Lawmakers race to protect FEMA funding where disasters made homes uninhabitable

I looked at my house, boy, I'm telling you

I couldn't believe it, you know. I've been in the house just two years

We're in the tornado! This is horrible. My bag on the roof was over across the street

It's a myth. Windows is broken and stuff, you know. The whole front porch was gone. Gone

A word heard over and over again for the more than 5,000 victims of the May 16th tornado in St. Louis, Missouri

Five people died, hundreds injured, thousands now homeless. The Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance issued an estimate that said up to 67% of the homes in the three affected zip codes could be uninsured

I never thought it would happen to me, you know. I never thought to see it

Like I said, I see the TV and read about it, but I never thought in a million years that it'll ever come about in here in my neighborhood, especially in my house

But it did Fortunately 86 Rita Henderson was not at home when the storm hit Unfortunately she is like most of her St Louis neighbors without home insurance When they got time to renew insurance and stuff they didn want to do the neighborhood with reliable insurance

For 52 years, Henderson lived in her North St. Louis home, raising 11 children

Now she just wants to move back. And in the wake of disasters, communities find out, wait a second, there were a lot of homeowners amongst us

who did not have that kind of coverage. So how can we rebuild after this? Sharon Cornelison is the director of housing for the Consumer Federation of America

Her focus is advocating for fair, affordable housing and equitable mortgage lending

We found that one in 13 homeowners across the nation does not have homeowners insurance

A report by the CFA shows nearly 7 million homeowners lack insurance

That figure amounts to $1.6 trillion in unprotected market value. Of those findings, 22 percent of Native American homeowners, 14 percent of Hispanic homeowners and 11 percent of black homeowners have no insurance

Houston and Miami claim the most uninsured homeowners by city. Meanwhile Mississippi New Mexico and Louisiana residents are most likely to not have homeowners insurance Homeowners insurance has risen like twice as fast as inflation all over the country but in some states like it even more right It more than 50 increase in just three years

So part of the reason why more and more people are, you know

feeling forced to go uninsured or underinsured is because homeowners insurance has become just

become so expensive. Henderson tells Straight Arrow News affordable insurance was not available

For now, she lives in her daughter's home, her home deemed unsafe

I would love to have some help to get back in my house. Her plan? To slowly clean it up, piece by piece, eventually moving back into the home she loves

She is hopeful FEMA might help with the cost. They say, oh, you're entitled up to $45,000

But what we see in practice is that once the assessors come in, they're really kind of lowballing claims

and you know, FEMA comes in and they may only get like $10,000 or $15,000

Which forces many families to flee their home and look for something else

And as a result, Cornelison says the entire neighborhood pays the price

These people are not able to pay taxes. So the tax base is just, you know, getting smaller

But it actually really costly for the city to rebuild as well to rebuild the infrastructure to demolish homes to rebuild right So it can be devastating for entire communities as well How do you end the vicious cycle Conrelson says

both federal and state governments need to step in and better regulate the insurance industry

keeping homeowners best interests at heart. States could offer like zero percent interest loans

grants to help homeowners, you know, upgrade their roof and be more protected when the next storm hits

But then also states could require insurance companies to then lower rates for homeowners as well

So if you have a fortified roof, it's really important that the insurance company then also lowers your rate

So there's kind of a reward for it. Without change, the cycle can't be broken

It's just not sustainable for homeowners, right? We can't just like see rates go up and up and up and up

And then if that happens, more and more homeowners will be forced to go without

I would like to get in my house as soon as I can. But don't tell that to Rita Henderson

She may be temporarily displaced, but she is determined to find a way back to the place she calls home

I made it what I made it out of. I made it from scratch the way it was

And I love it. And I had kids in that house. For Straight Arrow News, I'm Diane Duenas