Article
Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel
By Jamie
Malernee
Published
June 15, 2006
She
has an airbed in her office and goes to her daughter's apartment to take
showers.
Almost eight months after Hurricane Wilma hit, what Millie Rivera doesn't have
is a date when her Lauderdale Lakes condo building will get a new roof.
Fern Merker has a single-family home that had to be ripped down to the studs,
forcing her and her husband to move into a friend's tiny bedroom. What the
Sunrise resident doesn't have is a job -- she quit when the stress and the
migraines got too bad -- or much hope that she will move back into her own house
before another storm hits.
Roslyn Seltzer of Boca Raton has mold in her walls, and a lot of questions. What
the 77-year-old resident of Century Village doesn't have is answers -- or any
family members in the area to help her get them. Why are the repairs taking so
long? Who will pay for them?
"It's probably going to bankrupt me," she sighed. "When it
started to rain again a few days ago, I had buckets in my bathroom and pots in
my hall."
This month marks the start of another hurricane season, but residents throughout
South Florida still haven't recovered from last year. Stories abound of people
who have moved seven times in seven months, slept in their cars and creepy
motels and begged contractors and homeowners associations for explanations about
repair delays. Some people have practically stalked building and permit
officials in hopes of moving projects along, threatened lawsuits and started
taking anti-depression medication to steel their nerves.
Despite this, determining exactly how many people are still affected, and when
their lives will return to normal, is almost impossible.
"There's no way of knowing. Nobody is tracking it," said John Tatum of
Palm Beach County's emergency management division.
"We're all trying to help people ... but there are too many agencies."
About 1,500 people in Broward and Palm Beach counties still are living in
trailers and mobile homes provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Broward's human services department is assisting 18 families still living in
apartments at the South Florida State Hospital in Pembroke Pines, as well as
providing services and stipends for about 250 elderly residents, many of them
from mangled condo buildings in Sunrise Lakes.
Those figures don't include other homeowners who have insurance but are stuck
waiting for major repair work to be finished. Many condo dwellers forced out of
damaged units have disappeared from public view, relying on friends and family
for shelter, dipping into their own pockets or using up insurance money to rent
apartments while they continue to pay mortgages and maintenance fees.
"It's a good thing I'm mentally strong, or else I'd shoot myself,"
said Barbara Cassidy, whose Davie mobile home was totaled by Wilma.
"Everyone passes the buck. They're telling you, `Prepare for hurricane
season,' and it's like, `Thanks, I'm still living out of my car.'"
Cassidy, her husband and their grown, disabled daughter are living in a friends'
aging 900-square-foot trailer, paying an extra $675 in rent a month. This
despite buying a new three-bedroom mobile home. There have been so many delays
and problems with the delivery and hookup -- they say workers busted their sewer
line and now an 8-foot-deep hole of waste sits in their yard -- the Cassidys
still don't know when they will be able to move in.
Jan Bergemann, president of Deland-based Cyber Citizens for Justice, which
represents unit owners, said he's been flooded with calls from angry home and
condo owners in South Florida looking for someone to blame. He said that in most
cases, it's no one particular person.
First off, there are problems with insurance.
Bergemann said many condos and associations didn't take out enough insurance or
keep enough reserves. They simply don't have the money to do the repairs.
At King's Point in Delray, some new roofs finally started going on last week.
Others sit waiting while the development's management company argues with the
insurance carrier over how much money is owed.
"I can't spend money I don't have," said Chip Sollins, president of
Prime Management.
Then there are problems with contractors and workers.
Carmenlita Brown, 50, of Sunrise Lakes, said she went to visit her condo to
check on the progress of insulation being installed. Inside, she found a worker
sleeping on the job.
"I
said, `What are you doing?' He said, `It's past lunchtime.'"
Often, there are unforeseen delays. At Hawaiian Gardens in Lauderdale Lakes,
workers found asbestos in the ceilings of two buildings. Cleanup for this halted
all other work and took two months, said Richard Herbert, association president
of a section where 170 families remain displaced by damage.
He added the city took several months to approve construction permits, which are
likely to cost unit owners in his section $40,000 in fees.
"Ridiculous," he snapped. "It's been a disaster."
Sandra Furman, administrative coordinator for Lauderdale Lakes' office of
engineering and construction management services, said cities across South
Florida have been swamped with permit applications and inspection requests since
last year.
"It's insane," she said. "Go through the want ads. Every city is
looking for inspectors. They were understaffed to begin with, even before the
hurricanes."
Bergemann said other factors that are creating delays include spiraling material
costs and shortages, as well as condo boards that have no experience navigating
the paperwork involved with rebuilding.
Just a few of the stories he has heard: A group of condo board members in Palm
Beach County went on a cruise for two weeks, during which no work could proceed
without their approval, and a small Broward condo that redid their roof four
years ago for $170,000 is now being quoted $1.5 million.
Bergemann said homeowner association and condo laws need to be overhauled and
reserve funds made mandatory.
"If another [hurricane] hits this year, you will see a lot of condos that
will never be repaired," he said. "They will lay them flat."
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