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Request for Public Assistant

Appeal Brief Appeal Letter

Appeal Brief

Disaster1603-DR-LA
ApplicantDesire Community Housing Corporation
Appeal TypeSecond
PA ID#xxx-xxxxx
PW ID#NA
Date Signed2010-03-29T04:00:00

Citation:         FEMA-1603-DR-LA, Desire Community Housing Corporation, Request for Public Assistance

 

Cross-

Reference:      Request for Public Assistance, Time Limitations

 

Summary:        In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA extended the Request for Public Assistance (RPA) deadline to March 1, 2006.  Desire Community Housing Corporation (DCHC) submitted an RPA on February 23, 2007, approximately one year after the March 1, 2006, regulatory deadline.  In its first appeal submitted June 15, 2007, DHDC stated that it did not have access to the internet or television and was not aware of Public Assistance funding until January 19, 2007.  The Acting Regional Administrator determined that DCHC was not an eligible Private Non-Profit, DCHC did not complete the Small Business Administration application in accordance with 44 CFR § 206.226 (c)(2), and that there were no extenuating circumstances beyond the DCHC’s control that prevented it from applying for FEMA assistance and denied the appeal on July 10, 2009.  The State asserted that it did not communicate properly with potential applicants and FEMA should accept the late RPA because the DCHC is eligible for assistance and has received funding in the past.  The DCHC filed a second appeal on September 23, 2009. DCHC did not submit adequate information to support its request.

 

On February 4, 2010, the Public Assistance Division Director met with DCHC in Washington D.C.  DCHC and the State reiterated its original claim stated in the first appeal.

 

Issue:              Did DCHC provide information to support its request to accept its RPA after the regulatory application deadline?

 

Finding:          No.

 

Rationale:       44 CFR §206.202 (c) Request for Public Assistance and 44 CFR§206 (f) (2), Time Limitations

 

 

Appeal Letter

March 29, 2010

 

 

 

Mark DeBosier

Deputy Director

Disaster Recovery Division

Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness

State of Louisiana

7667 Independence Boulevard

Baton Rouge, LA  70806

 

Re:  Second Appeal–Desire Community Housing Corporation, Request for Public Assistant 

       (RPA), 1603-DR-LA

 

Dear Mr. DeBosier:

This letter is in response to your letter dated November 29, 2009, which transmitted the referenced second appeal on behalf of the Desire Community Housing Corporation (DCHC).  DCHC is appealing the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) decision not to accept its Request for Public Assistance (RPA) that was submitted after the regulatory application deadline.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA extended the deadline to request Public Assistance to March 1, 2006.  DCHC submitted its RPA to the State on February 23, 2007, approximately one year after the March 1, 2006, regulatory deadline.  On April 16, 2007, the Louisiana Transitional Recovery Office denied DCHC’s request asserting that DCHC did not meet the deadline and was not an eligible applicant. 

In its first appeal dated June 15, 2007, DCHC claimed that it did not have access to the internet or television and was unaware of Public Assistance funding until January 19, 2007.

Additionally, the State stated that it did not forward the appeal to FEMA because DCHC sent supplementary information without specifying that it was a first appeal.  Instead the State sent the documents back to DCHC.  As a result, the State did not forward the first appeal to FEMA until March 11, 2009. 

The State asserts that FEMA should accept DCHC’s RPA because it is an eligible applicant that received Public Assistance funding in the past.  The State emphasizes that DCHC’s facility was under six or seven feet of water for approximately three weeks.  DCHC has relocated its administrative offices because it has not been able to occupy its facility in the upper ninth ward since August 2005.

The Acting Regional Administrator denied the appeal on July 10, 2009, and determined that DCHC did not provide eligible PNP services under section 102(10) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Relief Act.  Also, DCHC did not submit its request before the established application deadlines. 

In its second appeal, submitted September 23, 2009, DCHC reiterates the claims from the first appeal.  On February 4, 2010, the Public Assistance Division Director met with DCHC and the State in Washington D.C. 

Based on review of the information submitted with the appeal, I have determined that DCHC did not present any extenuating circumstances beyond its control to justify submitting its RPA one year after the application deadline.  The Acting Regional Administrator’s decision in the first appeal is consistent with Public Assistance regulations and policy.  Accordingly, I am denying the second appeal.

Please inform DCHC of my decision.  This determination is the final decision on this matter pursuant to 44 CFR §206.206, Appeals.

Sincerely,

/s/

Elizabeth A. Zimmerman

Assistant Administrator

Recovery Directorate

cc: Tony Russell

      Regional Administrator

      FEMA Region VI