MEXICO BEACH, Fla. — Wednesday marked six months since Hurricane Michael devastated Florida's Gulf Coast.

It also meant the end of housing assistance for hundreds of families displaced by the storm as recovery efforts remain slow-moving.

Some of those families are living in campers on their properties.

Further inland in the Panama City area, there are simply not enough hotel rooms and apartments in good enough condition for all the people who need somewhere to stay.

FEMA housing assistance has expired for many families, leaving them nowhere to go.

The backyard belonging to Sam Summers has been a welcome refuge for some.

"We've had as many as 12," he said of campers and families. "We try to make them feel as comfortable as possible, that's the goal."

When people living in tents in town were turned away, Summers and his wife opened up the back of their rural Bay County property to strangers.

He did say there are some expectations.

"We call it the three D's — no drugs, no drinking and no drama," Summers said. "It's got to be that way to protect people we have here already."

The blue-tarp accommodations make Lin Brightly's FEMA trailer look like luxury. Before the storm, she had a house, a car and a computer-repair business.

"And then I lost all of it to about six-and-a-half feet of water," Brightly said. "I don’t have a picture of my mother and father. I don't have anything left. Everything was in deep saltwater."

But at 72, in a campground north of Mexico Beach, she's making the most of what she still has.

"Life has got to go on. I'm not totally sure how or what the future is going to bring, but at my age I'm just like, "Let's go with the flow,'" she said.

What she doesn't have in belongings, she makes up for in hope. Asked what keeps her going, she said, "Knowing there's people in worse condition than I am, believe it or not."

Meanwhile, Summers' backyard continues to fill up.

"Donations have slowed down, but we'll keep it going," he said. "I'll start selling vehicles if I have to. There’s one for sale over there right now."

But he said it's impossible for him to take in everyone.

 

 

Out of the nearly 300 people getting housing vouchers from FEMA for the last six months, only about 40 of them received extensions.

To get those extensions, they had to prove they had specific plans to eventually have some sort of permanent housing — something that for most people is just impossible to find.