Impact 5 town hall meeting gives housing crisis answers to Port St. Lucie residents

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- More than a hundred people came to the Port St. Lucie Civic Center for WPTV's Impact 5 town hall meeting Thursday night.

St. Lucie County is one of the hardest-hit areas on the Treasure Coast, according to real estate experts.

Jerry and Carol Beck have been living in Port St. Lucie for more than ten years, and they came to the Impact 5 Town Hall meeting as soon as they heard about it on television.

"We watched it last night when it started, and said, we're sure going to be down there," said Jerry.

Before the meeting, the couple said they hoped to find out how to flip their upside-down mortgage, because healthcare is eating up their money.

"Medical bills, prescriptions, they're just killing us," explained Carol.

Patricia Selmer with the Port St. Lucie Neighborhood Stabilization Program said the Becks are not alone, and the city now has thousands of empty houses.

"Everybody started building," said Selmer. "We had builders come down, there were houses all over the place. People were moving here, they thought it was a great place, and then all of a sudden, everything stopped."

With a panel of real estate experts and then some one-on-one time for more advice, the Becks said the information they gained from the Impact 5 meeting was invaluable.

"They gave us what to ask for, and see about, so I feel good. A lot better than I did when I came in," Carol said.

Impact 5 resources: Click here: http://www.wptv.com/generic/news/Impact-5-page-main