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."