SAN DIEGO — Unorganized. Confusing. Delayed.
That’s how San Diego flood victims describe the process of navigating disaster assistance with San Diego city and county officials. Many have just hours left of housing paid for by local nonprofits, unless they get extensions.
CBS 8 was with Mary "Angie" Landavazo Wednesday as she tried to secure a new place for her family to stay. A local nonprofit has been paying for their hotel stay since their home was flooded by an overflowing channel January 22. But that stay ended Wednesday at check out.
When CBS 8 met up with Landavazo, she was on the phone with San Diego Housing Commission to see where they could put them.
200 families — nearly 1,000 people — like Landavazo’s cannot live in their homes. Now they need government assistance.
Many of Landavazo’s neighbor's vouchers they got from the YMCA also ran out Wednesday, but the YMCA came through with an extension so they wouldn’t be homeless.
Landavazo was emotional as she packed her family’s belongings in their room, not knowing where they would go next.
“It’s hard. It’s hard. This should not happen. History should not repeat itself. 1979 should have not repeated itself. Period. That should not have happened.”
She's fed up with how city leaders have handled the disaster. In an interview with CBS 8, she pointed at the camera and expressed her frustration to city officials.
“You should have kept those creeks clean," she said. "You should have maintained them but you didn’t. And now look at us. Because of the mistake of not making the correction from 1979 the floods that took place, here we are having to go through this.”
Landavazo and other families we’ve spoken with say the city’s process to secure housing is a mess.
“There's no plan because they weren't prepared," she said. "They weren't prepared. There’s no organization.”
The city created a website for recovery assistance. But once you click on the housing link, it directs you to 211 or to call a County Supervisor.
“When there's a natural disaster, your city should be prepared," Landavazo says. "Unfortunately that wasn't the case for us.”
The YMCA, other local nonprofits, and churches have been helping Landavazo and other families with hotel stays.
But flood victims believe the city and county need to help secure at least 30 days of housing. They say their goal is to get long term housing until their homes become livable again.
They feel that after almost a month since the flood that destroyed their homes, the city and county should come up with a plan.
They say they don’t have to keep bouncing from one hotel to another, trying to figure out what the next day will bring.
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