Camelot Village in Chapel Hill flooded during Tropical Storm Chantal. Water soaked items are piled outside the homes. (Photo: Greg Childress)
Orange County residents displaced by Tropical Storm Chantal got a reprieve Tuesday when county commissioners put up $20,000 to extend their stays at local hotels.
Funding for was due to run out Friday but commissioners agreed to take $20,000 from the county’s Social Justice Reserve Fund to extend hotel stays.
The money will be administered by the Orange County Department of Social Services. It may also be used to help residents pay for expenses such as rental application fees, security deposits and essential household items.
Commissioners could add more money to the pot if needed. That will be determined after a committee overseeing community donations totaling $83,500 meets on Thursday to decide how to spend that money.
“Then we’ll meet again on Sept. 4 and we’ll have an update by then in case we need to move more money,” said County Commissioner Chairwoman Jamezetta Bedford.
Jamezetta Bedford (Photo: Orange County)Before commissioner’s agreed to spend the $20,000, several speakers told them that the amount is not enough to take care of residents who lost everything in the storm.
“This money, that’s going to the hotel or that’s money that’s going to landlords for rental application fees,” said C.R. Clark, a volunteer with Triangle Tenant Union. “Where is the funding that is going to directly support these people as they move on with their lives and get set up in new homes?”
Clark noted that federal Individual Assistance Grants for people displaced from homes due to natural or man-made disasters won’t reach residents until October.
“So, what is going to happen to these folks in the next month, in a month plus, as we have people who still don’t have housing lined up?” Clark said.
Residents with mental and physical disabilities need help finding appropriate housing, Clark said.
“We have some people here with disabilities and mobility issues that have been offered third-and fourth-floor apartments that they can’t get to,” Clark said.
Heather Gibbs (Photo: Greg Childress)Heather Gibbs, a former resident of flood-prone Camelot Village, said she didn’t know about the flooding problem at the townhome community until she went to sign her lease.
Gibbs shared that she has several disabilities, which makes such housing inappropriate for her and others with mobility issues.
“I would not live there again,” Gibbs told commissioners. “I can’t go through that again.”
Quinten Simmons, a Camelot Village resident who uses a wheelchair, said he almost lost his life in the July flood before being rescued by neighbors.
“Even when it’s not flooding, every time it rains, the paranoia just kills you, because you don’t know when it’s gonna flood,” Simmons said.
Devin Gilgor, a volunteer with Triangle Mutual Aid, said $20,000 won’t fix the flooding problem in places such as Camelot Village.
“We are housing vulnerable people in a flood setting, and someone’s going to die,” Gilgor said.
Residents lost documents needed to get new driver’s licenses, birth certificates and to rent apartments, Gilgor. He said the county and town must do more to help replace those items.
“I would like for one of you up there to try to go to the DMV and get your license without any form of ID, no birth certificate, no social security card,” Gilgor said.
Orange County Manager Travis Myren shared a PowerPoint showing that the county and the Town of Chapel Hill partnered to place residents in hotels on July 11, with the town kicking in $100,000 to cover the cost of hotel rooms. By August 22, the county and the town were supporting 20 hotel rooms for displaced residents. The town also provided 29 hotel rooms for residents displaced for Chapel Hill’s public housing.
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