Renters get left behind after disasters as displaced homeowners duel for places to live
Three years ago, Pamela Lack thought she had found the house she would retire in.
The three-bedroom home in Paradise, California, was surrounded by old cedars and a large heritage oak, and had a backyard for her grandchildren and a guesthouse for her aging parents. Lack, a 64-year-old resident of nearby Chico, had savings from a previous home sale and had met with an accountant, and was ready to apply for a mortgage.
But in November 2018, before she could buy, the Camp Fire tore through Paradise, burning down the house, among thousands of others in the surrounding area.
At first I thought it was a storm and went outside to look, recalled Lack, whose family was living 12 miles away, in a rented house in Chico, at the time. When she got outside she realized what was happening and said she remembered thinking, Oh no, this isnt going to be good.
Their rental didnt burn, but what Lack didnt lose to the flames she lost to the effects. One week after the fire, their landlord received multiple offers from people looking to buy the house. With an overstretched market inflating the price by $100,000, the landlord decided to sell.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/disasters-second-wave-renters-face-housing-aftershocks-floods-fires-rcna3924