The seeds of a plan to help families with tainted Chinese drywall are slowly taking root.

The passing of a bill towards the end of the 2009 Legislative session in June allotted $5 million in recovery money to address the problem. It calls for the money to provide emergency rental assistance, and will be distributed through the Louisiana Recovery Authority.

Louisiana Sen. A.G. Crowe said the amount is in fact “seed money.”

“This is really just a drop in the bucket compared to what’s needed,” said Crowe. “Luckily the money is not tied to HUD funds, so we can distribute it on an as-needed basis.”

The money is currently only available to previous Road Home applicants, however, and Crowe said that LRA Executive Director Paul Rainwater has been spending a lot of time in Washington in negotiations with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees the LRA, on loosening the restrictions to allow more people to utilize the program.

Those who previously qualified for Road Home funds and rebuilt their homes with Chinese drywall can get an additional grant to cover the expenses of replacing the contaminated product. In addition, though, Crowe said he hopes the rules can be changed to address the needs of two other groups.

“We’d like to include those who qualified but hit the $150,000 cap, so they can maybe get another $10,000 to $15,000,” said Crowe. “We also want to include those folks who never applied for Road Home, so we need HUD to open up the qualification and application process.”

Until those issues are worked out, Crowe said he has gotten commitments from about a half-dozen volunteer groups who have agreed to provide labor in tearing out and disposing of the defective material as well as reinstalling new drywall. The volunteers will work primarily in St. Bernard and St. Tammany parishes, but will also be active in some parts of Plaquemines Parish as well.

Details of the program still have to be finalized. Crowe said an application form is being put together that will help the team determine the extent of a family’s need. A trained inspector will go out to the house, and if the tainted drywall is found to be present, that home will go on an active list. Special attention will most likely be given to the elderly, handicapped and single parents, Crowe said.

Once the scope of needs has been established, in about 30-60 days legislators will go back to the state with a request for additional funding.

The exact nature of the problem is still a bit unclear, although preliminary testing conducted by the Department of Health and Hospitals indicates the problems are due to gases emitted from volatile sulfur compounds. John Luther, spokesman for the New Orleans Homebuilders Association and other regional homebuilders groups, said a conclusive solution has not yet been developed.

“We’re at the point now where we have an army of scientists and researchers studying on both the state and the federal levels,” said Luther. “It’s a catch-22, because we want to have the science available so we know exactly what we’re dealing with, but that could be a long way off, and it doesn’t help the homeowners trying to deal with it.”

Luther pointed to cases in Florida, which is where the Chinese drywall problem first materialized late last year. There, he said, officials thought they had arrived at a solution, only to find out several months later the corrosion and respiratory problems associated with the product resurfaced several months later.

Crowe praised the actions of the local homebuilder associations, saying the groups have been proactive in helping clients resolve the situation. In addition, Phil Hoffman, president of the state organization, recently attended a national conference aimed at setting protocols for remediation.

The problem has been frustrating to say the least. One exasperated Florida homeowner reportedly called the White House earlier this month, to request more federal attention to the problem. The Consumer Products Safety Commission, one of the federal agencies investigating the issue, has received an estimated 877 complaints since December from 24 states and the District of Columbia.

Crowe said he gets calls related to Chinese drywall at least once a day.

“The problems run the gamut, from insurance companies that won’t cover it, to sheetrock companies who are now out of business,” said Crowe. “Right now, our whole process is geared towards finding those people without resources who need assistance.”

Crowe urged residents who think they might have Chinese drywall problems to send him an e-mail at ag@agcrowe.com.

Residents can find further information online at www.dhh.louisiana.gov or from the CPSC at www.cp sc.gov/info/drywall.

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