Eaton Fire survivors struggling with housing, essential supplies 3 months after wildfire
Eaton Fire survivors struggling after displacement
Many of the Eaton Fire survivors are still struggling to find places to sleep. This comes three months after they were displaced by the wildfires.
LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Calif. - Three months after the Altadena fires, you can see cleanup crews at some destroyed home sites, which is progress. Politicians walk around saying they are trying to "expedite" the process, but it's really the nonprofits on the ground, like Neighborhood Survants, that give us a real feel for the struggles so many victims are going through.
Dozens of people lined up for donated mattresses at the Survants' offices. Many say they are still living in vehicles, as hotel vouchers are not easy to come by.
Others, like Bridgette Bradley, describe unbelievable situations. The single mom lost the Section 8 home she and her three children have been living in for years. Everything was destroyed, including medical equipment for her 5-year-old Nehemiah, who is physically and mentally disabled. He needs to eat through a feeding tube and uses a colostomy bag, for which the family would get supplies delivered at home.
When she tried to have the supplies delivered to the hotel she is living at, she was told she "needed a permanent address" and has not been able to get things delivered. The same goes for the nurse that would visit the home for therapy. After a month of having a hotel as a permanent address, the nurse was "taken away." "If getting Section 8 housing was difficult when things went well," she says, "what are my chances now?"
"It's not unusual to hear these stories," says Michelle White at Neighborhood Survants. She echoes what those in line are telling us: there are real issues, especially for low-income residents, who tend to be underinsured (if insured at all). "We spend all day on the phone, going from agency to agency, being on hold forever, to be told there's nothing to be done!"
In Bradley's case, we did reach out to Children's Hospital, where her child has been getting treatment. They seemed surprised at her dilemma, telling us they were looking into why she wasn't getting her supplies. She is a single mom with two other young children and "terrified."
Friends have helped her set up a GoFundMe. You can also reach out to Neighborhood Survants by clicking here to find out how to help the many people they are becoming a lifeline for.