Rutland, Vermont - September 30, 2011
Brian Halligan sits overlooking his property with his golden retriever, Cappy. The view will take your breath away.
"The memories, the hard work I put into the property, just hanging out here with my dog, walking the land," Halligan said.
Remnants of his life lie amidst the broken foundation near the stream.
"Just pieces of wood and trees and rocks. Folks were stopping by my yard here just delivering photos they were finding," he said.
Halligan has relocated several times since Irene took his home; he's currently staying at Okemo resort. While FEMA granted Halligan $30,200, the maximum grant for his home, they've yet to find him a permanent solution.
"I've been to about four different places, so it's kind of tough bouncing around from place to place, so you don't get that feeling of being settled in anywhere," he said.
Suzie Dundas knows the feeling.
"So I'm on place four now, sort of bouncing around living out of a suitcase," she said.
Dundas is a renter in Killington. She mainly lost clothing and a place to stay after the storm. Now she's having trouble affording a new apartment.
"There's still a little bit of stress there trying to bridge the gap between what FEMA provides and what I actually need to live up here," Dundas said.
A few weeks ago she tried to look for housing on FEMA's website.
"Unfortunately, the website doesn't work for certain people and I guess I was one of the lucky people it didn't work for," she said.
It appears Dundas isn't the only one out of luck. Several apartments listed on FEMA.gov are priced at $1 or no cost to rent for each month. When WCAX News called each property owner, they said this was inaccurate.
"I just want to get into something that's settled, something that I can do," Halligan said.
Halligan says FEMA has been helpful and that he's more concerned with his insurance company.
"The hardest thing is you pay for homeowner's insurance all of your life and all of a sudden something like this happens and the insurance company seems like they don't want any part of you," he said.
Gov. Peter Shumlin, D-Vermont, filed a request with FEMA to provide emergency housing units for those who've lost their homes. Mobile housing units are currently set up in Springfield as a last resort. Commerce Secretary Lawrence Miller says he's expecting the governor's request will be answered by early next week.
