Over 3000 FL homeless from hurricanes, growing by over 100 a day.

[madfloridian]

Things are not going well just because the papers don't cover it.

This is just unbelievable. It was way back in the back of our paper, not very prominent. Some of these people who do some work for us have been in motels or doubled up with friends or family since the first hurricane. One is in a single room with 3 small children....their landlord did not have rental insurance. They lost everything. The cheaper motels are over 300 a week. Some are getting help from FEMA, some have not yet made contact.

Roofers are not coming here because of the high cost of Workers Comp insurance. Estimated year and a half to two years wait.

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041113/NEWS/411130391&SearchID=7319073970890


List of Storm Victims Still Grows
Undetected damage and after-effects add to the homeless, a FEMA official says.

The Associated Press

ORLANDO -- SNIP..."The number of Floridians left homeless by hurricanes is growing by as much as 100 people per day three months after the first of four storms hit the state, a Federal Emergency Management Agency official said.

Thousands of hurricane victims may be still living in damaged homes, with friends and family, in cars and even sheds, said Brad Gair, FEMA deputy coordinating officer in Orlando.

Nearly 3,100 hurricane victims were on a FEMA waiting list for temporary housing assistance as of Thursday. But officials said they've had to scramble to accommodate more people chased from their storm-damaged dwellings by mold and other previously undetected problems, Gair said.

"It is the largest operation of this type that we've done so we are building a system on the go to handle it," Gair told the Orlando Sentinel in a story published Friday.

In devastated Punta Gorda, the relief agency spent $10 million to build a 66-acre development housing mobile homes. It opened two weeks ago but as of Thursday fewer than 100 of the 350 three-bedroom homes have been occupied".END SNIP

[noamnety]

1. I had no idea

That's unimaginable, after 3 months, that the rate of homelessness is growing!

[madfloridian]

3. The silence from the media is deafening.

I had no idea either. I knew there were some, but not 100 a day.

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. They should speak up because Florida just found billions of

extra dollars -- and most of it from FEMA money due to the hurricane damage. How could it be FOUND money, if we still have so many people in need.

[SoCalDem]

5. Not really surprising to me.

There are probably lots of people who decided to just stay put and wait for the damage estimates and insurance claims to work their way through the pipeline.

Suppose that you had 50K damage, and FEMA says now that you do not qualify, and your homeowners says they will only give you $20K.. By now the bugs have moved in with you there is probably mold everywhere. Everybody's patience is at the limit..and unless I miss my guess, the bank still wants you to make payments..

If everything you own is ruined, and you have no way of making up the difference it will take to fix it, I imagine that lots of people would just walk away..

Consider too, the last few years' re-fi bonanza.. Lots of those houses probably have little, if any equity left to even draw on.

Once a whole neighborhood is decimated, the property values drop dramatically, so even people with less damage, may end up walking too..

[kestrel91316]

2. gee, why should we have any..............................

sympathy for these people?? Don't you know such abject misery is a clear sign of God's disfavor? They must all be sinners.

(sarcasm off)

[Contrary1]

4. Where's Jeb and George?

They were sure out and about 6 to 8 weeks ago. Guess
they don't need to bother with the homeless now.

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. This is why I don't understand how the counties

that were hit hardest by the hurricanes could have in any way, shape or form gone to Bush.

I've talked to a few folks who lost their houses up in the Panhandle area. We're talking very nice houses that were on the water and they are pissed. They've been bounced around from one place to another. They have not received a dime of insurance money. FEMA is a joke, no help there. They are trying to wrangle their way through an alphabet soup of agencies and are still coming up empty handed. Now tell me again, these people voted for Bush? No way.

[Jeanette in FL]

7. Maybe they didn't vote for *

Afterall, that is what the exit polls showed. Kerry in a landslide.

[in_cog_ni_to]

8. They were so thankful to the Bush brothers for all the $$$ that poured

into FL. that they all voted for the asshole. THAT is what a friend of mine said she saw in a news report last week. :eyes: Had to be FAUX NEWS. I'll ask her, but she said the hurricane victims did vote for the chimp because the idiot-in-chief poored so much money into the state. I say BULLSHIT. That kind of report is what you get with state owned media.

[Bridget Burke]

9. Gosh--could there be vote tampering in Florida?

Would that be possible?

[OneTwentyoNine]

11. Ehh...election's over,no need for either Bush to worry about this...

They used them like they use everyone with those phony "tours" just before the election. Why the hell is so hard for people to see through that transparency??

[madfloridian]

12. A kick for outrage, or lack thereof.

This is just unbelievable to me.