AUSTIN -- More than two years after summer storms ravaged their homes, a group of West Side seniors are still looking for help from the city and other government agencies -- and they plan on taking their grievances to City Hall next week.
Members of the group, which is known as West Side Seniorss, plan to protest what they call the unequal distribution of aid and the lack of help for victims of the 2023 floods. Memers and other neighbors met Wednesday at the Columbus Park Refectory, 5701 W. Jackson Blvd., to discuss their experiences.
"The damage was done to the home itself. The water is still in the walls, and the mold is killing us," said Larry Quinn, who lives in the 4800 block of West Huron Street.
Quinn is one of thousands of West Siders whose homes were flooded during record-breaking storms in July 2023. Up to 9 inches of rain blanketed the West Side and western suburbs in 24 hours. Nearly one in four Austin homes experienced severe flooding.
Quinn works as a plumber, electrician, carpenter and caterer and kept all of his equipment in the basement of his home. The floods caused sewage backup, ruining what he estimates to have been thousands of dollars of equipment.
As communities recovered from the destruction, more than 63,000 Chicago residents applied for federal flood assistance, leading to $170 million in FEMA payouts. A total of $310 million in FEMA assistance in Cook County made the disaster the largest emergency declaration in Illinois history.
Quinn estimates he needed at least $100,000 for repairs and to restore his businesses. FEMA awarded him $1,900.
Quinn wears a shirt that reads "Where's My Money?," the slogan for West Side Seniorss. The group was started by Princess Shaw, founder of nonprofit Light Up Lawndale, following her attempts to help her grandmother's friend in Austin recover from the floods.
Last year, the group started hosting monthly meetings to educate older people on navigating flood relief and household maintenance topics such as yearly heating and cooling inspections.
Wednesday's meeting was to help older people access the city's Flood Assistance Repair Program, which is aimed at helping primarily older West Side residents qualify for up to $25,000 each to help fix and restore their basements.
"The goal of today's meeting was to come together and show each of the seniors that they're all going through the same thing when it comes to the status of their actual applications," Shaw said.
Shaw said she knows of several older people who have not heard back from the program or who have received a contingent acceptance letter that requires more steps. Only five of 20 older people in the group who applied for relief have been fully accepted and received work from city-funded contractors. Two of those five had their homes flood again after the city-funded repairs were completed, Shaw said.
Shaw said providing the group members space to discuss their frustrations has been helpful in them moving forward.
"The goal of the meetings is to give them what I call their senior space to be able to hash out, talk, be OK with not being OK. ... Being able to say, 'Hey, I'm going through the same thing you're going through now. What are we going to do about it?'" Shaw said.
West Side Seniorss plan to demonstrate Wednesday in front of City Hall around the City Council meeting to demand answers and additional flood relief. Shaw said the members are looking to stabilize and address unhealthy conditions in their basements. The group also demonstrated at City Hall last year.
"We need for the mayor to understand without a shadow of a doubt [that] either he meets with these seniors or he and his Department of Housing commissioner work on getting these ... mold remediations done," Shaw said. "Stop pacifying these seniors. They know that they've been constantly yanked around and they're not getting real help."