Armed with Knowledge
Katrina was fifteen years ago, but for the people of New Orleans, the fight isn’t over.
A serious settlement was reached between African-American Katrina victims and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 2011. The Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center v. HUD brought to light racially discriminatory impacts of the Road Home Program’s practical design. This suit alleged that the algorithm used by the program to determine how much money to provide in each case was inherently biased, even if it wasn’t intentional. Substantial evidence from the program’s own data showed that under this formula, African American homeowners were significantly less likely than white homeowners to receive funds based upon the estimated cost to repair damage. Instead, many African American homeowners were provided funds based upon the supposed pre-storm market value of their homes. Katrina victims complained that the difference in methods used to determine monetary awards to different homeowners was obviously unfair.
Was I Ripped Off by the Road Home Program?
After the local Road Home Program office closed its doors in 2018, insult was added to injury. Financial and legal matters related to the Road Home Program were largely handed over to Shows, Cali & Walsh, L.L.P., the law firm contracted by Louisiana Office of Community Development. As I’m writing this, they are still suing Katrina victims who were awarded Road Home relief. Multitudes of homeowners of all racial and ethnic backgrounds have been unfairly sued to repay the money allotted to them by the Road Home Program. This has come as a shock to many New Orleans residents who received this funding, leaving homeowners questioning what they previously thought they knew about the differences between grants and loans.
"You are up against a fierce opponent if you are sued by the Road Home Program. The attorneys suing you were caught manipulating evidence as recently as 2013. Their victims were prisoners, so they might have thought they would get away with it - after all, not many people are sympathetic to criminals. But if there’s anything I’ve learned as a legal professional and as a person, it’s that a bully is a bully, no matter their excuses. These attorneys were caught and almost sanctioned, but they are still practicing law now. If they got away with manipulating evidence once, what’s to stop them from doing it again?"
I understand that these are all reasons that cause people like us to be afraid. It’s not unusual to look at all of this and think you should just give up and let the state gouge your bank account. What I want you to know is that you don’t have to give up. My legal team works tirelessly on cases just like yours, and I have defended more Road Home cases than anyone else in Louisiana. My mission is to bring my clients hope, justice, and peace of mind, no matter how desperate their situation may seem.
I’m Christopher Szeto, and I’m a NOLA attorney through and through. I’ve seen over eight hundred cases like these. You can follow my weekly blog to stay in the loop and stay law-savvy, and if you have been sued by the Road Home program, call (504) 571-9670 today to schedule your free consultation.
