Gulf Coast housing inspectors try to help restore neighborhoods

BILOXI, Miss. -- Deep in the muck and mold that was Greg Herman's home, a volunteer church crew works to clear his property in preparation for rebuilding. Closer to downtown, Peggy Gibson's small home stands ready for contractors, if she can find the money.

Both homes were on city housing inspector Ron Dennis' route on a recent day. Since Hurricane Katrina hit Aug. 29, he has been backlogged with requests from citizens wanting the OK to start anew.

Making crucial judgments

All along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, code enforcers and building inspectors like Dennis are making crucial judgments, sorting out what's safe and what has to go, who can rebuild where and when.

The often grueling work is helping the region's cities get back to normal one house and one block at a time, but it's slow going.

"As I fall farther and farther behind, it's going to take longer for them to rebuild their houses," Dennis said.

Biloxi had 12,364 residential structures before Katrina. Of those, 5,014 were destroyed or damaged beyond repair. Another 2,500 are in limbo. The city has seven inspectors.

FEMA has also started telling homeowners in some hurricane-damaged regions of Louisiana and Mississippi that it has decided not to wait for individual home inspections and will begin paying up to $26,200 per home based on satellite images of the most heavily damaged areas. The homes were presumed uninhabitable.

In Mississippi, Dennis starts each day in a Chevy pickup with "Code Enforcement" written on the tailgate. The tires have to be patched weekly because he's constantly driving over stray nails.

On this day he takes on 30 cases in hopes of clearing up some of the backlog. It takes a bit of effort to find some of them -- wind has blown away address numbers and street signs. All sorts of things, even entire houses, block some of the roads.

When Dennis finds Herman's home, the work crew is shoveling out debris.

"I hope he had flood insurance," Dennis says, resting his clipboard on a filled garbage can. "They had some serious water run through here."

After walking around the house, he stops to fill out paperwork. He puts an "X" next to "extensive damage." Fixing the flood damage will cost more than 40 percent of the home's market value.

Tough decisions

Herman says he did not have flood insurance: "We were told we didn't need it and next thing you know our house gets destroyed by a wall of water," he says.

Herman has already wrestled with the questions facing homeowners across the coast: "Should we rebuild? What will happen if I rebuild?" He's received a total insurance payout of $4,130 for wind damage, and he'll try to take out government loans to pay for repairs.

But he only wants to rebuild so he can sell. Herman, his wife, 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son will not live there anymore.

"It's the first house I ever owned," the police officer says. "But there's just some terrible memories that I can't erase. I can barely stand to go out there."

The inspector's failure rating puts a kink in Herman's plans, but Dennis explains that different forms can be filled out and new standards met. Dennis leaves the paperwork at the house for Herman.

"I have so many inspections, but I can't just walk away. It's difficult," he says, walking down the gravel driveway, looking back over his shoulder.

On days when he's able to move quickly and efficiently, Dennis completes about 15 inspections. On this day he is excited because word has come that FEMA has offered to send 20 inspectors to Biloxi.

Enforcing city regulations means delivering a lot of tough news to homeowners. City officials find themselves having to tear down some houses to ensure public safety.

At a rental property, Dennis wonders why some owners don't just let the city or federal government bulldoze. To him, in such cases it's just not worth it to rebuild.

"This one's a mess," he says, crawling over a front door that cracked in half horizontally and falls open on top of garbage in the living room. Pink insulation hangs from the rafters.

"You run into so many different people who have so many different ways of thinking," he said.

Peggy Gibson is firm in her thinking, even though her home sustained heavy damage and it fails Dennis' inspection. But Gibson says she bought her house in 1978 and, well, it's home.

"I would rather start over again," she said. "Even if I have to break it down to the core."

For inspectors like Dennis, this work can be tedious, sometimes mundane and often unappreciated.

Fellow Biloxi inspector Hank Rogers put it this way: "We end up breaking more hearts than we mend."