ARCADIA, FLA — At one point after Hurricane Ian finally stopped swirling around her Arcadia home, Rita Apac found one of the few dry spots left inside and stood there, dizzy, looking at all the damage.
“The entire back part of our home was flooded,” she says. And half of the roof was gone too.
She didn’t really know what to expect next.
“Being a single mom and having to make all the ends meet and dealing with this, it kind of rocked our world,” Apac says.
It took nearly seven months to get her home repaired. And every day, she and her two children lived with the damage. They could really only use two rooms in the house.
“We had a huge mattress for me and my kids,” she says. "And for a short time, we had a family living with us that was displaced as well. So, we all piled up here on the couches. Our clothing was right here, just boxed up on each other.”
Her story is not unusual in Arcadia. DeSoto Habitat for Humanity Executive Director, Jennifer Bowser, estimates of all the homes that took significant damage in the hurricane, only 25% of them have been repaired.
“There are people who are living in very difficult situations right now,” Bowser says.
Since the storm, DeSoto Habitat for Humanity has shifted its focus to doing emergency home repairs. In the weeks and first few months after the storm, volunteers from all over the country came to help. But since then, Bowser says the organization has struggled to find workers.
Many of the people with damage don’t have insurance or don’t have the right insurance, and they can’t afford to fix their homes. So they have to rely on organizations like Habitat.
“FEMA did come in come and help, but it wasn’t enough, and a lot of people were denied. It’s pretty limited here in the county, we don’t have a lot of charitable organizations working toward home repairs,” Bowser says.
Habitat has two workers on staff doing repairs. And a budget to hire contractors. But with so much work available right now in Southwest Florida, Bowser says contractors can make more money by doing other jobs.
“We have to watch every penny we spend, so we can’t offer the big bucks the construction companies are able to offer to do these jobs,” Bowser says. "Because we’re not making any money off these jobs, we’re trying to help people.”
And they can’t do that if they don’t get help. More than anything, Bowser says she needs volunteers.
“We’re trying to get to the most needy first, but we estimate it’s going to take us a minimum of three years, possibly up to five years to actually make a huge difference and get these people healthy, safe, and secure in their homes.”
Apac is one of Habitat’s success stories. The organization helped her get a new roof and repair all the water damage in her home.
“[Without them I would] still be missing half of my roof,” Apac says. "I hate to say that, but yea, that’s where I think I’d be.”
