Katrina $700M Missing: Homeowners Misusing Grants, Hurricane Relief Funds Missing [Video]
A report shows that there is an unaccounted amount of $700 million that was to be used to fortify the homes of Hurricane Katrina victims to help prevent future storm damage.
According to ABC News, the inspector general of The Department of Housing and Urban Development David Montoya said, "We have $700 million that we can't account for and that certainly did not go to elevating homes and preventing future damage from storms."
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is pressing Louisiana to recover the money, but Montoya said it is a slim chance that they will get the money.
He said, "This is money we can't afford to lose. This is money that we don't get back and this is money that we can't put toward other disaster victims."
There have been discrepancies with other cases involving the remodeling of homes since the natural disaster destroyed the gulf. A government investigation showed that 70 percent of the money allocated by the Louisiana Road Home program, which allocated $1 billion to help fix homes, was unaccounted for.
Also, ABC reported that around 24,000 people couldn't show that their $30,000 grants went toward fixing their homes.
Tina Marquardt works at Beacon of Hope and said that people receiving money from the Road Home Elevation Program should be monitored.
"There needs to be a physical inspection of every property that received Road Home money," Marquardt said, according to ABC. "It decreases the quality of life in the neighborhood. It's an eyesore and it decreases the value of your own property."
Senator Tom Cobran is afraid Hurrican Sandy victims could do the same and not use grants toward fixing their homes. According to ABC, he demands that the Obama Administration impose strict guidlelines to prevent a repeat with the Katrina fund misuse.