Disaster Response & Long-Term Recovery Management

Disaster Response and Grants Management

HGI’s success in managing a myriad of sub-contractors, efficiently marshaling resources, and then appropriately triaging each crisis, makes us the ‘go to’ experts when catastrophes occur.

We have a unique perspective with deep experience in housing, hazard mitigation, and multi-family CDBG-DR programs. We have performed startup, takeover, operational, and closeout duties.

We have served a variety of roles in the largest housing compensation program in U.S. history: The Louisiana Road Home/Homeowner Assistance Program in response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

We oversaw disaster recovery programs for Hurricanes Ivan and Gustav. We helped develop and administer the largest reconstruction program in U.S. history: Renew Jersey Stronger in response to Superstorm Sandy. For these events alone, our team managed/processed over $12 billion in grant disbursements and 1.6 million claims & inspections, property appraisals, call center calls, transitions, property/home evaluations, and appeals. We have managed over $20 million in benefits for the Texas Property Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association.

Our Services

HGI Disaster Response & Long-term Recovery Management Services

Accounting & Internal Controls
Appeals
Appraisals and Valuation of Property
Audit Support Services
Anti-Fraud Waste & Abuse (AFWA)
Case Management
Closing & Disbursement of Funds
Construction Monitoring Services
Damage Assessments
Disaster Housing Operations
Environmental Damage Assessment & Documentation
Long-term Compliance and Monitoring
Public Relations, Outreach, & Strategic Communications
Program Implementation, Administration, & Closeout
Quality Assurance/Quality Control

PAST PERFORMANCE EXAMPLES

Restore Louisiana (ReLA) Program

HGI is providing a solution that offers program applicants a buyout and housing incentive where the homeowner sells the damaged property to the State or its designee in exchange for the appraised value of the property and an additional housing incentive.

The Scope of Work for Restore Louisiana’s Program Management Services and Construction Management Services contains six main tasks:

Continuing Operations of Restore Program
Administer the Restore Program
Close-out the Restore Program
Building/Construction Management
Interim Progress Inspections
Final Progress Inspections

Highlights and Best Practices

$40,000,000.00 contract for Program Manager for Restore Louisiana
Include 6,000 residents and their homes for reconstruction or rehabilitation
HGI pioneered CDBG-DR Construction Management Services in Louisiana.
HGI designed and provided comprehensive Construction Management Services for multiple Unmet Needs Programs in Louisiana from 2014-2018, and these efforts are the foundation for the Construction Management Services for the Restore Program.

Role

Prime

Client

State of Louisiana

Dates

2019 to 2022

Funding Source

CDBG-DR

Homeowner Assistance Program & Hazard Mitigation Grant Program

In August and September 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated South Louisiana, destroying more than 200,000 homes, 18,000 businesses, and caused approximately $32 billion in losses. As a result of these disasters, the Homeowner Assistance Program (HAP), under the direction of the Louisiana Division of Administration’s Office of Community Development, Disaster Recovery Unit (OCD-DRU), was tasked to oversee one of the largest single housing recovery programs in U.S. history.

In March 2009, HGI was selected as the Prime contractor for HAP. HGI took over responsibilities of the previous Louisiana Road Home Program during a very tenuous time. HGI has refined relations and processes to provide exemplary service for the past eight years as the prime contractor on this program. HGI has enjoyed a very strong working relationship with the State and have been rewarded with several contract extensions as new program requirements such as AACG, IMM, Unmet Needs, and Compliance and Monitoring changes have arisen. HGI managed home rebuilds, home buyouts, mitigation cases, and compliance monitoring.

HGI was responsible for successfully transitioning into the prime contractor role, processing all remaining open applications, disbursing grant award funds to qualified applicants, and closing all applications and associated activities, to include verification of all final statuses.

Highlights and Best Practices

Assumed operational control within 20 days of transition
Disbursed approximately $950 million to over 41,000 applicants across a variety of funding programs
Processed over 95,000 files for Program Compliance
Fielded over 486,000 calls and addressed over 2,200 appeals
Handled 2,500+ records requests