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Elderly woman struggling to return home nine months after Hurricane Harvey

A FEMA representative stopped by the home and cut her a check for $20,000. That's enough to cover two or three fixes, but not replacing an entire home.

HOUSTON – A Harvey victim says contractors want nothing to do with her, because of a selfless act to find her family a home.

You’ll find Laura Duffy sitting outside her Scarsdale house for two hours a day, every day. She feeds her cats and moves on, but won’t bother looking inside.

“I try not to think about it too much because it makes me very sad,” Duffy said.

The walls and floors are gone and all the furniture was washed away in Hurricane Harvey. It was her granddaughter who called a building contractor for an estimate and got the news they reluctantly expected.

“They came and they looked and said the house is not repairable,” Duffy said.

A FEMA representative stopped by the home and cut Duffy a check for $20,000. That's enough to cover two or three fixes, but not replacing an entire home.

“So I had this money and a granddaughter and three great grandchildren and they had been washed out also. I thought everyone needs a place to live, so I took my $20,000 and made a down payment on a house for everyone,” Duffy said.

As Duffy tells it, FEMA advised her she could use the money any way she saw fit. Where that leaves Duffy is in the same place, but this time with even less help.

Contractors haven’t returned her calls, with the exception of Samaritan’s Purse – a faith-based non-profit with specialists in practically every field, performing what some are calling miracles.

“(They said) we will demolish the house for you and build you another one. I thought, I’m hearing things,” Duffy said.

There’s only one exception, Duffy says. The group doesn’t do brick work.

Why that matters lies in the fine print of her HOA. Any home built in the area has to be covered by at least 50 percent brick.

Duffy says the HOA has been lenient with other design elements, but the brick issue is a sticking point.

It’s a rule, but again it leaves Duffy right back where she started.

“Lately it’s been getting to me more and more," Duffy said. "It’s beginning to wear me down a little. Like I say, if I can find some bricks, I’ll have it made.”

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