More than 10,000 people in the Tampa Bay area who were slammed by last year's hurricanes have received letters saying they have to either rebuild their homes or raise them above flood stage.
But many of them did not even have anyone inspect the inside of their homes.
WUSF talked with the Tampa Bay Times reporters who broke the story, Colbi Edmonds and Teghan Simonton.
WUSF: So you guys have written "their struggle hinges on a single piece of paper that often comes with no explanation for how the determination was made." And the real interesting part about this is you reported Florida law doesn't require a claims adjuster to even enter a home during a damage assessment. So are they just looking at a watermark outside the home, which shows basically how high the storm surge went?
EDMONDS: Yeah, I think Teghan can talk a little bit about the mathematic calculations behind it, but it is essentially assessors looking at the outside of homes to see the watermark, and then using a FEMA calculator, FEMA estimation, to determine how much water went inside. But residents who I spoke to kind of disagreed with that approach, because it doesn't always in their experience, lead to an accurate calculation of how much water actually went inside of their house.
WUSF: Teghan, you've written that Pinellas County and Hillsborough County are both using private contractors here. Do they follow any kind of rules? Are they trained, and what do they base their rulings on?
SIMONTON: So reporting of this is ongoing. What we've found is that counties really have a certain level of discretion in determining how substantial damage is calculated. They can determine how they come about the damage estimation and how they come about the structure value for each given home, which is kind of the two parts of the fraction that make up a damage percentage. That, being said, the level of damage with these storms was so great that a lot of local governments needed some extra help.
WUSF: So I'd imagine that this is targeting primarily people who live along the Pinellas beaches. Colbi, what are you hearing from the homeowners there about all this?
"... it's been kind of a big emotional toll, not only going through the hurricanes, but then also having to navigate this process in particular. And you know, receiving a letter that says you have to go through this process. And people have told me that they read that as I'm losing my home, I'm losing everything." - Colbi Edmonds
EDMONDS: Something that most people reiterated to me was that it's so devastating to go through a hurricane and, you know, lose all of your belongings and lose your home, and then this process, they've said, has been very difficult. Just you know, navigating hurricane recovery bureaucracy can be very difficult for people just generally, and the substantial damage assessment process was new for a lot of people, and most people haven't experienced this process specifically.
So, yeah, it's been kind of a big emotional toll, not only going through the hurricanes, but then also having to navigate this process in particular. And you know, receiving a letter that says you have to go through this process. And people have told me that they read that as I'm losing my home, I'm losing everything.
WUSF: Are you hearing a lot of people saying this is grossly unfair? Nobody came inside my home and actually looked inside and see what kind of damage there was?
EDMONDS: Yeah. I mean, the reason that I even started reporting on this, I was at a Pinellas County Commissioners meeting in December, and during public comment, that is what several residents brought up, is that you're telling me I have to tear down my home, and no one went inside. And so that's been a big issue for a lot of folks. And what we tried to do with this story is really explain that for readers and explain for residents throughout the area, why is this the process and why is this happening?
WUSF: Are you getting comments from people like they're just throwing up their hands and saying, I'm going to have to sell my property because of the cost?
EDMONDS: Yeah, I think some people kind of feel discouraged by it, feel frustrated by it. And I've heard this anecdotally through people who I've talked to, but just kind of feel resigned about, I don't want to go through this and then my home might get hit by another hurricane next year. So I think there's a few layers to people feeling frustrated with the situation taken.
WUSF: Teghan, what have you been hearing out there from people?
"... for a lot of people, then the onus is on them to to hire a private appraiser, to hire a contractor, to kind of try to contradict these numbers or this damage percentage. And a lot of people either maybe don't have the time, or they don't have the ability to do that at this time." - Teghan Simonton
SIMONTON: You know, one thing that I also want to add is that local governments have told us that in a lot of cases, these letters are sort of like the first step. A homeowner gets them, and then they have the opportunity to appeal.
But for a lot of people, then the onus is on them to hire a private appraiser, to hire a contractor, to kind of try to contradict these numbers or this damage percentage. And a lot of people either maybe don't have the time, or they don't have the ability to do that at this time, because of everything that you mentioned, this was an extremely difficult emotional and financial event for a lot of folks.
