Thousands of Louisiana homeowners have grown tired of the long and winding “Road Home,” but after a closed meeting Tuesday night at the governor's mansion, the company in charge of distributing recovery funds—ICF—said it would introduce some policy changes in the coming days, most notably an appeals process.

If the changes do happen, applicants could start getting money while they challenge the amount of their award money.

WWL-TV

ICF has handed out only 87 cash awards since the storm.

Frustrated by the slow process of the road home program, some Louisiana lawmakers were ready to throw in the towel Friday on ICF.

“I want to know why if the man is not doing his job, if the company is not doing their job, why are they not fired and why are we still paying them?” said State Sen. Cleo Fields (D-Baton Rouge).

Complaints of low appraisals, closing amounts as well as too few awards—87, actually—given out to date, compared to the tens of thousands that have applied for the program, led State Representative Charmaine Marchand (D-New Orleans) to camp out on the capital grounds Monday in protest of ICF and Governor Blanco’s performance.

“So that people in devastated areas, and hopefully in Houston and Atlanta, can know that we are trying to work to get them back home as fast as possible and to get the dollars into their hands,” Marchand said. “And that’s the big message here."

Even Louisiana officials in Washington D.C. have started to take notice.

“All I can say is ‘Road Home’ … is a debacle, it needs to be fixed. And I have started to look, in detail, at that ICF contract and I'm startled at what’s in it. The dollar amounts – $19 million travel budget…and I don't get it," said Sen. David Vitter (R-Louisiana).

Following a meeting at the governor’s mansion, the “Road Home” program might be getting somewhere.

Lawmakers, including Marchand, and Gov. Blanco talked about their frustrations with the process and came up with some possible solutions concerning the appeals process and hiring local appraisers to help determine pre-storm value.

Officials said they’re hopeful the discussion will led to some major changes, instead of firing the company and starting all over again.

Marchand said she was pleased with the meeting and planned to end her protest Wednesday.