PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — People all over the Tampa Bay Area are receiving denial emails after applying for a program called Elevate Florida.
The program aims to help raise homes above flood risk, but thousands of people who had hoped for the funding are now going back to the drawing board.
"It just seems like a false sense of hope is what they gave you," said John Hayducka, who lives in Shore Acres.
WATCH: Thousands of applicants receive denial letters from Elevate Florida Program
Hope is the one thing people in Shore Acres held onto after Hurricane Helene flooded their homes.
"I haven't been back in my house since the day of the hurricane so we are going on six or seven months now," said Hayducka.
Hayducka was at a loss for what to do, but then he heard about a possible solution: a program called Elevate Florida.
"It would be nice knowing that you wouldn't have to worry about this happening again," said Hayducka.
Elevate Florida is a program that the state said will help residents pay to raise their homes above flood risk.
Hayducka is fully qualified and applied.
Months later, he received an email stating his application was denied.
"I requested to get more information on what specifically our house was declined for…they just kind of gave me a general answer and gave us no details," said Hayducka.
Hayducka isn't the only one who was denied after hoping for help.
"The rest of the neighborhood I'm just hearing from a lot of people that so many people are really counting on that. I know it's kind of a hail-mary…but all the declination letters that went out yesterday, I think a lot of people don't know what to do," said Kai Cox, who also lives in Shore Acres.
Cox applied for Elevate Florida, too, after his home was flooded.
He also received a denial email and is now paying thousands of dollars out of pocket to lift his home, but said it's worth it.
"As much as we can mitigate to get all the houses out of flood plains, I think is a wonderful idea," said Cox.
The program received 12,000 applications, and with limited federal funding, can only help about 2,000 applicants.
That's why Scott Chimner avoided applying for the program from the beginning.
"There are going to be a lot of people who want it…so we thought the fastest way forward was to borrow the money from SBA, lift the house ourselves and pay it back," said Chimner.
People who were denied funding by Elevate Florida are now having to take out personal loans to elevate their homes, or they are choosing to move away.
Chimner is paying his own money to elevate his home as well.
"It is a full gambit of replace the windows, replace the doors, shore everything up to code, and a lot of that is not coming out of insurance money," said Chimner.
ABC Action News reporter Casey Albritton spoke to over 30 people in Shore Acres who applied for the program and got denied. One person was approved and said he is thankful.
Now homeowners who aren't getting financial assistance are back to square one.
"There's no playbook for any of this…there's not hotline to call and to say this is my situation…do I zig? Do I zag? Every address has a different story," said Chimner.
"After finding out that we were declined, it's almost like a ticking time bomb of just when it is going to happen again, and I honestly don't know if I want to stay here anymore," said Hayducka.
"He just never showed up"
What started as a project to make a bathroom more accessible for 80-year-old Sharon Shomaker turned into a family paying for a job without seeing any work and discovering the plumber they hired had no business taking the job.
