Help for victims of Defective Drywall

Petition to bring about help for victims of Defective Drywall 

We the people request that the Governor of the State of Florida, through Executive Order and/or other powers available under law, to activate all State and Local emergency and relief resources and mechanisms for the benefit of homeowners impacted by defective or reactive drywall, including but not limited to, requesting immediate Federal assistance through FEMA and/or any other agency of the United States Government.

We the undersigned are all victims of either Chinese or American manufactured defective drywall have banded together in order to establish a cohesive group of self advocates, intended to bring about help from our Government. 

Do we not have any laws governing imports?  If not we need them.  Should there not be a testing committee regulating the materials that go into these imports?  If not we need one.  Have we not suffered enough because of defective foreign products?  You bet we have.  So far it has been infants formula, lead in children's toys, and now Chinese Drywall.  All of these have had or will have disastrous consequences.  

The supposed experts, specific in the position to help,  are saying that the gases emitted from the drywall are not harmful to the victims.   Many people claim that the dry wall is not harmful to the community that these houses are in.  Many people say that if it hasn't happened to them, why should they worry about it.  These people do not know the ramifications that the contaminated drywall will have. 

There will be an overwhelming financial burden to the cities and states plagued by this Defective Foreign Product. .   

Many of us victims are ready to walk away from our homes, because of the lack of money to do the necessary restorations to make the homes habitable again.  Many of us have moved into alternate housing, while awaiting to hear of the outcome on cases that our attorneys are working on. 

We have no idea what the total impact this disaster will create.  These houses cannot be rented, cannot be sold and cannot be lived in.  Mortgages will not get paid, and the foreclosure rate will increase by leaps and bounds.  This will harm an already fragile banking system.  In the Gulf States alone, there is believed to be 60,000 homes with contaminated drywall.  60,000 homes now worthless, that will be a loss to the tax rolls (not mention the owners).  What will this economic crises do to the States and especially  Florida? 

If these homes have 2 adults in them, this means approximately 120,000 adults of voting age, and this means a possibility of 60,000 children plus or minus, that will be displaced from their homes, because of the fumes and the variety of illnesses attached to the contaminated drywall. 

Abandon homes of this proportion would put whole neighborhoods in danger of increased crime, create slums, and further devalue an already declining housing market.  

HUD indicated that there might be restoration loans available.  Not everyone would be eligible for a HUD loan.  We need grants not loans.  These grants will insure that the homes can be made healthy again.  If we receive these grants, it will immediately increase jobs, and put a great deal of money back into the local economy.  These homes when fixed, will then again produce taxable income to the cities and states.  A stipulation of these grants would be, that any law suite settled successfully on the property would be reimbursed to the bureau / agency that provided the grant. 

Many people have questioned the validity of physical problems resulting from living  with the contaminated drywall.  We have discovered that workers that remove this material are suiting up (just as they do with asbestos).  This means that the workers are protecting themselves from a material that could do them harm.  The contaminated material must be placed in a covered receptacle, so that the dust, will not become airborne. If this wallboard is perfectly safe why are these precautions necessary?  

Of further concern is the disposal of this material.   Will it be buried?  If so, will it effect agriculture, crops, animals, and eventually our food and milk supply, as it continues to decay, and leach toxic materials into our environment?  There has to be some EVP oversight, for the disposal of this toxic material, once it is removed from the contaminated homes. 

We the People Need Help and We Need it Now. 
 

Respectfully submitted, 
 

Paulette Antinarelli