Ep311: Equal Opportunity Disaster

Are we doing a good job preparing for, and recovering from disasters? Whether it’s a personal disaster with physics, chemistry or microbiology in your own home, or floods and fires that cross state lines, it’s become clear to us the answer is: we could do better. There are some problems baked into the system of disaster preparedness and recovery itself- in renting vs. owning property, insurance claims, lawsuits and even mobile home construction standards (sounds boring, is definitely not). Let’s talk about why the problems exist, how to avoid them, and what to do if you need to fight for your family’s future in a safe and healthy home.

Featured researchers and experts:
Lori Peek, Social Scientist at University of Colorado- Boulder
Andrew Whelton, Water Safety Researcher at Purdue University
Elaina Sutley, Disaster Resilience Researcher at University of Kansas
Jennifer Bridge, Disaster Resilience Researcher at University of Florida
Bill Lazar, Executive Director at St. Johns Housing Partnership
Susan Giddens, Affordable Rehab Manager at St. Johns Housing Partnership
Anil Mittal, Moldy Home Survivor in Houston TX
Trey Flournoy, Property Insurance Attorney

Also featuring lots of footage courtesy of Creative Commons and the US DOD.  The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.

DIVE DEEPER WITH THESE RESOURCES:

TRANSCRIPT:

01;00;01;09 "- Disasters are not equal opportunity events."

01;00;04;01 "- Some of them never recover at all."

01;00;06;13 "- The basic business model of an insurance company"

01;00;08;19 "is to retain more money than they pay out."

01;00;10;25 "- Nobody wins at the end of this. Everything's a compromise."

01;00;14;04 "- Common sense and home performance means"

01;00;16;21 "that the whole house works together."

01;00;18;18 "- [Child Announcer] Home diagnosis is made possible"

01;00;20;25 "by support from Broan NuTone, better air, better life."

01;00;25;25 "By the Got Mold? test kit, real science, real simple,"

01;00;29;25 "by AirCycler, MetroTec, Rockwool, and Renew Aire,"

01;00;35;05 "by generous support from these underwriters"

01;00;37;23 and by viewers like you.

01;00;40;10 (inspiring music)

01;00;42;28 "- [Narrator] It's the shields we build"

01;00;49;20 and the risks we take.

01;00;52;08 (inspiring music continues)

01;00;56;14 "It's the disasters that will test us,"

01;01;02;22 and what will grow from them.

01;01;08;01 "It's real life and the physics, chemistry, and microbiology"

01;01;14;26 of the science of homes.

01;01;24;15 "- So the question is, are we doing a good job"

01;01;27;28 "preparing for and recovering from disasters?"

01;01;31;01 "- Whether it's a personal disaster with chemistry"

01;01;33;01 "or microbes in your own home or floods and fires"

01;01;36;04 that cross state lines,

01;01;37;19 "it's become clear to us the answer is we could do better."

01;01;41;07 "- Like the marketing of miracle products"

01;01;43;18 "and like the home building industry itself,"

01;01;45;18 "there are some problems baked into the system"

01;01;48;08 "of disaster preparedness and recovery."

01;01;51;06 "- Let's talk about why they're here,"

01;01;53;01 "how to avoid them and what to do if you need to fight"

01;01;55;23 "for your family's future in a safe and healthy home."

01;02;00;04 "- There is no such thing as a natural disaster."

01;02;03;17 - [Person] The disaster hits

01;02;05;01 "when you don't handle very well what nature gives you."

01;02;08;17 "- [Person] There's no such thing as a natural disaster."

01;02;10;19 "- [Elaina] A disaster is the confluence of a natural hazard"

01;02;14;07 with an unprepared community.

01;02;16;07 "- A disaster is when you need help from external people"

01;02;20;04 "or organizations to kind of study the ship."

01;02;22;07 "And I've had those experiences before"

01;02;24;22 and that builds resilience.

01;02;27;11 "- Right now, where we all are right now,"

01;02;29;17 "there's people, there's communities, there's neighborhoods,"

01;02;32;19 "there's homes at different levels."

01;02;35;13 "People recover at different rates,"

01;02;37;16 "homes are rebuilt at different rates,"

01;02;39;09 "and some of them never recover at all."

01;02;42;06 "- Disasters are not equal opportunity events."

01;02;45;23 "Disasters are actually like holding a mirror up to society"

01;02;50;03 "and they reflect the status of society."

01;02;53;16 "And so when societies have large numbers of people"

01;02;57;12 "at the margins during non-disaster times,"

01;03;00;13 "a disaster is just gonna reveal that"

01;03;02;11 and it's going to deepen it.

01;03;03;29 "And so to make that really specific, in Hurricane Katrina,"

01;03;07;17 "elderly people made up about 12% of the population"

01;03;11;15 at the time of the storm.

01;03;13;01 "They made up about 70% of the people who died in that storm."

01;03;17;02 "People of color in the United States,"

01;03;19;25 "low income people, children, they are the ones"

01;03;23;00 "who have the hardest time preparing,"

01;03;25;28 "they are then impacted the most in the disaster,"

01;03;29;07 "and then they have the slowest recovery time."

01;03;31;28 "And it's not because of something inherent"

01;03;34;21 about that group of people.

01;03;36;28 "Instead, it's about how our society is structured."

01;03;40;25 "That those are the groups that tend to have"

01;03;43;16 "not just less money, they also tend to have less power,"

01;03;47;14 they have less voice.

01;03;49;01 When we think about children,

01;03;50;18 "children aren't sitting in the room"

01;03;52;17 "where decisions are often being made about their lives."

01;03;56;04 "- We can do research till we're blue in the face,"

01;03;58;11 "but if the policy isn't there to implement"

01;04;01;18 "that understanding in a meaningful way for homeowners,"

01;04;04;18 "it doesn't matter what scientific advances we're making."

01;04;07;13 "Because ultimately policy decisions"

01;04;09;22 "that affect the safety of our buildings or infrastructure"

01;04;12;03 "or bridges, they're made by politicians."

01;04;14;13 "Politicians might read a one page brief"

01;04;16;18 "and they're gonna decide yay or nay."

01;04;17;29 "So this is why we see investment after disasters."

01;04;20;23 "But investment needs to be continual"

01;04;23;13 "- After a disaster, we need all hands on deck."

01;04;26;25 "We had contractors come in from all over the country."

01;04;29;01 "They follow hurricanes, for obvious reasons."

01;04;31;08 In many cases we need them to.

01;04;34;14 But when you have a house

01;04;35;21 "and you stripped out all the old insulation,"

01;04;37;18 you stripped out all the drywall

01;04;39;06 "from the walls to ceiling, whatever,"

01;04;41;01 "you have a blank slate to be able to deal"

01;04;43;26 with the building envelope.

01;04;45;00 I mean, firing up a blower door

01;04;46;25 "at a certain point along that line, lets you really say,"

01;04;49;25 """Okay, I'm gonna seal this place properly."""

01;04;52;07 "- Common sense in home performance means"

01;04;54;27 "that the whole house works together."

01;04;57;07 And you may fix one problem,

01;04;59;06 but you may created another one.

01;05;00;29 "So you have to use your common sense"

01;05;04;07 "and try to get everything to work at the same time."

01;05;07;10 "And that's one of the big problems that we have."

01;05;11;24 We are currently in A lawsuit

01;05;13;07 against seven different parties,

01;05;14;17 "which include the largest builder in the US"

01;05;16;11 and six of their subcontractors.

01;05;18;20 "There were some foundational building defects in our house,"

01;05;21;15 "including the envelope of the house,"

01;05;23;14 "allowing warm, moist air into the house."

01;05;26;03 "And also the air conditioning system,"

01;05;28;07 "which was completely oversized for the house,"

01;05;30;05 "leaked out more air than it brought back into the house."

01;05;33;06 "So it negatively pressurized the house."

01;05;36;16 "- [Interviewer] You sound like a building scientist."

01;05;37;29 Are you a building scientist?

01;05;39;00 - I'm not a building scientist.

01;05;41;08 "I wish I did not know this much about building science."

01;05;44;16 But on the flip side, I am happy

01;05;46;04 that I learned this information

01;05;47;08 "because I know that the next house"

01;05;48;22 "that I build from my family is gonna be a safe house."

01;05;52;15 "Going through this process with the attorneys"

01;05;54;04 "and with the builder, one thing I've learned is"

01;05;55;23 there is no winning.

01;05;57;07 "Nobody at the end of this. Everything's a compromise."

01;06;00;10 "The really sad part of this situation is that"

01;06;02;25 "at the end of the day, the builder is not liable"

01;06;04;28 for any of this.

01;06;06;05 "It's their subcontractors that are liable."

01;06;07;17 "It's the subcontractors and the subcontractors,"

01;06;09;10 "insurance companies that are gonna end up paying the bill"

01;06;11;13 at the end of the day.

01;06;12;24 "So the builder gets off scot free and continues to do"

01;06;16;22 "these same kind of building practices for other people."

01;06;20;19 "- Our primary business line for 25 years"

01;06;23;04 "has been fixing substandard housing."

01;06;25;09 "Mostly homes that low income households earn,"

01;06;28;18 "most of 'em are seniors, probably 70, 80% of them"

01;06;31;24 are people over 65,

01;06;33;23 "probably living on less than $20,000 a year."

01;06;37;12 "- If they have a disaster, some of them,"

01;06;40;20 "let's say they flooded four feet,"

01;06;42;15 "we found that some of them live in that home"

01;06;44;14 "for an additional six months without even being able"

01;06;46;29 to gut it and start over.

01;06;49;27 "We've known clients that had to move their children out"

01;06;53;11 of the home from the mold.

01;06;55;21 "So we have to start at the beginning"

01;06;58;26 and try to get the home gutted,

01;07;01;05 "get it back to where it can be put back together."

01;07;04;05 "And at the same time, where are these people going to live"

01;07;06;17 while that's going on?

01;07;08;04 FEMA tries to help by offering

01;07;10;17 "some kind of assistance after the damage."

01;07;12;16 "But FEMA also says, ""Well, we'll help you so much."

01;07;15;19 "We wanna see what your insurance company's gonna do."""

01;07;17;27 "- Like it or not, the the business model,"

01;07;19;26 "the basic business model of an insurance company is"

01;07;22;05 "to make money by taking in premiums."

01;07;24;10 "They don't profit unless they retain more money"

01;07;27;08 than they pay out.

01;07;28;18 Over the last five years,

01;07;30;02 "there is a purported insurance crisis."

01;07;33;27 "There's a lot that goes into that, okay?"

01;07;36;07 "But ever since our insurance market has come into jeopardy,"

01;07;39;28 "we'll say I have seen a change in the tone"

01;07;42;14 "that you will normally see overall in front of most judges."

01;07;46;03 "The climate right now for policy holders"

01;07;48;19 and the judicial system,

01;07;49;25 "I don't think is that great right now."

01;07;51;25 I wouldn't expect any favors.

01;07;54;23 "So let me back up and give a little context first."

01;07;57;09 "An insurance company is first responsible"

01;07;59;13 "for paying the actual cash value of your loss."

01;08;02;19 So over time, materials degrade,

01;08;06;01 "the UV raise will beat on a shingle roof,"

01;08;08;14 that sort of thing.

01;08;09;12 So things depreciate over time.

01;08;11;04 So actual cash value is

01;08;13;16 "replacement cost value minus depreciation."

01;08;18;03 "So you may have a replacement cost value policy,"

01;08;21;12 "but they only owe you actual cash value"

01;08;23;23 until you do the work,

01;08;25;10 "until you incur the expense for an X round number,"

01;08;28;12 "let's just say they determine that your damages are $10,000,"

01;08;33;00 "you determine your damages are are $50,000."

01;08;35;19 They subtract your deductible,

01;08;37;15 they subtract your depreciation,

01;08;39;01 they cut your check for $4,000.

01;08;41;11 "They've paid you your actual cash value."

01;08;45;04 "Knowing that they have undervalued your claim,"

01;08;47;25 you filed a lawsuit.

01;08;49;10 And their argument is,

01;08;50;18 "well, they haven't done the work yet, judge."

01;08;52;27 "They're not entitled to replacing the cost of benefits"

01;08;54;28 until they do the work.

01;08;56;12 "And they know most policy holders don't have the money"

01;08;59;00 to come out of pocket $50,000

01;09;01;11 just to file a lawsuit for that.

01;09;02;18 So they wanna try and limit you

01;09;03;28 to an actual cash value lawsuit.

01;09;06;22 "And if they were to have it this way,"

01;09;08;09 "it could potentially force an insured to have to sue twice."

01;09;12;22 "First, you sue for your actual cash value,"

01;09;14;10 "and then maybe you have enough money to start the repairs"

01;09;16;28 "and then file another lawsuit for the rest of the money."

01;09;19;20 "There are some judges that have bought into that."

01;09;21;29 "And then there are other judges who have said,"

01;09;24;00 """No, that's nonsense. We're not gonna have two lawsuits."""

01;09;27;10 That's another big strategy

01;09;28;23 "that's being employed in Florida right now."

01;09;32;07 "- The insurance industry, I mean, they're just trying"

01;09;33;27 "to get you back to where you were,"

01;09;36;07 "but in the next breath it's like,"

01;09;37;18 """Okay, but we want to prepare your home"

01;09;40;04 for the 21st century."

01;09;41;14 "So Florida has certain requirements"

01;09;44;01 "that if you're gonna put more than 50% of the value"

01;09;46;25 of the home into a rehab,

01;09;48;17 "you gotta bring it up to new standards."

01;09;50;17 "This is a one time opportunity to help somebody."

01;09;53;18 "We wanna fix it right for the next 10 or 15 years."

01;09;57;01 "In substandard housing, it's always a challenge"

01;09;59;16 "to have enough money to fix something,"

01;10;01;00 "but you can't leave somebody with a shoddy product."

01;10;04;27 "And in some cases, the building departments were looking"

01;10;07;18 "and saying, ""We gotta get these people back to normal."

01;10;09;26 If we do the 50% route,

01;10;12;01 "we're gonna tell 'em they can't fix their home."

01;10;14;02 They can't live in their home,

01;10;15;05 "'cause it's not safe at the moment."

01;10;16;24 They can't fix it.

01;10;18;08 "They've gotta raise it or knock it down and demo it."""

01;10;20;04 "And in some cases, I tell people,"

01;10;21;28 "it could take you three to four years"

01;10;23;21 "before you get your home rebuilt."

01;10;25;14 "If you're on limited means you don't have"

01;10;27;05 "a lot of financial staying capacity,"

01;10;30;01 "how are you gonna hang on for three years?"

01;10;31;22 And there's no available rental

01;10;33;20 that's reasonably affordable.

01;10;36;16 disaster preparedness programs

01;10;39;02 historically in this country,

01;10;40;17 "but also disaster recovery programs have been designed"

01;10;43;20 "with a single family homeowner in mind."

01;10;46;14 "But one of the trends that's been happening in society"

01;10;49;12 "over time is that we actually have fewer and fewer"

01;10;51;20 single family homeowners.

01;10;55;04 "We have more and more renters in our society."

01;10;59;07 "We also have more unhoused people."

01;11;02;09 "- People who live in the lowest quality structures"

01;11;05;26 that may be poorly maintained,

01;11;07;26 "maybe built to outdated standards too,"

01;11;10;12 they often live and work

01;11;12;12 "in the most dangerous areas like floodplains,"

01;11;15;06 "because that's where affordable housing is most often built,"

01;11;19;10 "because the land is more affordable."

01;11;21;14 "So this creates a really big disparity"

01;11;23;22 because if you own the home,

01;11;25;16 then you have a lot more rights,

01;11;27;19 "assuming that you can afford them,"

01;11;29;11 "you have all the rights that you want"

01;11;31;00 "to make that home safer and stronger and more resilient."

01;11;34;28 "When you rent the home, you don't have any of those rights."

01;11;39;16 And so when disaster strikes,

01;11;41;01 "not only can you do very little to protect yourself"

01;11;44;20 "and your belongings, you also don't even get to say"

01;11;47;27 "when you leave and if you ever get to come back."

01;11;50;11 "And so the implications on how our buildings perform,"

01;11;54;00 "how our housing performs during disasters"

01;11;56;25 "has extreme implications for years."

01;12;02;13 "- There's been a lot of really good research done"

01;12;04;10 on mobile home owners.

01;12;06;02 They may own the mobile home.

01;12;07;27 "They don't own the ground under the mobile home."

01;12;11;01 "- Although they are mobile, they're on that chassis system,"

01;12;14;01 they can be moved.

01;12;15;15 "Very few people ever move their home once they buy it."

01;12;18;18 "So this subset of mobile or manufactured homes,"

01;12;22;08 "they're governed by the US Department of Housing"

01;12;26;07 and Urban Development, HUD.

01;12;27;21 "HUD has a federal code, part 3280 that governs the design"

01;12;32;00 "and construction of that type of manufactured housing."

01;12;35;28 Then we have site-built housing.

01;12;37;24 "They build the home on your foundation"

01;12;40;00 right there on the property.

01;12;41;10 "Those types of homes are governed"

01;12;43;11 "by the International Code Council."

01;12;45;07 "These two standards are really different,"

01;12;48;04 "particularly in the level of specificity"

01;12;51;25 "and what the structural system has to entail"

01;12;54;18 "and particularly in their wind load requirements."

01;12;57;13 So we have 2022 versions

01;13;00;02 "of our wind maps in the United States,"

01;13;02;10 "and these are built off of the best science"

01;13;05;09 "and engineering that we have available to us."

01;13;07;15 "And now we'll actually have tornado maps"

01;13;09;26 "starting to show up, and that's what governs the designs"

01;13;13;13 for our site-built housing.

01;13;15;13 "If we switch back to manufactured homes now,"

01;13;18;01 "the current version of the wind maps"

01;13;20;11 "that are governing manufactured housing"

01;13;22;09 "in the United States is from 1988."

01;13;24;28 "That's 35 years ago. That's my entire lifetime."

01;13;30;29 "35 years of innovation and science"

01;13;33;08 "and new learning that's not accounted for."

01;13;35;23 "And what we see because of that then is"

01;13;38;06 "really different performance when these wind events happen."

01;13;41;07 "From a manufacturer's standpoint, most of their customers"

01;13;45;05 want a very affordable home.

01;13;47;03 "And so when we talk about hurricane straps, forget about it."

01;13;50;19 "When we talk about thicker wall sheathing"

01;13;52;25 "and thicker roof sheathing, forget about it."

01;13;55;08 "When we talk about screws, forget about it,"

01;13;57;28 "because even the amount of time it takes to nail a nail"

01;14;00;17 "with a nail gun versus a screw with a screw gun, it adds up."

01;14;04;22 "So when we're trying to build affordable housing,"

01;14;08;00 "we're making it basically as cheap as we can,"

01;14;11;22 "so that it can be as affordable as it can."

01;14;13;26 Maybe the home gets picked up,

01;14;15;12 "it depends on whether it was anchored down."

01;14;17;14 "It's required to be anchored down by the HUD code,"

01;14;20;18 "but there's really no enforcement over that."

01;14;22;15 "The home will get picked up or it'll topple over"

01;14;25;12 "and it kind of just starts to fall apart."

01;14;27;10 "If you have it anchored down really well,"

01;14;29;22 "the roof will get pulled off, the walls will cave in."

01;14;32;21 "Maybe they fall in, maybe they fall out,"

01;14;34;19 maybe they fall over there.

01;14;36;04 "So now when we have these extreme events, these high winds"

01;14;39;10 "that come through and you have a manufactured homes,"

01;14;42;19 "most often you see that it just looks"

01;14;44;28 like a total bomb went off.

01;14;47;04 "- One of the disasters that is coming fast and furious"

01;14;51;07 "in our nation is this housing crisis."

01;14;53;22 "And there not being enough housing like this"

01;14;56;17 that can be affordably made.

01;14;59;22 If there are not enough

01;15;01;20 "not-for-profits doing it, what happens?"

01;15;04;13 "- Well, you don't need not-for-profits, you just need to..."

01;15;06;28 Anybody can do this.

01;15;08;17 "The big challenge is really figuring out,"

01;15;11;14 a builder's gotta make a living,

01;15;12;23 "builders have to feed their families."

01;15;15;09 "I still think the simplest way to address that"

01;15;18;06 "is to have low interest rate programs."

01;15;20;02 "If you get that lower interest rate, the builder can say,"

01;15;22;26 """Okay, I can build this house a little bit better quality."

01;15;25;25 Yes, it costs a little bit more,

01;15;27;10 "but that difference in quality can easily be made up"

01;15;30;11 "by a lower interest rate in the state of Florida."

01;15;33;05 "If we build a green certified home,"

01;15;35;15 "we get $25,000 in down payment assistance"

01;15;38;14 "available to that income qualified buyer."

01;15;41;11 "The USDA program is a hundred percent financing already."

01;15;44;16 "So you couple those things together"

01;15;46;24 "and you really can get somebody in at a reasonable price."

01;15;51;19 "- So my wife and I are now three years into this battle"

01;15;55;10 with the builders, and I think

01;15;56;25 "if I were to give somebody some guidance or some advice,"

01;15;59;07 the first thing I would say is,

01;16;00;20 "if you do not have an attachment to the house,"

01;16;03;10 "I might suggest trying to wholesale that house to somebody"

01;16;06;29 to sell it immediately,

01;16;08;07 "disclosing that there is a mold issue in it"

01;16;10;11 and just get out of the house.

01;16;11;17 "Reason being is that it's a long battle."

01;16;14;13 It's an expensive battle.

01;16;16;07 "You're paying a mortgage on the house"

01;16;17;19 "that you can't live in, you're paying rent somewhere,"

01;16;20;07 "and then you've got your attorney's fees on top of that,"

01;16;21;29 your expert fees.

01;16;23;02 "It gets to be very, very expensive,"

01;16;24;23 "and your life just standing still for years on end."

01;16;28;20 "One thing that that we learned during this process is"

01;16;30;26 "that the builder is really a large corporation."

01;16;33;29 "A large corporation that has shareholders"

01;16;35;29 that they want to keep happy

01;16;37;05 "and that they want to pay dividends to."

01;16;38;15 "And they wanna keep their stock price going up"

01;16;40;20 "and they wanna make sure that they close on houses quickly"

01;16;42;28 "at the lowest cost with the largest margin of profit."

01;16;46;28 "They're not really in this business"

01;16;48;17 to build good quality homes.

01;16;50;01 "They're not in this business to build performance homes."

01;16;52;05 "They're not in this business to build safe homes."

01;16;54;13 "They're in this business to build quick houses."

01;16;57;14 "To get people into that have nice granite countertops"

01;16;59;12 and nice floors and nice paint,

01;17;01;20 "but under all that mascara and lipstick, it's a mess."

01;17;05;28 The houses are an absolute mess.

01;17;08;06 "So consumer protection in the state of Texas is a myth."

01;17;11;16 There is a process for it,

01;17;13;18 "but what we found out is there's no penalty"

01;17;15;10 "to the builder if they don't follow it."

01;17;17;10 "The builder is supposed to make a good faith effort"

01;17;19;13 to try to rectify that claim.

01;17;21;17 "And the builder's response to us was,"

01;17;23;15 """We don't think there's an issue."""

01;17;25;29 "- In Texas now, a lot of their appraisal provisions"

01;17;28;29 "require the umpire to be appointed"

01;17;31;00 "from the American Arbitration Association,"

01;17;34;16 "because the American Arbitration Association"

01;17;36;14 "now has a division of umpires for property insurance cases."

01;17;40;01 "Well, who started that? Insurance companies."

01;17;44;18 "Insurance companies are funding for them"

01;17;47;06 "to have a property insurance division full of umpires."

01;17;50;15 "You will appoint your own appraiser,"

01;17;52;14 "they will appoint their appraiser,"

01;17;54;26 "and then they will agree on umpire"

01;17;56;15 "in case there are any differences that need to be resolved."

01;17;59;00 "But the idea is that both appraisers"

01;18;00;26 "are supposed to be neutral and disinterested."

01;18;04;21 That sounds great.

01;18;06;10 "Well, I'm starting to see now certain policies"

01;18;08;17 "that allow their appraiser, now they're W2 employees,"

01;18;13;07 "they work for the insurance company."

01;18;15;08 "How are they neutral and disinterested?"

01;18;18;12 "So now it's almost two versus one."

01;18;20;21 "I hope I'm not painting some type of doomsday picture."

01;18;23;05 "I'm sure there's a lot of great adjusters out there."

01;18;25;12 I'm sure there's some bad eggs

01;18;26;27 "on the policy holder side as well."

01;18;28;28 "But there is a lot of tactics that are just not fair."

01;18;34;08 "- So we had to agree, basically had to agree"

01;18;37;08 "to allow the builder to send inspectors again."

01;18;40;00 "So I took it upon myself to find out exactly"

01;18;42;27 "how many inspectors were coming to the house"

01;18;45;15 "and hire an individual videographer"

01;18;48;20 "for every single inspector that was coming to the house."

01;18;51;25 "15 videographers total across two companies to follow"

01;18;55;11 "that inspector around and document exactly what they did,"

01;18;58;15 where they went in the house.

01;19;00;08 "But what ended up happening was all these inspectors"

01;19;02;09 "got so flustered by the videographers following them"

01;19;06;03 "that they would leave for large portions of time"

01;19;09;24 and go down the street and talk.

01;19;11;29 "My attorney that was there thought"

01;19;14;04 "hiring those videographers would just worth every penny"

01;19;16;12 and he's gonna recommend it

01;19;17;23 "to every single one of his clients going forward."

01;19;21;01 "- Ultimately, the folks who sort of get left in the dirt"

01;19;24;09 are, you know, elderly people,

01;19;26;03 "folks who aren't real savvy about all that."

01;19;29;02 And they're just kind of hoping

01;19;30;13 "that everybody will treat 'em right."

01;19;32;24 "I talk about helping old people all the time and I go,"

01;19;35;11 that's me.

01;19;36;14 "I'm 66. And I'm not ready to retire."

01;19;38;16 You know, I love what I do,

01;19;40;10 "but I'm also thinking I gotta train somebody,"

01;19;42;28 "because what we do, it's not just working in construction."

01;19;46;25 "You've gotta have a certain level of compassion."

01;19;48;25 "You've also gotta be a lot smarter than the average payer"

01;19;51;19 "because working with substandard housing is not simple."

01;19;55;09 "And losing your shirt is not a good business plan,"

01;19;57;24 "whether you're a non-profit or a for-profit."

01;20;00;19 "- I think that the typical homeowner doesn't know"

01;20;04;08 "and the typical contractor doesn't care,"

01;20;06;20 so when someone has a disaster,

01;20;09;19 "their idea is just get me back to where I was"

01;20;13;12 any anyway you can.

01;20;14;22 "And we found that here in St. Augustine"

01;20;16;25 "where people should have taken longer, I guess,"

01;20;23;08 "because they just had someone come in and fix their tile,"

01;20;25;16 fix their walls, fix everything,

01;20;27;28 "and it went back with the mold just trapped."

01;20;34;10 "- What does it mean to be safe from natural hazards"

01;20;37;07 "and healthy, and are they the same thing?"

01;20;41;04 "I think it's easy when we talk about safety"

01;20;43;23 "to move into this sort of fortification mindset."

01;20;47;14 "And maybe we've fortified against one hazard"

01;20;50;13 but not against another.

01;20;51;27 "Those words may mean very different things"

01;20;54;27 "to both the public, but also to engineers and architects"

01;20;58;22 "and others who are designing buildings."

01;21;01;03 "And I think being really careful about"

01;21;02;29 "how we're defining those two words,"

01;21;04;15 "but also thinking about when do they meet in the middle"

01;21;06;26 "and when are they meeting different things"

01;21;08;23 are important questions to pose.

01;21;11;16 "- There's a big effort in the nonprofit hospital community."

01;21;15;05 "They've been charged with reducing ER costs"

01;21;17;22 "because it's taxpayer money paying for all of that."

01;21;20;04 "So how do we take the frequent flyers,"

01;21;22;07 "reduce the amount of time they come in,"

01;21;24;15 "and ultimately after they look at a variety"

01;21;26;27 "of social factors and everything else,"

01;21;28;29 "they go, ""Where does this person live"

01;21;31;15 "and what kind of housing conditions do they live under?"""

01;21;33;17 "Because if they have respiratory challenges"

01;21;36;08 "and we send them back to a house with mold and mildew,"

01;21;38;29 "they're gonna be back pretty soon."

01;21;40;21 "That kind of is one of the things that we're dealing with"

01;21;43;05 with our Patriot Place,

01;21;44;13 "the little apartments we're talking about"

01;21;45;28 "for at-risk veterans is we've got folks"

01;21;48;22 "who have been living in very unsafe, unsanitary conditions"

01;21;52;14 "for a long time, and getting them into a place"

01;21;55;10 "that just has stabilized indoor air quality"

01;21;59;23 "that will keep them just breathing normal air,"

01;22;02;12 "not mold, mildew, leaf fungus or anything else is huge."

01;22;06;12 So this is called Patriot Place.

01;22;08;08 "It's a six unit, one-bedroom apartment complex"

01;22;11;11 "that we've set aside for at-risk veterans."

01;22;13;20 So the hospital provides

01;22;14;29 "that sort of wraparound social service impact."

01;22;18;19 "We're just basically being a decent landlord,"

01;22;21;10 "building something that will be energy efficient"

01;22;23;13 "and healthy for these men and women"

01;22;24;29 "who just have been living in less than healthy situations."

01;22;28;18 "Many of 'em are actually living in the woods"

01;22;30;14 "or sleeping in a car because they can't find anything else."

01;22;33;25 "The real estate market has just gone through the roof,"

01;22;36;29 and what these folks are earning

01;22;39;08 just can't get them anything.

01;22;42;19 "I'm an army brat, and Susan served in the Navy."

01;22;46;01 Navy.

01;22;47;08 "- So we really try and prioritize anybody"

01;22;49;08 who's served this country,

01;22;50;16 "if they need help, can we help them out?"

01;22;53;23 "- [Interviewer] Levittown? I've never heard of that."

01;22;56;05 Shame on you.

01;22;57;09 "- [Interviewer] What's Levittown?"

01;22;58;24 "- Levittown is one of the suburbs of New York City."

01;23;02;00 "After World War II, when all of our returning veterans"

01;23;04;25 "were coming back, the federal government said,"

01;23;07;02 "We owe you and we're gonna try

01;23;09;09 and put you in your own homes."

01;23;10;20 "The federal government provided the infrastructure,"

01;23;12;22 "the rosewater and sewer to it, so that you didn't have"

01;23;15;25 "to pass the cost of the infrastructure onto that end buyer."

01;23;20;22 "They provided Mr. Levitt with low interest loans"

01;23;23;16 "to build his homes and then they provided special mortgages"

01;23;26;23 to the returning veterans

01;23;27;29 "so that they could finance the homes."

01;23;30;05 "So all of that together made Levittown a success."

01;23;33;25 "You could do that all over again, if the will was there."

01;23;38;12 "- Sometimes I'm asked why should I care"

01;23;41;10 "about people outside of my family or my community?"

01;23;45;03 If everything's okay at home

01;23;46;25 "or in the community where I live, why should I care?"

01;23;50;19 "You know, we're all interconnected,"

01;23;52;26 and what affects one of us

01;23;54;26 "actually in some ways does affect all of us."

01;23;57;28 "But that doesn't always convince everyone."

01;24;00;07 "And so there are other explanations,"

01;24;02;02 "and so sometimes there are economic explanations"

01;24;04;29 "for why should we care about what's happening in disasters."

01;24;07;29 "There are some statistics that say, like 40 years ago"

01;24;11;26 "that something like four pennies on every dollar"

01;24;14;19 "went to disaster response and recovery."

01;24;17;23 "Now it's something like 40 cents on the dollar."

01;24;21;06 "And so there are these different statistics or indicators"

01;24;25;15 "that we sometimes use to talk about"

01;24;27;17 "in a relatively short period of time,"

01;24;30;05 how much more of our tax dollar

01;24;33;01 "is going towards emergency response and recovery."

01;24;36;21 "And by all projections, that's gonna continue to go up"

01;24;40;09 and up and up.

01;24;41;15 "But there are also studies that show"

01;24;43;06 "if the dollar is what convinces you to act,"

01;24;46;00 "that for every dollar that we invest"

01;24;49;01 "before a disaster strikes, that may pay off"

01;24;53;02 "somewhere between seven to $11 after the disaster."

01;24;57;08 "And so when we mitigate, when we adapt,"

01;24;59;13 "it actually does have a real financial reward"

01;25;02;27 "because we're actually lessening the impact of the disaster."

01;25;06;00 "We're lessening the number of people in harm's way."

01;25;08;24 "And so sometimes there's an economic argument"

01;25;11;10 "that will convince some people about why we should act"

01;25;15;08 "before disaster strikes, so that economic argument matters"

01;25;21;04 and it can help to spark action.

01;25;23;23 "But there's also a very human argument"

01;25;26;00 for why we should do this.

01;25;28;06 "Because when we leave people in harm's way"

01;25;32;18 "and we see increased human suffering, we do end up paying"

01;25;36;13 "for that in different sorts of ways in society"

01;25;39;02 "through having more traumatized people,"

01;25;41;21 "through having people out of work,"

01;25;43;07 "children out of school, and so forth."

01;25;45;27 "And so I think there are a lot of arguments"

01;25;47;17 "that can be made whether the economic argument strikes you"

01;25;50;23 or the humanitarian argument,

01;25;52;26 "but I think there are actually deeply interconnected."

01;25;58;01 "- And that brings us to the end of this season"

01;26;00;13 of Home Diagnosis.

01;26;01;22 "- Remember, yes, it can seem overwhelming,"

01;26;04;21 "but each little thing you do to prepare your home"

01;26;07;16 "for hazards big and small is a step in the right direction."

01;26;11;03 "- And the steps we all take to help our neighbors prepare"

01;26;13;21 "and recover may be even more important to talk about"

01;26;16;17 because they may seem invisible.

01;26;18;28 "- Like so many other elements of the science of homes."

01;26;22;09 "Keep on learning: visit HomeDiagnosis.TV."

01;26;25;28 - [Together] See you again.

01;26;27;19 (bright music)

01;27;10;16 "- [Child Announcer] Home diagnosis is made possible"

01;27;12;24 "by support from Broan NuTone, better air, better life."

01;27;18;10 "By the Got Mold? test kit, real science, real simple,"

01;27;21;28 "by AirCycler, MetroTec, Rockwool, and Renew Aire,"

01;27;28;03 "by generous support from these underwriters"

01;27;29;18 and by viewers like you.