Four months later, Shelter at Home has largely wrapped, and more than 10,450 homes have taken part in what became a contentious program. It is the largest housing recovery effort in response to the flood so far. The state will begin long-range rebuilding programs in the coming months with federal aid secured from Congress.
About $110 million has been spent on Shelter at Home construction alone. The total costs, including operational and government expenses, will be more. A final calculation hasn't been reached.
Gov. John Bel Edwards, in a recent meeting with reporters, described Shelter at Home as "very successful."
"We have made tremendous efforts to move as fast as we could and do as much good as we could do," Edwards said.
But even Edwards, who pushed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get behind the program, concedes that it faced a rocky start and still has its critics.
Shortly after repairs began, Shelter at Home came under a stinging backlash — largely driven by homeowners disappointed in the bare-bones nature of its repairs and others who wondered how cost effective it was.
Because of restrictions on how FEMA spends its money, the program could only cover repairs deemed "temporary." No permanent repairs could be made to homes, so power outlets were replaced on patches of drywall and sinks were built into basic wooden frames.
"Our biggest challenge was communicating with people so that they had reasonable expectations on their part," Edwards said.
Under Shelter at Home, if a house could be put back in a "livable" state with up to $15,000 in repairs, the state would approve it for the program and a crew — in many cases several crews — would be sent out to do the work. The goal was to give homeowners a way to live in their houses while more permanent repairs were made on their own dime.
The program only covered minor repair work: basic electrical and plumbing inspections; carpet and insulation removal; air conditioning and hot water heater repairs; and installing temporary bathroom fixtures. Homeowners also could get a microwave and small refrigerator to replace damaged appliances.
While the program covered up to $15,000 in temporary repairs, the average cost per house was about $10,500, and repairs took an average of about three weeks to complete .
Of the repairs made, Shelter at Home provided 5,400 microwaves and 6,551 mini refrigerators, 7,064 kitchen sinks, debris removal from 1,498 homes and cleaning of 8,529 homes, 8,129 smoke detectors and 4,860 bath or shower units.
The program was modeled off of "Rapid Repairs," a home repair program that popped up in response to Superstorm Sandy.
Edwards said the program was important in ensuring that neighborhoods remained thriving — that students stayed in the same schools, people attended the same churches and lives remained as close to normal as possible.
"You want people back in their homes. They want to be back in their homes. That's the way you keep communities together," Edwards said. "Those communities remain whole."
And proponents of Shelter at Home say that appears to be backed by data. Maps provided by Shelter at Home show hard-hit neighborhoods where nearly every home is marked as having received something from the program.
In north Baton Rouge, 38 of the roughly four dozen homes on Breeden Drive are marked as having received something from Shelter at Home, program data shows.
Today, small piles of debris regularly line the street as contractors work to make more permanent repairs. Signs advertising flooring companies and other construction businesses dot yards, indicating homes being worked on.
But even in the Woodland Hills neighborhood, where homes took on 4 feet of water and construction crews continue to work on more permanent home repairs, homeowners aren't in agreement that Shelter at Home was a success.
Patricia Young, who has lived at her home on Breeden for 16 years, received a new sink and counter through Shelter at Home, and repairs were made to her electrical wiring.
"I think it was the biggest waste of money that I've ever seen," she said. "It was horrible and ineffective."
Young, like many others who have had harsh reviews of the program, said she thinks that it would make more sense to give the money to the homeowners and let them decide how to use it, rather than offering specific temporary repair work.
That wouldn't be legal under the federal laws that regulate how FEMA money is spent. FEMA has said that the federal Stafford Act in its current form allows only temporary repairs — an effort driven by attempts to discourage misuse and fraud.
"It comes with severe limitations because you're working through FEMA," Edwards said. "There are some things we'd like to do differently, but we need FEMA to have more flexibility than they believe they have."
A man who was angry over the limited repairs he received filmed his home while he questioned the money spent on the program. It went viral and was aired on local television news broadcasts.
In response, all applicants were shown photos of what they could expect when they applied for Shelter at Home.
"Once we went to that step, the overwhelming feedback we got was very positive," Edwards said.
Louisiana has secured about $1.6 billion in federal recovery aid from Congress and much of that will go toward long-range rebuilding programs. That money is in the stages of federal approval, and leaders say they expect that it will come to the state in the spring.
The housing plans that have been outlined in the state action plan for that money would give homeowners more options for how long-range rebuilding or repairs can be done with the recovery aid. The plans include a program that, like Shelter at Home, would have the state providing more direct delivery of repairs, as well as alternative programs that would give homeowners the control.
Karl and Evie Clark also live on Breeden and were confused by the way that the Shelter at Home program was run and think that giving homeowners more control over the money makes sense.
"I thought they were going to give it to homeowners," Evie Clark said.
By the time the program got to them, the Clarks had already completed substantial repair work to their home. Today, it bares no signs that it was badly flooded just four months ago.
They lived with their daughter as the repairs were made, though they said they were drawn to Shelter at Home because they had wanted to live there while it was under repair.
The Clarks accepted a microwave and carbon dioxide monitors from the program, though they have since gone back to using their old microwave.
"Had they come earlier, our needs would have been greater," Karl Clark said.
Evie Clark still viewed the program, overall, positively.
"It was a good intent and probably helped a lot of people," she said.
———
©2017 The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.
Visit The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La. at www.theadvocate.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
