Housing crisis explodes in Panama City after Hurricane Michael’s devastation

By Eileen Kelley | GateHouse Media Florida
Posted Oct 23, 2018 at 4:04 PM Updated Oct 24, 2018 at 1:31 PM

Half of the Panama City Housing Authority’s 450 apartment homes will be condemned, said Teri Henry, the authority’s executive director. The agency also issued Section-8 vouchers for 415 private units and 60 vouchers for veteran’s housing. At this point, Henry still has no idea how many more of the area’s poor from that pool of 475 voucher holders will lose their homes because they are deemed unsafe.

PANAMA CITY — Amid a crushed water bottle, a sandwich bun and upside down disaster relief meal box was an assortment of little girl’s shoes. Size 3.

This particular small, well-worn section of grass at an affordable housing complex was a showcase of childhood and chaos: Silver ballet-style flats, chocolate brown thick-padded boots, a Western set in pink and brown and a look-a-like pair of Buster Browns.

The dropped shoes were not things isolated here. Throughout the grounds of Macedonia Garden Apartments, clothes for all shapes and ages rose from the ground in discarded heaps. A children’s bicycle and a blue stuffed monkey with a shock of bright orange hair would under normal circumstances have been up for grabs.

But this is anything but normal. There is a crisis in Panama City. Poor people are sorting through what is salvageable and what they can bring with them when they attempt to start their lives over.

http://www.newsherald.com/news/20181023/housing-crisis-explodes-in-panama-city-after-hurricane-michaels-devastation