MARION, N.C. (WGHP) — Most people will never have to deal with what Carter Francois is dealing with. Overnight, he lost his livelihood. His business, The Alpine Inn, washed down the side of a mountain during Hurricane Helene.
Since then, he’s been dealing with bureaucracy and trying to rebuild. His insurance company says they won’t pay out on his $2.5 million policy because it was flooding that did it and not wind, which he had coverage for.
So Carter is trying to find ways to pay for rebuilding the inn. If there is any bright spot in all of this, it’s that what washed down the mountain was the lobby and common spaces of the inn. Most of the rooms are still standing.
But they need to be completely overhauled, which is Carter’s daily project.
“The six rooms that if we can stay almost 100% booked. I know it’s only six rooms, but I think it’ll keep me afloat,” Carter said.
He has 12 rooms in total and plans to get to them all over time.
The problem is that he has no income, so it’s hard to pay for everything even if he does it by himself. The Small Business Administration is there doing what they do, but what the SBA does isn’t providing the cash Carter and so many other businesses need.
As of February, the SBA reported these numbers:
- Official loan application count: 3,954
- Offers made to the public: 589
- Loans dispersed: 431
- Offers made in dollars: $29,203,100
- Loans dispersed in dollars: $12,208,613
Carter feels as if he can’t take on more debt right now even at the excellent, by comparison to the private sector, rate that the SBA offers. He’s heard about all the money raised in private-sector fundraisers and wonders where it’s all gone.
“You do turn the news on, and you hear millions upon millions of dollars from the federal government being sent here and there,” Carter said. “And all these fundraisers, too … My question is, ‘Where is it going?’ Because it’s not here … Up here in this mountain, it’s people helping people.”
See more in the series Mountain of Trouble in this edition of The Buckley Report.
