Program To Help Those With Chinese Drywall

The Louisiana Recovery Authority pushed forward Wednesday with plans to create a $5 million program to help some homeowners rehabilitate and repair property with Chinese drywall problems. But the program isn't likely to start doling out cash anytime soon.

The program would be limited to homeowners with the drywall who received aid through the Road Home program after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The help would only flow once federal officials devise a national standard for drywall testing and remediation, and state officials acknowledged it's not clear how long it might take to develop such standards.


Federal officials also would have to agree to spend the $5 million in federal hurricane recovery aid on the Chinese drywall program.

State lawmakers required the LRA to devise at least a $5 million aid program for people with drywall problems, and the recovery authority's board gave unanimous approval Wednesday to using federal hurricane recovery block grant money for the program. Next is a public comment period, followed by requests for legislative and federal approvals of the program plans.

The toughest hurdle could be developing national standards for dealing with the drywall. LRA Executive Director Paul Rainwater said a common standard must be devised to determine if home damage is because of defective drywall, if that wallboard was manufactured in China and how to make repairs before the state gives out remediation money.

"There is no answer right now. There is no methodology, and that's one of the challenges we've had," Rainwater said, adding he's talking to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development about the problem.

People rebuilding their south Louisiana homes after Katrina claim imported Chinese drywall emits sulfur, methane and other chemical compounds that have ruined homes and harmed residents' health.

Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed in New Orleans against Chinese companies, though lawyers say they expect the businesses that made the wallboard to ignore them. Meanwhile, members of Congress and federal authorities are considering what other remedies might be available to homeowners.

Members of the LRA board of directors said $5 million didn't seem to be enough money to address complaints from thousands of homeowners. LRA Deputy Director Robin Keegan said that's why the program, as proposed by recovery authority staff, would be limited to the more than 125,000 participants in the Road Home hurricane recovery program.

"I've had a number of calls from people outside the Road Home jurisdiction, even some of my own constituents," said state Sen. Sharon Broome, a Democrat from Baton Rouge, which wasn't heavily damaged by Katrina or Rita.

"We know that it's limited resources. We also know that this is a national issue. We hope that other resources will become available," Keegan said.

Rainwater said homeowners in other states have similar Chinese drywall complaints, and Louisiana officials were trying to raise awareness in Washington for a national response to the problem.

"We know that people are suffering, but there is no way that $5 million will take of that entire problem," he said. "There's a much higher level of complexity than we can deal with at the state level."

An Associated Press analysis found that more than 500 million pounds of Chinese gypsum board was imported between 2004 and 2008 - enough to have built tens of thousands of homes. They are heavily concentrated in the Southeast, mainly in Florida and areas of Louisiana and Mississippi hit hard by Katrina in 2005.