The billions of dollars in damages caused by Hurricane Ian has exacerbated an already urgent housing crisis for Florida, with thousands of displaced residents unsure where they’ll live in one of the country’s most expensive states.
On Monday, about 1,700 people remained in emergency shelters, many of them evacuated before their homes were either leveled by the 150 mph winds or rendered uninhabitable by a storm surge that flooded large portions of the state — leaving nearly 850,000 residents still without power five days after the hurricane made landfall. Others were living temporarily with family or friends, while some with few options remained in squalid conditions inside damaged houses.
Peggy Delaney, 71, had taken refuge with her three cats in one of the stadium bleachers, just above where a girl cuddled with a stuffed elephant on a mattress her family had placed in the penalty box area of the emptied-out ice rink. “They said that within 20 days they may be able to put me up somewhere,” Delaney said, about FEMA. “I’m hoping prices come down so I can buy something, but I’m afraid we won’t get money out of our condo now.”Out in the lobby, Oscar Garcia stared at nothing in particular while sitting on his inflatable mattress. His wife, Irene Garcia, swept away some trash near their three children — ages 2, 10 and 15.
trailer she’d been staying in increased to $1,000 per month from $728. Now, as she saw it, everyone around her was more competition for the limited low-income housing options she’s been applying for. In some areas of Southwest Florida, homes not affected by the storm were still renting for as much as $5,000 per month, while two-bedroom apartments cost $2,000 per month.Even people not sucked into the storm’s wreckage will in some way be affected, said Chelsea Plaisance, lead organizer for Lee Interfaith for Empowerment, an affordable housing advocacy group in the Fort Myers area, which suffered the heaviest toll in hurricane damage.
The water, and a foul-smelling black mud that washed in with it, tipped over refrigerators, chewed through wooden floors and inundated electrical outlets. The storm also compromised the park’s water supply and sanitary system. “There are a lot of nice places in the central part of the state, around Orlando,” said Timothy Paul, 77. “And it’s probably cheaper — Fort Myers has gotten very expensive through the years, and it’s kind of the point, for people, you just can’t live here.”
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