advisers (CTA's) have sent her documents explaining what the program will pay for and what it will not. They sent these documents after her home was on her property. The program inspectors knew the location of the home, they had taken pictures, soil samples as part of the HUD required environmental review and not a single person within the program advised Misty that she would need a 2 wheel drive wheelchair that was good on muddy roads to reach her home's front door. It's so frustrating for Misty, the program set up stairs for her and didn't have a any plans for paying for or building a ramp until after the MHU (Mobile Home Unit) was installed. It's been one issue after another with the program, as if the state directed by the Office of the Governor OCD-DRU completely ignored the fact Misty has only one leg.
Misty became eligible for a new MHU after her home was declared a complete loss due to the 2016 flooding in Louisiana.
Misty is only 280 feet from a new kitchen, clean floors, and a bath but the Restore Homeowners Assistance Program has forced her to live with neighbors until she can access her new home. She keeps the faith that someone within the program or a advocacy group that can make it happen will come forward.
Until that time we ask that you share and post your comments of support to Misty Hopkins on Brittany Weiss Reports Facebook Page or email them to us here at TruckAndTools.Com. We want to make sure Misty has access to her new home and others like Misty learn about the ADA 504 Standards that HUD CDBG-DR will pay for.
The main contractor hired by the State of Louisiana Office of Community Development Disaster Recovery Unit is IEM Inc. of North Carolina, who has refused to allow Misty the opportunity to appeal to the State of Louisiana OCD (HUD Grantee) Exemptions Board.
We'll keep you updated as we learn the progress of our efforts.
We want to make sure everyone that needs special assistance for ingress and egress gets noticed by state managers of the HUD CDBG-DR program. Even if Section 504 doesn't specifically use the word "Wheelchair". HUD policy references "Accessibility" which would include walkways, lifts, elevators and ramps. We want to make sure those managing your state's program know that waivers and exemptions are their for cases like this. State Grantee's can also process walkways and ramps as change orders for "Unforeseen" costs.
Below you'll find images of the dirt driveway in need of a wheelchair path to Misty's front door.
Today 4-12-2019 Misty now has her septic tank underground and her power pole has been installed. We've been told the ground is muddy like this all year. Looks like we'll have some drainage work ahead of us as well. New Pictures include Misty and her temporary ramps where she is living while she waits for news on her manufactured home access.
Update! Director of the Louisiana Community Development Disaster Assistance Unit Mr. Patrick Forbes called Mr. Wennerlund to say Misty will be taken care of. She was given gravel for the 280 feet of driveway and a concrete parking slab that is next to her new ramp built perfectly for her.
It takes effort and people to set aside profits and work the system to provide advocacy that changes one more disaster survivor life so they can start the long process of rebuilding everything they have lost without being homeless.
Thank you Misty for staying in the fight and allowing me to be part of your disaster recovery efforts.
Older images below.
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HUD Guidance published June 2019 suggests state grantees may not have budgeted according HUD National Objectives. State agendas not serving the Low- to Moderate-income (LMI) communities may have limited funding to SBA DOB victims in higher income classes.
State of Louisiana OCD-DRU announces via Email, Phone call and Postal Mail to homeowners that their grants will be rescinded if they do not close on the grant award by July 31, 2019.
When you review the document published here youll see from the beginning that the program did have a clear mind and was focused on saying they would help as many people as possible. But what happened over the 2017 year that ended hope for many victims?
I am asked often if I would do carpentry work in my area. I'm getting too slow to actually handle most of the jobs I'm asked to do. I'd like to handoff the work to a carpenter that's better than me. I'm always looking for a good carpenter helper for projects I take on. Contact me and get listed and working.
It was 1953, DR-3, Floods in Louisiana, study shows water runs toward the gulf. Then in the 70s, 80s, water still flows the same direction with ponding along the way. In 1991, engineers hired to study how to dig a ditch 12 miles long asked for more money
eGrants Award Instructions dont change often but when they do you need to know what changed and you need to read your grant instructions. You may not be aware of all the policy rule changes that may place you as ineligible anytime during your recovery.
By Murray Wennerlund published 4-16-2019 updated 1-15-2022
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| Policy
| 1.4K views
When you are navigating the federal disaster assistance agencies your first stop should be to the TruckAndTools.Com Disaster Resources. Every disaster agency uses the same process but not every disaster agency follows strict policy and guidance. Don't go into your disaster recovery with blind trust of your federal and state agencies that are leading the push to get you sheltered and out of the program.
In a short quick email just after Congressman Graves announced his first failed attempt at fixing the SBA issue we have the State of Louisiana OCD-DRU and a Task Force member who asked the odds of Washington D.C. helping on this issue. Researched Emails
By Murray Wennerlund published 4-12-2019 updated 1-15-2022
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| SBALoan
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When Paul Sawyer Chief of Staff at Congressman Garret Graves asks if any FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program Funds or any HUD Community Development Block Grant funds can be used on the Congressmans Comite Diversion Canal the efforts are great.
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Misty Hopkins received a HUD CDBG-DR Grant for the replacement of her condemned old manufactured home. The new MHU was setup, but the location is 280 feet from any surface she can navigate with her wheelchair. Restore Louisiana says No to wheelchair path
By Murray Wennerlund published 4-10-2019 updated 2-28-2023
Make a contribution
| Print
| ADA
| 1.6K views
Speaking out during the Public Comment period for Action Plan Amendment 11 with focus on "Seed" funding of state projects from Homeowners Assistance grant funds which US Taxpayers funded.
For some households, the information I provide helps them get back in their homes. Others I've had a hand in helping them recovery from some of their disaster debt burden. In any case, when you use the information I provide and it's helpful and makes you more successful with your disaster rebuild or new construction then feel free to contribute what you can and when you can. It helps with the hours of unpaid research and reading.
Ms. Smith did everything right after the 2016 floods in Louisiana. Her family collected every dime they had, used insurance and took an SBA Disaster loan to rebuild their home. Their home was completed before they leaned about HUD CDBG-DR grants.