Homeless in 24 Hours: Could it Happen to You?

His entire life, José López has lived in the same Puerto Rican home, nestled on the edge of a sprawling dairy farm.

This modest parcel of land was gifted to his grandfather by the owner of the farm almost four decades ago.

It was “handshake deal” between gentlemen — a kind gesture to repay a lifetime of hard work and loyalty.

The house they built on the land has changed a lot over the years.

The square footage was increased. The floor plan was updated. They even added a balcony.

But no one ever questioned that it belonged to José’s family.

That was… until the hurricane.

In September 2017, Hurricane Maria tore through the northeastern Caribbean, leaving a trail of catastrophic damage in its wake.

Puerto Rico’s infrastructure was devastated by the Category 5 tropical storm.

Carlos Mercader, a spokesman for Puerto Rico’s governor, told PBS that “80% or 90% of the homes [on the island] are a complete disaster. They are totally lost.”

José’s home was heavily damaged by the storm — but wasn’t beyond repair.

The hurricane tore the roof right off the house, leaving a gaping hole in his ceiling. As a temporary fix, he patched the hole with some tarps and scrap salvaged after the storm.

But it was far from a permanent solution… and it still is.

José reached out to FEMA to apply for a grant to repair the roof as fast as possible. But FEMA has refused to hand out any aid until José can prove that he owns the house.

“They say I have to justify why I don’t have title to the house,” José told NPR in a recent interview. “But back then, when people made agreements, all that mattered was their word and a handshake.”

One of FEMA’s priorities after a natural disaster is to help families repair their homes. But before they can hand over any money, they need to see records of homeownership. This is to guard against fraudulent claims, which, according to the FBI, are more common during a crisis than you would think.

This can be a problem particularly on an island like Puerto Rico. Almost half of the homes were built informally or without record. And land deals can be sealed with nothing more than a gentleman’s agreement.

Now, we’re typically a bit better at recording this kind of stuff on the mainland. But many folks here in the States, like the victims of Hurricane Katrina, go through the exact same experience.

This is because legal documents, proof of identification, property deeds and other fragile documents are often destroyed or simply washed away in a storm.

You might think that there are plenty of copies of these documents out there. But when your bank, your lawyer’s office and your insurance company’s office are all flooded at the same time, you can easily end up losing all of your documents to one storm.

After Hurricane Katrina, about 20,000 homeowners faced this problem. While the same issue affected thousands of Texans after Ike in 2008, Hurricane Rita in 2005 and Dolly in 2003.

University of Texas law professor Heather Way told NPR:

One of the families that my colleagues at the University of Texas worked with [was] a woman who lived in her home her entire life. And then after Ike, her home was barely standing. And she was living in this home with standing water in it, even snakes in her home.

She had inherited the house from her mother. Her mother had inherited the home from her parents. No one had wills. There were 12 other relatives, including distant cousins and great uncles she’d never even met who all actually had an ownership interest in this home.

And in that case, it took one of my colleagues a year and a half of legal work and a lawsuit. And the client, in the meantime, is in and out of the hospital as a result of the hazards of living in this home.

Situations like the one in this story are tragic. But like any other crisis, this is something you can prepare for right now.

Tomorrow, I’m going to show you how to put together a special kind of financial emergency kit — one that can protect you from this ever happening to you or your loved ones.

All the best,

Owen Sullivan
Editor, Money & Crisis

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