In June 2006, ICF International and its team of subcontractors was selected to manage the implementation of The Road Home Housing Program, a federally-funded initiative of the State of Louisiana that was developed to assist homeowners and rental property owners in rebuilding following the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
With more than 123,000 homes and 82,000 rental units in Louisiana damaged or destroyed, a housing assistance program of the scope and complexity required by Louisiana had never before been attempted, anywhere.
The Road Home program was announced in February 2006 and officially approved in July 2006, more than ten months after Hurricane Katrina, with federal funding for the program approved in June 2006—more than nine months after the storms.
Even before the program got underway, many Louisiana homeowners were understandably frustrated by the delay. We therefore moved quickly to design and build from scratch the extensive infrastructure to administer the program: |
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- finding and hiring more than 2,000 people needed to operate the effort
- setting up customer service centers throughout Louisiana and in Texas
- developing procedures to interview and keep track of more than 100,000 applicants
- cataloging and verifying hundreds of external data sources to prevent the duplication of benefits and fraud, as required by the federal government
Our contract reflected this level of complexity, with an initial agreed completion date for homeowner closings of January 2009 (30 months).
As work proceeded, the need to move even faster than we believed possible quickly became clear, and ICF understood and supported a vastly condensed timeframe for implementation of the program. As of September 1, 2008, we have closed over 117,000 grants, versus the 100,000 originally projected for the program, and expect to complete closings ahead of schedule.
ICF & The Road Home Program FAQs
- How long has ICF been involved in the Road Home program?
Although Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit Louisiana in August 2005 and September 2005, ICF’s management contract with The Road Home program was not signed until nearly a year later—on June 30, 2006—with partial funding for the program startup. The federal funds to fully implement the program were made available in October 2006. The production phase—the actual processing of applications and disbursement of grant awards—began after the State of Louisiana and ICF signed the agreement to begin the 30-month production and closing phases of the contract on October 18, 2006. ICF and its team have been in the production phase since October 2006.
- Are closings being processed on schedule?
The Road Home program is ahead of the schedule that was assumed in the production phase of the contract signed with ICF in October 2006. Because this is a massive and complex program, ICF’s client, the State of Louisiana Office of Community Development (OCD), understands that this is a process in which the closings will follow in sequence, as thousands of applications, appointments, evaluations, and mailed options letters work their way through the process. This process requires numerous verification steps to prevent duplication of benefits and fraud. ICF’s proposed schedule is ahead of the original schedule envisioned by the State. Nevertheless, because the contract was not signed for nearly ten months after the devastating storms, displaced residents are understandably frustrated.
- Who established The Road Home program policies and procedures?
The State of Louisiana, through the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) and Louisiana Office of Community Development, established The Road Home program and developed its policies and procedures in accordance with state and federal guidelines. The Road Home program was approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). ICF was charged with implementing The Road Home program.
- How much is ICF being paid to implement The Road Home program?
The ceiling capacity of the original contract over three years was US$756 million. The capacity of that contract was increased to $912 million in December 2007 in order to address the increased number of applicants (50 percent) in excess of original projections of program size. ICF and its team, which consists of more than 30 companies, are paid for time and materials as the work progresses, after the State of Louisiana has carefully reviewed the invoices and approved the work done.
- Are ICF’s travel costs included in the contract?
The travel budget applies to all travel by the 2,000 people responsible for making the program happen. Dozens of people move throughout the state every day, reaching out to the communities, holding job fairs, and conducting training sessions. Nearly one third of the budget goes toward providing mobile housing assistance centers that are set up across the state and in cities outside of Louisiana to reach pockets of residents displaced by the storms.
After careful negotiations with the State of Louisiana over what would be reasonable travel costs for this program, the state agreed to a US$19.1 million fixed price travel budget that pays out over 32 months. Every detail of the budget was scrutinized by the state. Although ICF was very comfortable submitting invoices for all travel—as we do for hundreds of federal projects—the state determined that it was in its best interest to cover all travel for a fixed price so that ICF bears the risk of overruns.
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