Over $1M in aid still unclaimed by southeast San Diego flood victims

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — More than $1 million is still waiting to be given out to victims of January’s devastating flooding in southeast San Diego.

The San Diego Housing Commission says 90 families have still not applied for assistance, which could be in the form of a direct payment or rental assistance.

The commission said the county and city dollars have already paid out about $1.3 million to help 269 families, but there are a total of 359 families eligible. This means about 25 percent of families eligible for the thousands of dollars have not yet applied.

Time is running out. The applications are due by Aug. 31.

Seven months since the devastating flooding, and there is still more work to be done.

“I’ve never seen the neighborhood as united since that happened,” Olegario Guevara Ortega said. He lives in one of the homes in Mountain View that was nearly underwater during the January 22 storm.

The home he lives in isn’t finished quite yet. “It’ll get done,” Ortega said.

A dumpster, city signs, sandbags, heavy machinery and small remnants of the storm still line South 42nd Street.

“Honestly, it did hit me a lot because I was already going through a hard time already, and then the flood came — I lost my car, I lost everything. Literally, I lost everything, I couldn’t get any of that back,” Ortega said.

The physical and emotional toll the storm had on many residents is far from over.

“Here goes my depression, but I didn’t let that hit me because they say things happen for a reason,” Ortega said. While he’s in a better place now, he is appreciative of the financial support that came from the San Diego Housing Commission.

“It was like a help from God, because if it weren’t, we’d be without nothing still, so I do appreciate that,” Ortega added.

But not everyone that qualifies has applied for the help.

“We’ve been exhausting all of our avenues and efforts to try and engage with families who have not applied,” Azucena Valladolid, San Diego Housing Commission Executive Vice President of Rental Assistance and Workforce Development, said in an interview with FOX 5/KUSI Monday afternoon.

“SDHC provides financial assistance to move a family into housing for expenses not covered by other financial assistance programs, including: application fees, a security deposit equal to up to two months’ rent, storage costs, hotel expenses for up to two weeks for families that have executed a lease and are awaiting the unit’s availability, moving costs, up to six months of rent subsidy, and a Landlord Leasing Bonus of $1,500 for landlords who rent to an eligible ETLP family,” SDHC said. This would total up to $24,300 in aid.

Another option is a direct financial assistance of one lump sum of up to $15,100 to help with expenses.

Valladolid said based on their research, some people may not need the assistance, or others may be too concerned to apply. She also added that this assistance cannot be doubled up with FEMA assistance, and this was intended for families that didn’t qualify for help from FEMA.

“Immigration status, social security numbers is not something that we inquire, document or collect, so it is not a contingency factor that we ask for,” she said. But, she did say she has seen that may be a reason flood victims are not submitting an application.

Those in need can apply at floodassistance.sdhc.org until Aug. 31.

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