Article
Courtesy of The Miami Herald
By
AMY SHERMAN AND DARRAN SIMON
Published
May 1, 2006
Six months after Hurricane Wilma left more than 5,000
Broward homes and condos uninhabitable, at least 1,500 are still are not ready
to live in.
Even among units now considered habitable, many still need
major repairs like walls and roofs. But the number of units in the worst shape
-- those that remain uninhabitable -- could be higher, since no one is keeping
tabs countywide.
That's a scary prospect with the June 1 start of hurricane
season just weeks away. If Broward gets hit with another weather wallop,
buildings that aren't fixed could get damaged even worse.
There are lots of reasons that repairs aren't finished
yet: A shortage of building inspectors, supplies and labor. Red tape with
insurance companies. Long lines at city building departments to get permits. The
severity of the damage.
Meanwhile, displaced residents are suffering the anxiety
of not knowing when they can go home. Some are struggling financially.
Andrea Hall pays more than $1,000 a month for storage, her
mortgage and maintenance fees for a condo in Southgate Gardens in Tamarac while
she stays with her mother nearby. Hall checks on the construction progress daily
and is frustrated.
''My hands are tied,'' said the 44-year-old customer
service representative. ``It's like I can't do anything. It's real stressful.''
Some of the displaced residents are low- and
moderate-income seniors sleeping on friends' couches or floors because they
can't afford to rent a place. Others are poor families tucked away in temporary
trailer parks or moderate income families just making it.
''Their money is running out, '' said Bill Raphan,
assistant state condo ombudsman. ``Do we want a bunch of 85-, 90-year-old people
homeless? Who is going to be responsible for that?''
Though the exact number of uninhabitable homes is unknown,
building officials in cities like Lauderhill and Tamarac said that most of the
units they declared uninhabitable remain that way.
City officials in Sunrise say more than half of their
original uninhabitable units, about 350, aren't ready for occupancy. Other
cities like Oakland Park expect the units to ready by June for this hurricane
season.
And even when a building moves off the uninhabitable list,
it doesn't necessarily mean it's back to normal.
Once a roof is replaced and the building doesn't leak, the
building department considers it safe, said Dean Decker, Lauderdale Lakes
building official. But the interior walls may still need to be redone.
''It could still have ceilings falling in, a lot of
mildew,'' he said.
CITIES SWAMPED
Sandy Laguna, a Pembroke Pines building official, says
cities had compiled lists of uninhabitable structures after the hurricane to
help government agencies determine how much temporary housing Broward needed.
But they haven't had time to go back and revisit those lists. Cities have been
swamped handling permits for roof repairs and other matters on thousands of
homes with minor damage -- along with buildings with major damage, he said.
''We are so overburdened with inspecting roofs and a lot
of people getting hurricane shutters, too, and other normal business that we
don't have time to be going back and reassessing these things,'' Laguna said.
Numbers from the federal and county government agencies
provide some clues as to how many people have struggled to find places to live
since Wilma.
As of mid-April, about 460 FEMA trailers and mobile homes
were occupied.
Broward County placed about 18 families in apartments in
Pembroke Pines and has helped about 130 households with temporary housing needs
through its Housing First program.
In Sunrise Lakes Phase 3, one of Broward's worst-hit
developments, residents and the condo association attorney disagree on whether
the pace of repairs is normal.
Some residents say the company that the condo board hired,
Connecticut-based Woods Restoration Services, wasn't up to the job. They say the
dates their buildings are supposed to be ready keep getting pushed back, and
question why they see so few workers when they drive around the complex.
Woods Restoration did not return numerous phone calls. But
Steven Weinberg, attorney for the condo association, says repairs are proceeding
well.
He emphasizes the magnitude of the project: The repairs,
which encompass about 600 units, will total more than $32 million.
In less than six months, Woods replaced the roofs,
although that piece of the project won't be considered done until it passes city
inspection, Weinberg said. But some units are gutted and also need extensive
interior work.
The units should be finished by July or August, Weinberg
said.
''Are there disgruntled unit owners? Yes. Do I think they
are unfounded? Yeah, I do,'' he said. ``We attempted to do as good of a job as
we can under the circumstances.''
Weinberg says many residents ask questions about the
repairs, but only about two dozen residents in Sunrise Lakes are complaining
about the speed of the repairs.
''He's so full of baloney,'' says resident Lucille Hochman,
who can't move back into her condo yet. ``You come to a meeting and there's
hundreds of people at the meeting. They're all asking the same questions. . . .
They're complaining.''
SUFFERING RESIDENTS
Even those Sunrise Lakes residents who have money to pay
for another apartment are suffering.
Hochman says the health of her 60-year-old husband Mark, a
diabetic, has gotten worse since the hurricane. He has been staying in bed more
and has had three surgeries. They are now living in another apartment courtesy
of their insurance company, but she misses socializing with her neighbors,
ceramics class and going to the pool.
''It has marked all of us,'' she says.
Some displaced residents have repeatedly moved because
they've run out of money or don't want to overstay their welcome.
Roland Bonnell, 67, says he moved into his fourth place
recently since his two-bedroom condo in Hawaiian Gardens in Lauderdale Lakes was
declared uninhabitable. ''I got to the point that I almost forgot that I lived
here,'' Bonnell, the building treasurer, said as he stood in his condo, which
has no walls or ceilings.
Meanwhile in Lauderhill's Stonebridge Gardens, $18 million
in damages has forced the Frank family to rent a house in Wilton Manors while
their one-bedroom condo is repaired.
Ian Frank, 33, picked up extra hours at his sales job at a
home improvement store to afford the $825 monthly rent in Wilton Manors and his
$700 mortgage and condo fees. The Franks bought the place four years ago. Ian,
his pregnant wife, Shanta, and 1-year-old daughter Ishaa are all eager to go
home.
''We
got married and we grew into it,'' Ian Frank said. ``No matter how big or how
small it was, it was home.''
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