Temporary trailer residents to be evicted by July 31

NORTH PORT — For the last 18 months, Jamie and Justin Kendrick have been trying to restore their hurricane-ravaged home on Shumock Avenue.

To afford repairs to floors, plumbing, and roofing, the Kendricks have had to take a low-interest $259,000 loan with the federal Small Business Administration (SBA).

“It’s like a second mortgage,” Justin told The Daily Sun in May.

The couple have been living with their two children in a trailer provided by UNITE Florida — but that trailer is due to be removed by the end of the month.

The Kendricks received a letter in May that the organization, which coordinates hurricane recovery with the state Division of Emergency Management, would be taking back their trailer on July 31.

Yvonne May, another North Port resident and friend of the Kendricks, said she also received an eviction notice for her state-provided trailer — despite the fact that her home on Maraldo Avenue is still in need of extensive repairs.

“I cannot sleep in that house,” May said earlier this year. “This house is not livable.”

When Hurricane Ian swept through Florida in September 2022, an estimated 5,000 homes were completely destroyed and another 30,000 homes were severely damaged.

Evacuated residents fled ahead of the storm, packing the roads before making it to friend's, living outside the impact zone or hotels where they could ride out the storm.

When the Kendricks found their home after the storm, they saw that their once-level yard had been sloped downwards by the sheer amount of rain.

Water infiltration into their home had resulted in the growth of black mold; by November 2022, Jamie Kendrick was hospitalized for health complications from the mold and the family was staying at an Airbnb in Sarasota while it was cleaned out.

While the SBA loan has allowed the Kendricks to pay for some repairs, the progress of repairs has been slow. Only half the funds they were promised has been disbursed so far. Any money from that loan must also only be spent on repairs, while costs from bills and living expenses continue to pile up for them.

The family also believes the state agency charged to help them has introduced their own problems.

When UNITE Florida dispatched personnel to try and fix the home’s plumbing, for instance, the resulting job left it dysfunctional and unable to be connected back to North Port’s utilities.

Justin, a former electrician, instead took time off of work and called in favors from family to fix the repair job.

“We need to do this right,” he said.

The Kendricks have also said that their attempts to reach UNITE Florida staff and other agencies to report problems or update their situation go unanswered due to frequent personnel changes.

“We’re just getting the run-around…we keep getting new case managers,” Jamie Kendrick said.

The situation has been particularly hard on the couple’s children, especially their 6-year-old son Greyson. His parents said that he suffered depression due to the trauma of the storm and losing his living space.

“He wanted his room back for his birthday,” Jamie said.

Yvonne May shared Kendrick’s concerns about case managers getting shuffled through for both UNITE Florida and FEMA.

“You get a different person every time you call,” she said to a reporter earlier this year.

The Daily Sun has unsuccessfully attempted to contact the Division of Emergency Management and UNITE Florida about local residents’ allegations, leaving voicemail messages and emails requesting comment.

The need for trailers among families still recovering from Ian, or Hurricane Idalia in 2023, has been a persistent trend in recent months.

A family in Arcadia recently tried to outright purchase their temporary trailer provided by FEMA — which they are currently renting — but have claimed there was miscommunication due to their proximity to a flooding zone.

In neighboring Charlotte County, code enforcement recently cited the Punta Gorda Airport for keeping “junk” in the form of FEMA trailers on the property. Many of those trailers are currently being sold to local residents in need or auctioned off.

As he continues to prepare for a likely eviction at the end of July, Justin Kendrick said that he hoped local and state officials would take another look at how local residents are coping and make resources available for people to stay in their homes.

“A lot of people we know just moved out of state,” he said.