There was a heartbreaking story in the Tampa Bay Times recently about seniors living on Social Security who are being kicked out of their homes by the government agency FEMA. These folks live in a trailer park off Bay Pines Boulevard in St. Petersburg, but this kind of story is happening all over our area.
Hurricanes Helene and Milton tore their homes apart with water and wind and now the federal government to which we all pay taxes is trying to tear their lives apart. They have been told that because their homes were “substantially damaged” they will have to move or elevate. Many of us received the same letter. But these folks do not want to move or elevate. They are not asking for any federal money. All they want to do is fix up their homes themselves. But the government won’t let them!
Let me pause a moment to get my blood pressure under control. This simply infuriates me. If these people were asking for government assistance, strings would be attached. But they are not. They are willing to do the work themselves and pay for it out of their own pockets. So why is this any of the government’s business?
And while I am on a roll, permits, permits, permits! Arrgghh. Why on earth would you need a permit from local government to hang drywall, for example? Electrical things I understand. That’s for your own good so you don’t burn down your house or something. But carpentry and drywall? None of the government’s business.
Yes, I realize I am fast becoming a libertarian. I have always leaned that way anyway, but the over-reach of government following the worst storms of our lives has put me in a fighting mood. Right now on my street there are at least four properties that are not lived in because of the damage they received in the fall of 2024. A year and a half ago.
While I don’t know all the details, I’ll bet the problem is FEMA. Ironic, isn’t it, that an agency created to help people is actually hurting them. Which leads me to a point. What if we simply told FEMA to leave us alone? To get out of our lives? Would we be better off or worse?
FEMA was created in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter. Feel free to add your own punchline. Mr. Carter was a famously nice man who made many bad decisions. FEMA seems to be one of them. The idea was to consolidate several other government programs into one big organization. It is now under the Department of Homeland Security, itself another behemoth government agency. There is some talk about making it smaller and giving more control to the states. Maybe this will help. Maybe it won’t. But in the meantime can we give homeowners in Florida a break? It reminds me of something President Reagan said. He said the nine scariest words in the English language are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
Chris Core is a former Washington, D.C. radio and television personality who now lives in Pass-a-Grille. He is a winner of the Edward R. Murrow Award for outstanding achievement in broadcast journalism.