State Rep. Magee Responds to Lack of Response for Temporary Housing, “…it’s absolutely unacceptable.”

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Despite State Representative Tanner Magee’s calm demeanor, he recognized that the state’s trailer program isn’t working fast enough, and has written a passionate letter to the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) to fuel some fire to get help to residents faster.


Representative Magee told the Times that he has been receiving phone calls from residents that haven’t gotten a call back since applying for temporary home assistance. He was told only two trailers had residents as of Saturday, and only 13 were reported Monday. He knew he had to do something, so he put pen to paper, and he said it must have sped something up because they are seeing some response.

“I really am a reasonable person, and I understand that things are not as fast as we’d like them to be,” he said, “I try to be very understanding of the real issues involved in things, but my frustration is that I called Aptim, the company that’s in charge of the program and who is processing applications, and I asked a time frame because I’m receiving a lot of complaints of residents not hearing anything…” He said he just wanted a timeframe to tell residents to expect a notification, and if they didn’t, they would at least know there were issues with the application and they can then work to resolve those issues. Despite the call, he said the company gave a cold shoulder and was told the company is going through the process, going through applications one at a time, and it will take as long as it takes. Magee said this was absolutely not acceptable and he knew he had to do something about it.

He then followed up with GOHSEP last Tuesday, who hired Aptim, and told them the agency has to put pressure on Aptim to give a reasonable timeline that people can expect to hear back. He said they basically blew him off as well. He then followed back up with them Friday, and still got an answer of, “We’ll get back to you.” That’s when Magee said, “That’s when I finally had enough, and I was like look, I need to write a letter so people know what’s going on.”


The letter outlined the entire problem and begins with Magee saying, “I previously wrote to you and FEMA requesting that your respective organizations move with more urgency and prevent the proverbial red tape from being hurdles to meaningful recovery. A month later, very little has changed. Saturday, October 16, 2021, you informed me that “two” trailers had been delivered to Terrebonne residents. You said it with a sense of complacency that this was satisfactory. Please understand it is not. We should have received hundreds of trailers to date.”

He also pointed out that it is a $9 million contract that is being paid to Aptim to be able to process applications and deliver the trailers. “The people of Louisiana desperately need to know a timeframe of when they can expect a response,” the letter stated,”… despite receiving $9M from the state, Aptim does not appear to believe providing a response to desperate people is necessary.” He also stated that the most troubling issue is GOHSEP’s response to his demand for the information, “It is clear you find it bothersome that I would represent my constituents when they need us most.”

Representative Magee said it must have fueled the fire because he is now hearing that by Wednesday, they will have a text messaging system, they are ramping up phone calls, and they are sending people to the civic center today. “It’s amazing,” Magee said, “that all of a sudden when someone writes a nasty letter, that people start doing stuff.”


Magee said it’s frustrating because it’s not in his personality to be as forward, but he has to be that way. He doesn’t want to have these types of complications, but he said he’s not going to shy away from doing what needs to get done. He also said they won’t stop, “We’re going to do everything we can. We’re never going to forget about them and we’re going to keep fighting. If it takes being nasty in letters, whatever it takes, we will do it to get them as much as we can possibly get to recover from this storm; and we’re not going to stop.”

 

The full letter can be viewed below: