PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — A FEMA trailer is delivered months after hurricanes hit Tampa Bay, dozens of miles from the hardest hit areas, to a property the I-Team has learned is registered to a dead woman.
A neighbor, who thought it would be put to better use in the hurricane-ravaged coastal region, contacted us and we started looking into it, hearing from the woman who applied for assistance and a legal expert who says putting the trailer there raises questions.
Ava McLaurin and her husband moved to a home on a rural road outside Dade City last year, where they raise horses, cows and donkeys.
“I wanted space. I wanted animals. I grew up in Pinellas County,” McLaurin said.
Ava’s childhood home was in Shore Acres, 65 miles away.
That neighborhood was pummeled last year by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Her new house is not in an evacuation zone and is 110 feet above sea level.
Ava says storm damage to her property was minimal.
“There was a tree there. And two limbs fell this way,” she said.
So Ava and her neighbors were surprised when a FEMA trailer appeared next door.
The property had a history of code violations
“On May 8, this thing showed up behind and I thought it was a brand-new home. I didn’t realize it was FEMA until I went into Pasco County’s permit section,” Ava said.
Ava’s neighbor, Cynde Wood, lives in an old mobile home on the property with her husband and adult children.
Wood says she applied for FEMA assistance because branches fell on her roof.
“I had both hurricanes hit me,” Wood said.“And I had two heart attacks since then.”
But Wood’s neighbor, Ava, blames Wood and her family for the home’s condition.
A Google Street View photo from 2023 shows the property in disrepair.
Records show Pasco County code enforcement has been there 26 times since 2017.
Court records show Wood’s husband and son have been fined for inoperable vehicles, junk and trash.
“Everyone on this street could attest to the quality of living that they had before the storm,” Ava said.
Ava sent code enforcement pictures last August of old tires, rotten wood and a boat filled with moldy fabric.
“They had busted out windows. Roofs that flap when the wind would come through. It's been pretty dilapidated since even before we moved in,” she said.
“She lives in heaven now”
Ava asked county inspectors to demolish the home.
“I will send a consent-to-inspect the property to the owner listed on the property appraiser’s website seeking permission to inspect the interior of the structure,” an email from a county employee said.
But there was a problem getting that permission.
“She's dead. Been dead,” Ava said.
“It belongs to Sharon Kaye Hunt Higginbotham. She lives in heaven now,” Wood said.
Higginbotham, Wood’s mother, is listed as the property owner on the county permit for FEMA to set up the trailer.
We obtained Higginbotham’s death certificate, showing she died August 4, 2014.
She is still shown as the property owner on the Pasco County Property Appraiser’s website.
A FEMA spokesperson informed us that housing assistance applicants must be either homeowners or renters with a signed lease agreement.
“I think it’s pretty basic due diligence to see who owns it and where she is at. And if you can’t find that, that should raise some pretty red flags in my opinion,” Ava said.
The spokesperson declined to share Wood’s application, citing privacy.
Temporary trailers cost $110,000 or more
When we asked for the cost of the trailer, the spokesperson forwarded a 2019 MIT study estimating FEMA trailers cost taxpayers between $110,000 and $129,000 on average.
The trailer on the deceased woman’s property also included a custom-built ramp with waterproof decking.
We asked Tampa Attorney Josh Burnett if the ownership issue could be problematic.
“I would want to take a look at that form, see how it was filled out... see if the information in terms of their claimed ownership was made clear to FEMA,” Burnett said. “Given that she’s no longer with us, she can’t really own the property. But her estate would have an interest in it, which is why they would need to probate it.”
“I'm the owner. There's a way you pay taxes that many years in a row. It’s automatically yours,” Wood said.
Records show Wood and her family have paid property taxes since Higginbotham’s death, but Burnett says that doesn’t give them title to the property, which would be required to sell it.
Burnett also says the FEMA temporary housing program’s rules require people to make repairs or find somewhere else to live.
“It's not supposed to be a permanent dwelling for folks to replace what is an inferior unit,” he said.
“I intend on dying right here”
Wood told us when we visited her that the trailer hadn’t been hooked up yet, which was more than a month after it was delivered.
She told us she didn’t plan to go anywhere.
“I took care of my mom right here in this house until she died. My grandmother died in this house. And I intend on dying right here. I'm not leaving,” Wood said.
Ava didn’t believe Wood intended the new FEMA trailer to be a temporary solution.
“They didn’t repair the first dwelling they had back in August when it was already a dump. So why should I believe that they’re going to take care of this one and Repair the one they already had?” she asked.
“It’s not FEMA’s position to jump in and fix their life situation. FEMA’s stepping in to help folks rebuild in a situation that wasn’t their doing, which was something that was unexpected, which was something they couldn’t protect themselves against,” Burnett said.
“It’s supposed to be temporary, but I ain’t even got in it yet. And if they have a bunch of rules and regulations, they can come get it. I don’t even care,” Wood said.
FEMA trailer removed after I-Team asked questions
We contacted FEMA, and days later, FEMA contractors returned and hauled the trailer away.
Pasco County locked the building permit, citing an “investigation.”
A county spokesperson referred us to FEMA, where a spokesperson said she couldn’t tell us why the trailer was removed from the property, citing privacy.
“Every time something goes good for me, all these neighbors stop it,” Wood said.
Wood’s neighbor Ava says she was just looking after others affected by the storms who still need a temporary place to live.
“They spent the money on it, dropped it off and figured no one would say anything about it,” Ava said.
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