Tracking Road Home Closings

[SlidellWX]

I figured it would be interesting to track the closings in metro parishes with each weekly update. I was actually surprised to see so many closings in New Orleans. More than I expected. Let me know if you think this is a good idea or not. I got this data from the Road Home page.

Here is the link:

http://www.road2la.org/

Here are the stats as of 5/24/07

Orleans

Applications: 50,082

Closings: 10,517

Percent Closed: 21.0%

Jefferson

Applications: 23,908

Closings: 4,200

Percent Closed: 17.6%

St. Bernard

Applications: 14,599

Closings: 1,880

Percent Closed: 12.9%

Plaquemines

Applications: 3,826

Closings: 187

Percent Closed: 4.9%

St. Tammany

Applications: 11,171

Closings: 2,447

Percent Closed: 21.9%

St. Charles

Applications: 765

Closings: 42

Percent Closed: 5.5%

St. John

Applications: 766

Closings: 57

Percent Closed: 7.4%

At this point in time, Orleans and St. Tammany Parishes have seen the most closings in the metro area as a percentage. Plaquemines has seen the least.

[NCB]

Wow, only 187 closings in Plaquemines.

[SlidellWX]

I was surprised and disappointed by that as well.

[TSmith]

What in the heck are we going to do about this $5 billion shortfall in the Road Home program? I am fuming about this. I see dollars re-directed away from necessary rebuilding projects for New Orleans to cover the governor's screwup. It's just rediculous.

[UptownNewOrleans]

Another example of how Louisiana's priorities are *&%$#@ up. Why should we have to pay for Blanco's screwup? If the governor screws up, that's on him. That's money that is supposed to be used to rebuild New Orleans.

[JPKneworleans]

What in the heck are we going to do about this $5 billion shortfall in the Road Home program? I am fuming about this. I see dollars re-directed away from necessary rebuilding projects for New Orleans to cover the governor's screwup. It's just rediculous.

[TSmith]

John Alario makes me sick. The guy was on Ch 4 tonight defending the pork spending. The guy is worthless.

[SlidellWX]

Here are the stats as of 6/4/07

Orleans

Applications: 50,463

Closings: 11,863

Percent Closed: 23.5%

Jefferson

Applications: 24,572

Closings: 4,460

Percent Closed: 18.2%

St. Bernard

Applications: 14,660

Closings: 2,142

Percent Closed: 14.6%

Plaquemines

Applications: 3,852

Closings: 211

Percent Closed: 5.5%

St. Tammany

Applications: 11,376

Closings: 2,683

Percent Closed: 23.6%

St. Charles

Applications: 789

Closings: 45

Percent Closed: 5.7%

St. John

Applications: 804

Closings: 60

Percent Closed: 7.5%

At this point in time, Orleans and St. Tammany Parishes continue to have the most closings in the metro area as a percentage. Plaquemines continues to see the least. However, the percentage closed increased for all parishes even as the applications increased.

[SlidellWX]

Here are the stats as of 6/11/07...sorry for the delay...was in SHV this week for training.

Orleans

Applications: 50,811

Closings: 12,541

Percent Closed: 24.7%

Jefferson

Applications: 25,317

Closings: 4,585

Percent Closed: 18.1%

St. Bernard

Applications: 14,722

Closings: 2,249

Percent Closed: 15.3%

Plaquemines

Applications: 3,876

Closings: 224

Percent Closed: 5.8%

St. Tammany

Applications: 11,575

Closings: 2,806

Percent Closed: 24.2%

St. Charles

Applications: 832

Closings: 47

Percent Closed: 5.6%

St. John

Applications: 867

Closings: 61

Percent Closed: 7.0%

Orleans and St. Tammany continue to lead with nearly 1 out of every 4 applicants receiving money. However, it appears that applications are outstripping any gains in closings in St. John, St. Charles, and Jefferson Parishes. Plaquemines and St. Bernard saw modest increases in the percentage of closings compared to applications.

[JPKneworleans]

I find it so hard to believe that all of these new applications are genuine. Why would people wait so long to apply? The duplication and rejection rates for the later applications has to be higher than the earlier applications. Well, that's what my gut tells me.

[SlidellWX]

I agree. I think alot of people are just trying to see what they can get out of the system. I suspect that many of these new applications will be rejected. It's been 2 years. I think those that actually need this help would have applied when the program first started.

[SlidellWX]

Here are the stats as of 6/18/07.

Orleans

Applications: 51,164

Closings: 13,438

Percent Closed: 26.3%

Jefferson

Applications: 25,910

Closings: 4,792

Percent Closed: 18.5%

St. Bernard

Applications: 14,798

Closings: 2,351

Percent Closed: 15.9%

Plaquemines

Applications: 3,906

Closings: 242

Percent Closed: 6.2%

St. Tammany

Applications: 11,721

Closings: 2,938

Percent Closed: 25.1%

St. Charles

Applications: 866

Closings: 49

Percent Closed: 5.7%

St. John

Applications: 904

Closings: 66

Percent Closed: 7.3%

Orleans and St. Tammany continue to lead with over 1 out of every 4 applicants receiving money. Not much change for the other parishes as applications continue at the same clip as closings. Overall...1.8 billion dollars has been doled out so far.

[SlidellWX]

Here are the stats as of 6/25/07. Sorry for the delay. Was in California for our annual family vacation. The Redwoods are absolutely amazing, btw. I didn't even think it was possible for a tree to get so large. Anyway, here are the stats from last week.

Orleans

Applications: 51,416

Closings: 14,269

Percent Closed: 27.8%

Jefferson

Applications: 26,437

Closings: 5,012

Percent Closed: 19.0%

St. Bernard

Applications: 14,825

Closings: 2,478

Percent Closed: 16.7%

Plaquemines

Applications: 3,934

Closings: 257

Percent Closed: 6.5%

St. Tammany

Applications: 11,891

Closings: 3,073

Percent Closed: 25.8%

St. Charles

Applications: 905

Closings: 51

Percent Closed: 5.6%

St. John

Applications: 955

Closings: 73

Percent Closed: 7.6%

Orleans and St. Tammany continue to lead with over 1 out of every 4 applicants receiving money. Not much change for the other parishes as applications continue come in at the same clip as closings.

[SlidellWX]

Here are the stats as of 7/1/07.

Orleans

Applications: 51,890

Closings: 15,340

Percent Closed: 29.6%

Jefferson

Applications: 27,233

Closings: 5,188

Percent Closed: 19.1%

St. Bernard

Applications: 14,914

Closings: 2,635

Percent Closed: 17.7%

Plaquemines

Applications: 3,978

Closings: 279

Percent Closed: 7.0%

St. Tammany

Applications: 12,090

Closings: 3,182

Percent Closed: 26.3%

St. Charles

Applications: 946

Closings: 53

Percent Closed: 5.6%

St. John

Applications: 1,017

Closings: 82

Percent Closed: 8.1%

Closings in New Orleans have climbed to around 30%...so we are rapidly approaching one third of all homeowners receiving money in the city. Jefferson is up to about 1 out of every 5 homeowners getting money, with St. Tammany at 1 out of 4. St. Bernard continues a slow climb toward 20%. The other closing rates for Plaquemines and the River Parishes are still disappointing. I don't know why Plaquemines Parish's numbers remain so low.

[NCB]

I don't know why Plaquemines Parish's numbers remain so low.

[UptownNewOrleans]

One thing I've noticed is that Orleans & St.Tammany continue to lead the way in owners receiving money. One reason I can think of as to why Plaquemines' numbers are so low is because they've made it difficult for owners to get money.

[SlidellWX]

Here are the stats as of 7/9/07. I wanted to get these on a couple of days ago...but the server was offline for the site. There was some major progress in a few parishes.

Orleans

Applications: 52,267

Closings: 17,502

Percent Closed: 33.5%

Jefferson

Applications: 27,924

Closings: 5,751

Percent Closed: 20.6%

St. Bernard

Applications: 14,984

Closings: 3,335

Percent Closed: 22.3%

Plaquemines

Applications: 4,001

Closings: 408

Percent Closed: 10.2%

St. Tammany

Applications: 12,293

Closings: 3,746

Percent Closed: 30.5%

St. Charles

Applications: 1,006

Closings: 73

Percent Closed: 7.3%

St. John

Applications: 1,091

Closings: 93

Percent Closed: 8.5%

A milestone has been reached in Orleans Parish with 1 out of every 3 applicants having gone to closing. Great news for the city. The other big changes involved St. Bernard and Plaquemines. In Plaquemines...enough closings took place to pull them up to 10%. In St. Bernard a major flurry of closings occurred...driving the percent closed over 20%. Great news for the Da' Parish as well. St. Tammany showed a nice gain to 30%, and the other parishes remained about the same overall.

[SlidellWX]

Here are the stats as of 7/16/07.

Orleans

Applications: 52,745

Closings: 18,226

Percent Closed: 34.6%

Jefferson

Applications: 28,722

Closings: 5,948

Percent Closed: 20.7%

St. Bernard

Applications: 15,056

Closings: 3,462

Percent Closed: 23.0%

Plaquemines

Applications: 4,033

Closings: 430

Percent Closed: 10.7%

St. Tammany

Applications: 12,557

Closings: 3,808

Percent Closed: 30.3%

St. Charles

Applications: 1,069

Closings: 82

Percent Closed: 7.7%

St. John

Applications: 1,178

Closings: 96

Percent Closed: 8.1%

Applications poured in like crazy this past week. I guess people are applying at the last minute as the deadline is less than 2 weeks away. With this in mind...closings basically kept pace with new applicants this week. There was little change in the percentages. I think that when the applicant deadline is over...I will start start breaking out the data by Zip Code in New Orleans to see which areas have benefited the most so far.

[JPKneworleans]

Wow...more than a third in Orleans Parish.

[SlidellWX]

Here are the stats as of 7/23/07.

Orleans

Applications: 53,692

Closings: 18,792

Percent Closed: 35.0%

Jefferson

Applications: 30,068

Closings: 6,198

Percent Closed: 20.6%

St. Bernard

Applications: 15,213

Closings: 3,574

Percent Closed: 23.5%

Plaquemines

Applications: 4,100

Closings: 445

Percent Closed: 10.9%

St. Tammany

Applications: 12,974

Closings: 3,966

Percent Closed: 30.6%

St. Charles

Applications: 1,159

Closings: 92

Percent Closed: 7.9%

St. John

Applications: 1,308

Closings: 97

Percent Closed: 7.4%

Another week with applications pouring in at a faster clip than closings. I really wonder how many of these people really need this money. If my house was damaged and I needed the money to fix it up, I would have applied months ago. With this in mind...closings barely kept pace with new applicants this week. There was little change in the percentages except in St. John where the percent closed declined by 2%.

[UptownNewOrleans]

Something doesn't add up. Orleans & St. Tammany Parish continue to have over a third of residents receiving money, while Plaquemines, St.Charles & St. John parishes are stagnant. That leads me to believe that it's much harder to get money in Plaquemines, St.Charles & St.John parishes than it is in Orleans & St. Tammany. Taking it further, a percentage of residents in Orleans & St. Tammany are hustling the system. Otherwise, they would have jumped on this months ago.

[Puddinhead]

Something doesn't add up. Orleans & St. Tammany Parish continue to have over a third of residents receiving money, while Plaquemines, St.Charles & St. John parishes are stagnant. That leads me to believe that it's much harder to get money in Plaquemines, St.Charles & St.John parishes than it is in Orleans & St. Tammany. Taking it further, a percentage of residents in Orleans & St. Tammany are hustling the system. Otherwise, they would have jumped on this months ago.

[Puddinhead]

I guess I didn't explain that too well, now that I'm reading it. I meant that so few applications were made from St. Charles and St. John, and the damage was so light, that you probably had a pretty high percentage who were either folks who just applied sort of just "taking a shot" to see if they'd qualify for anything (the Road Home people were encouraging citizens to do just that--apply, then let the RHP figure out if you're eligible or not). Lots of applications from people who got their notification telling them they didn't qualify for a grant, so there was no closing to go to even though there was an application filed.

In Plaquemines I think you had some of that going on with Belle Chasse area residents, but even more I think you have folks who might want to close, but just can't decide whether they want to take the "relocate" option or the "build in place" option because of the uncertainty over just what kind of flood protection lower Plaquemines will have in the future.

[SlidellWX]

Puddinhead,

That actually makes sense now that I think about it. I'm guessing alot of the people in Plaquemines Parish are on the fence about what they want to do. It also makes sense over in the River Parishes as it was mostly wind damage there. That should be covered by insurance. I know a couple of people in my office applied even though they got a great settlement from insurance and fixed up the house. They got $0 from Road Home and thus are not going to closing. They both live in Covington. Some of these numbers are making sense now. I'm glad to see the people most affected by the levee failures are actually benefiting the most. That's what the program was designed to do.

[SlidellWX]

Here are the stats as of 7/30/07.

Orleans

Applications: 54,788

Closings: 19,392

Percent Closed: 35.4%

Jefferson

Applications: 31,763

Closings: 6,400

Percent Closed: 20.1%

St. Bernard

Applications: 15,394

Closings: 3,697

Percent Closed: 24.0%

Plaquemines

Applications: 4,204

Closings: 470

Percent Closed: 11.2%

St. Tammany

Applications: 13,491

Closings: 4,130

Percent Closed: 30.6%

St. Charles

Applications: 1,298

Closings: 100

Percent Closed: 7.7%

St. John

Applications: 1,517

Closings: 111

Percent Closed: 7.3%

We all know that applications poured in this past week. There were around 9000 new applications submitted on Tuesday. As a result...not much change in the percentages this week. I expect the final number of applications to be out by next week, and I'll start breaking down things by Zipcode for Orleans Parish then.