ST. LOUIS — An East St. Louis homeowner whose house was heavily damaged by storms says she’s been waiting months for help from City Hall, but that help has not come yet. Sheila Crook needs a new roof; the guttering is bad; there are cracks inside and outside of her home; and it rains in the kitchen.
The City of East St. Louis has grants and other funding to set up a program for senior citizens to help them repair their homes.
”I got approved by the city to do roof guttering and two back porches; that’s all they would allow me for $12,000 for everything. they will not release the funds to get my house fixed. I get the runaround when I come down there,” said Crook.
Her house will likely need a lot more to fix all the damage but she’s just trying to get the work started.
East St. Louis City Manager Robert Betts said that he went out to meet Crook at her home and also to see the damage that was done by the storms.
“I wanted to see what the contractors were experiencing when they went out. She has a two-story house that has a lot of deferred maintenance, I should say, and she had requested a roof, a back porch, and some windows,” said Betts. “Keep in mind that this program only has $12,000 in it for each homeowner and we were trying to maximize the effort—not redo your house or make your house new again—but address some of those health and safety concerns at the house.”
Betts said that Crook had so many things listed on her home that the contractors were somewhat confused about what they should be bidding on.
“I personally went out to her home with some of the staff and talked to Ms. Crook for over an hour. We were working on it, but these things take time, ” Betts said. “There’s a bidding process, there’s a bid review process, there’s a selection of a contractor, there’s a signing of the contract and then a notice to proceed with the contract to engage the work. It takes time.”
Betts said that Crook’s home is on a list of 200 other applicants.
“The contractors have told me that her house is challenging for the money that we have, so we’re trying to evaluate whether we should fix her porch, fix her roof or try to do all of it, and that’s where we are right now,” said Betts.
