NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- The homeowner group New Orleans Affordable Homeownership Corp. paid contractors for work done primarily by volunteers, a local resident alleges.
New Orleans resident Doris Grandpre said that while NOAH contractors received $1.8 million in payments for their post-Hurricane Katrina work in the Louisiana city, she only received assistance from student volunteers out of Boston and Seattle, The Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans said Thursday.
NOAH board member Bob Brown acknowledged that such oversights have occurred during the non-profit group's attempts to help rebuild New Orleans. the newspaper said.
"Everything about NOAH is so messed up and the evidence of misbehavior is so clear that even if there was something going on that in the end would be considered to be legal and appropriate, it just makes no sense for us to do any of it until the authorities have had a chance to sort everything out and make some determinations about it," Brown told The Times-Picayune.
Two City Council members criticized New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin for skipping a meeting aimed at discussing questionable NOAH efforts.
