IONA, Fla. — Kevin Cothron, a retired car mechanic, first purchased his home in 2007.
Located just minutes from Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach, it was his slice of paradise until a tornado struck in 2022.
The tornado caused severe damage, flipping a mobile home onto his house while he was sleeping.
"My house was the poster child," Cothron recalled. "The mobile home behind me literally flipped upside down and landed on top of me while I was sleeping."
Eight months later, Hurricane Ian devastated Cothron's home again, destroying another trailer, his vehicle, and his belongings.
"When the tornado hit, I tried to stay very positive," Cothron said. "But what I didn't lose in the tornado, I lost in the hurricane."
After receiving a payment from FEMA, Cothron used part of the money for a down payment on a truck, which became his home for eight months - along with his dog, Ratchet.
When Cothron heard about the LeeCares Program, he saw it as a chance to turn his luck around. However, his optimism was short-lived when he found out he had to pay back more than $28,000 of FEMA benefits he had already received and spent.
"They sent me a letter basically telling me that FEMA gave me $28,000 for my housing," Cothron explained. "And if I couldn't show them where I spent that on my housing, then I would be out of the program."
Cothron's neighbors also faced similar issues - with one repaying as much as $145,000 for duplicate benefits. I reached out to Lee County to understand Cothron's situation and the concept of duplicate benefits. They explained that federal guidelines consider funds from FEMA, SBA, or insurance as duplicate benefits and that they are working with households to resolve these challenges, such as reducing scopes of work. Unfortunately, Cothron did not qualify for any reductions.
Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery funds are taxpayer dollars governed by federal register notice and other federal regulations. In accordance with these guidelines, it is unlawful to provide federal money twice for the same thing.
If a household received FEMA individual assistance for recovery from Hurricane Ian, they may be eligible for additional assistance, but not for repairs that have already been funded by another source, such as FEMA, SBA, or insurance.
Households that indicate a challenge in resolving duplicate benefits are being assisted by their case managers to resolve the duplication. This may include help with:
- Documenting costs for work that has already been completed
- Reducing the scope of the project to offset the duplication
- Making referrals to local assistance agencies who may be able to assist them financially.
"The problem is you don't qualify for that because we're already giving you the bare minimum we can give you, which is a two-bedroom, two-bath," Cothron stated.
Unable to pay back the remaining amount, Cothron was dropped from the program.
However, during our interview, he received a call from the LeeCares Program.
"This is the deputy director of case management with the LeeCares Program," the voicemail said. "I wanted to discuss some possible scope reduction options to keep you on the program."
After reviewing his file, the county agreed to build Cothron a two-bedroom, one-bathroom house, but he would still need to pay back over $19,000 in duplicate benefits—an amount he found more realistic.
"Thank you, Fox 4, because if it hadn't been for you, I wouldn't be where I'm at right now," Cothron said. "I'd still be considering living in this camper and figuring out what I'm going to do next year."
Going forward, Cothron plans to take out a loan to repay the duplicate benefits. Lee County has yet to answer how many other program participants are in similar situations, but we will continue to monitor the program as it distributes over a billion dollars in federal funds.
