Hurricane Katrina Homeowner's Grant Program

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Hurricane KatrinaHomeowner's Grant Program
Presented to National Grants Partnership June 6,
2006
by Mississippi Development Authority Reznick
Group STR, L.L.C.
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Hurricane KatrinaHomeowner's Grant Program

• Hurricane Katrina
• Made land fall in Mississippi on August 29, 2005
• Worst natural disaster ever to hit the United
  States
• Over 125 Billion in damage
• 65,380 homes damaged or destroyed in South
  Mississippi alone
• Critical need to get grant money to homeowners so
  they can repair or rebuild

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Mississippi Development Authority

• The Mississippi Development Authority is the
  State of Mississippi?s lead economic and
  community development agency. More than 250
  employees are engaged in providing services to
  businesses, communities and workers in the state.
• The agency is organized into three groups,
  Economic Development, Asset Development, and
  Administrative and Financial Services.
• The Hurricane Katrina Homeowner's Grant Program
  is designed to provide financial assistance to
  those homeowners outside the flood plain whose
  homeowner's insurance did not cover structural
  flood damage. Single-family homes, owner-occupied
  duplexes and manufactured housing including
  mobile homes are eligible for grants under this
  program.

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Reznick Group

• Prime Contractor on Mississippi Hurricane Katrina
  Homeowner Grant Program
• Largest CPA firm headquartered in the Washington,
  D.C. area, and the 18th largest public accounting
  firm in the United States
• Three decades of experience working with housing
  and nonprofit organizations
• Solid reputation of providing government agencies
  with cost effective, practical solutions that
  address the root causes of problems

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Federal Financial Assistance

• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Community Development Block Grant
• Disaster relief
• Long-term recovery and restoration of
  infrastructure
• 11.5 Billion made available to MS, LA, AL, FL,
  and TX
• Majority of funds going to MS and LA
• Approximately 5 Billion to MS

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Homeowner Grant Assistance Program

• Requirements
• Homeowners primary residence on 8/29/05
• Homeowner owned and occupied home on 8/29/05
• Located in 1 of 4 designated counties
• Must have had homeowners insurance
• Home located outside the FEMA designated 100-year
  flood zone
• Maximum grant 150,000
• Expected between 35,000 and 50,000 applications,
  reduced to 15,000 after FEMA reviewed its
  estimates.

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Grants Software

• Needed
• A proven solution that could be implemented
  within weeks (not years)
• A solution capable of interfacing with many other
  systems
• A solution that could be easily modified
• A solution that could also serve other MDA grant
  programs in the future
• Available over the internet
• STRs eGrantsPlus was chosen
• COTS solution
• Currently implemented at Corporation for National
  and Community Service (CNCS) and the Department
  of the Interior (DOI)

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Software Architecture

• Web enabled application accessible from all
  popular browsers on either PC or MAC.
• Database and application servers hosted by
  Rackspace in San Antonio, Texas
• Firewalls, separation of processors from
  database, and use of complex passwords protect
  the application and data.

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Homeowner Assistance Program

• Mississippi and HUD determined program
  requirements
• Application had to capture extensive information
• Homeowner and occupants information
• Land/Public records information
• Estimated damages
• Lien holders (Mortgage) information
• FEMA funds request and status
• SBA funds request and status
• Homeowners insurance information
• Within 3 weeks, Reznick established and staffed
• 4 major service centers and 3 additional
  satellite centers to accept applications
• Call in center to answer questions and schedule
  appointments

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Application Process

• Applicants could create application from any
  computer with access to the internet
  (www.mshomehelpap.gov) or go to service center
• Account creation -- user name and password
• Wizard-like screens that move applicant through
  the process of entering data
• Applicant must come to a service center to
  complete application
• Prove identify
• Have documents scanned and attached to
  application
• Agree to terms and conditions of grant program
• We limited appointments this week to make sure
  that we could iron-out any rough spots in the
  application process, but everything has gone very
  smoothly.
• Terri Hudson, MDA CFO

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Unprecedented Verification

• Fraud/Identity verification
• Every homeowner had to show up at one of the
  designated service centers with proof of
  identity, proof of ownership, and proof of
  insurance
• Duplication of benefits
• Homeowners insurance proceeds
• FEMA grants received
• SBA loans received
• Interfaces are being developed to verify ALL
  application data. These include interfaces with
  FEMA, SBA, insurance companies, mortgage holders,
  and public records

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Project Milestones/Status

• Software was installed and applications started
  being accepted 3 weeks after requirements were
  finalized
• Applications were received over a 6 week period
  starting on April 17, 2006 and ending May 31,
  2006.
• 1500 applications were received the first week
  through a controlled rollout
• 13,000 applications were received the first month
• 15,800 applications were received in total
• The verification process has begun
• First 6,000 checks scheduled by end of June

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Questions???

• Contact Information
• Frank Banda (Reznick Group)
• frank.banda_at_reznickgroup.com
• [phone]
• Scott Meyer (STR, L.L.C.)
• Skmeyer_at_strllc.com
• [phone]