San Diego County leaders help to extend hotel vouchers for flooding victims

Help for flooding victims is coming in from all directions, but many of them say it's been very hard to navigate the process to get assistance.

Three weeks after the Jan. 22 flooding, hundreds of people were afraid they would be kicked out of their temporary housing, but San Diego County leaders say they're doing what they can to help the organizations that provided hotel vouchers to flooding victims and extend their stays.

“We're in a state of shock still,” said Lisa Sheffield, who’s currently staying in a Ramada Inn with her family of seven. "This is three weeks afterward. We still don’t know what we're supposed to do. 'Just discombobulated' is the best words I can come up with.”

Sheffield said floodwaters destroyed the family's Spring Valley home and everything in it.

“The first week, my husband was coming from a dialysis center, and I had an hour to find a place for us to stay because our house flooded,” Sheffield said.

Sheffield said she spent $2,000 of her own money to put herself and her family in a hotel for a week.

“I maxed out my credit cards," Sheffield said. "My savings is gone, and I don’t know how I’m going to repair my house."

Next, Sheffield found a less-expensive temporary solution.

“We hooked up with the Jackie Robinson Family YMCA — just word of mouth from the hotel that were staying at," Sheffield said. "The YMCA kind of took us under their wing.”

The family has been staying at the Ramada Inn in National City since Jan. 29 but, Sheffield said, have been in a constant state of worry, wondering where they’ll lay their heads to rest each night.

“Yesterday was one of our days of check-out, and we didn’t hear from different people yet, but we had our belongings out in the parking lot for two hours,” Sheffield said.

Gerardo Hernandez, who said he was rescued from the roof of his Southcrest home on Jan. 22, said he feels the same way.

“There’s a lot of people out there, elderly people," Hernandez said. "We’re going to end up homeless is that what they want to see, us end up homeless. It’s not right."

As of Sunday, the city of San Diego City has placed 490 adults, 238 children and 187 pets in local hotels. Many others were given hotel vouchers through organizations like the YMCA.

“YMCA gave us vouchers to the hotel, but it was only a 14-day stay,” Hernandez said.

San Diego County leaders said they hear the frustration and that it they are stepping in to help. A county spokesperson told NBC 7 that the county is working with area organizations to help extend hotel stays for qualified flooding victims until they access housing through the county.

“Start with extended hotel vouchers, and it’s not going to be just for 30 days," Hernandez said. "I’m talking about for homeowners."

Many, like Hernandez and Sheffield, though, said the help is too late.

“They’ve been neglecting this neighborhood for years and years,” Hernandez said.

“We’re just forgotten, and that’s the hard part," Sheffield said. "You just feel forgotten."

Hernandez said his hotel stay was extended through Friday. Sheffield's stay was extended through the Feb. 22.

County and city leaders told NBC 7 that what they're trying to do is not unlike building an airplane and flying it at the same time. They said they’re working to make sure no one ends up on the street as a direct result of the historic flooding.