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Fringey Mini: House of a Thousand Toothpicks · Journey to the Fringe

0:00
Okay, Chelsea, I do have a lot of choices for
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this episode for a fringy mini, but I'm just
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going to pick one because I feel like it's a,
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it's one you won't pick. So I just want to go
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with it. I have my doubts about what this is
0:14
going to be about then. This is written. It's
0:18
an NPR article written on September 17th, 2026,
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written by Rebecca Herscher and Ryan Kelman.
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article title people's houses are collapsing
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into the ocean and fema gives them no other option
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other than to have it collapse well let's read
0:33
i guess apparently richard foreman's home is
0:37
stranded in the middle of a beach the stairs
0:39
were ripped away by waves years ago So there's
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no way in or out anymore. The house is 20 feet
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into the air on stilts that were designed to
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protect it from hurricane storm surges. But there
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haven't been any big storms recently, just the
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rising ocean eating away at the sand every year
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after year. Just six years ago, the house was
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still a popular vacation rental in Rodantha,
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North Carolina. Like many beachfront houses,
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it had a nickname, Sea and Delight. Today, the
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name is gone, and the house is uninhabitable.
1:08
At low tide, the Atlantic Ocean laps at what
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used to be the driveway. At high tide, the ocean
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runs beneath the entire house. And sorry, there
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are pictures throughout. I might just show them
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to you at the end here. I think I have the article
1:21
here, actually. Oh, okay. Oh, look at that. Okay.
1:25
Yeah, they're weird houses. They're literally
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on stilts. That's not the picture I got from
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what you were saying, but okay. No, they are
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all on stilts in the middle of the beach. What's
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that? Would you live in a house like this? Not
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a chance. Like, I just feel like the wood wouldn't
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last. Rot away so fast, yeah. Whether or not
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you were submerged deep in the ocean or not.
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But continue. Foreman knows that it will collapse
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eventually. four neighboring homes have fallen
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into the ocean in the last two years and more
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than 100 homes on north carolina's barrier islands
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are at risk from erosion and sea level rise in
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the next decade according to the national park
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service which manages the area as part of cape
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hatteras national seashore i don't know how to
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say that at least a half a dozen of those houses
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are in imminent danger in june a high tide coupled
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with large waves was enough to bring down another
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house yet there is no plan to remove most of
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the threatened houses or to empty them of personal
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belongings because of perverse incentives created
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by the federal emergency management agency fema
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fema provides most residential flood insurance
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in the united states the agency will pay homeowners
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after a house collapses but not before that means
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owners stand to lose tens or even hundreds of
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thousands of dollars by tearing down a doomed
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house before the ocean takes it The homeowner
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is incentivized to wait for collapse and get
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a payout, says John Ryan Henry, a policy analyst
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at the Coastal States Organization, a non -profit
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that advocates on behalf of coastal state governments,
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including those along the Great Lakes. And when
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homes collapse, they pollute the water and leave
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wreckage on the shore. Unfortunately, there's
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a lot of debris that comes with these collapses.
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end quote says lisa sherrard a longtime flood
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insurance agent in north carolina who previously
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served as the chair of the association of state
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floodplain managers which is the trade group
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representing state flood policy officials quote
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it leaves a legacy of hazard on the beach it's
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almost impossible to get everything end quote
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the national park service says it collected more
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than 480 tons of home debris From the area in
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the last 18 months alone. I can only imagine
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looking at this place. Like the further I scroll
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into these pictures, the more I'm like, whose
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idea was this? These are those rich people's
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houses, Chelsea, that we've been waiting to collapse.
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Literally a whole like cult, more than a cul
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-de -sac. This is like streets and streets of
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houses on stilts along a beach. This guy's walking
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in between one row of houses on stilts with a
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dog. Chelsea, I think you sang stilts. makes
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it actually sound better than it is it's like
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40 toothpicks below the house wooden scaffolding
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maybe yeah this is crazy this is the stupidest
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idea i think i've ever seen why wouldn't they
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even use metal okay okay i just had to interject
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there this is insane quote it looked like we
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had just left for dinner i mean everything is
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still there end quote says foreman The couches,
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the refrigerator, every steak knife and beach
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towel. It's all waiting to fall into the ocean.
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Quote, if they would settle with me for the insurance,
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I would have it torn down tomorrow. End quote,
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he says. As sea level rise from climate change
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accelerates erosion around the country, there
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is growing alarm among waterfront homeowners,
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local officials and even members of Congress.
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More than 30 homes have fallen into the sea in
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coastal North Carolina since 2020. neighborhoods
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in Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois,
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Virginia, and California are facing similar threats.
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Just last week, erosion exacerbated by a storm
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caused catastrophic damage to multiple homes
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in Southern California. Quote, people should
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not have to wait for their home to collapse into
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the water before they can get help. End quote,
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says Rep. Shelley Pingree, Democrat, Maine. I
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mean, it's their fucking stupid decision to live
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in a house like this. Yep. Like, I'd love to
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empathize with you, like, truly. I would, but
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like... This has to be a risk that you're understanding
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you're entering into in a situation like that.
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Especially for what I'm looking at. Chelsea,
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this is clearly a risk that all of us have to
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bear. That the rich person's house is falling
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into the ocean. That was clearly inevitable.
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This is infuriating. And the rich people are
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like, well, I never entered into the... You need
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to pay before it falls into the ocean. Who could
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have known this would fall into the ocean? It
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was already in the ocean preparing for collapse.
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Like, this house I'm looking at, this house he,
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this is clearly one of the ones that is imminently
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going to fall into the ocean. But, this guy can't
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even leave his house without touching water.
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I do love there's like a neighborhood shot, like...
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far down and like most of them are out of the
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water and there's one just like clearly falling
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into the water yeah and it's and you're like
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yeah that's all of them eventually here yeah
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there's no way around this honestly like this
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is the stupidest thing i've ever fucking seen
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in my life honestly and only millionaires are
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capable of doing something like this and okay
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let's see where it goes maybe i'll be shocked
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at the ending of this article FEMA says it cannot
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change the rules for threatened properties unless
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Congress amends the law that governs the National
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Flood Insurance Program. Such a bill was introduced
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by a bipartisan group of lawmakers in 2025, but
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it stalled in the House of Representatives. FEMA
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did not respond to questions from NPR about the
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costs to taxpayers for letting homes collapse.
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Erosion is an inescapable problem in waterfront
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communities. Waves remove sand and rock from
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some areas and deposit them in others. Climate
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change is accelerating that natural erosion unevenly.
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Although global warming affects the entire planet,
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sea levels are rising more quickly in some regions
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because of ocean currents and the complex dynamics
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of melting glaciers and ice caps. Some of the
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fastest sea level rise in the world is occurring
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in the east coast of the United States. in north
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carolina where thousands of homes sit on narrow
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sand barrier islands sea levels are rising faster
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than the global average and the rate is accelerating
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rising seas exacerbate the erosion that usually
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happens on barrier islands says reed corbett
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a climate scientist at east carolina university
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in the last six years hundreds of feet of beach
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have disappeared in dare county north carolina
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the current epicenter of erosion related home
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collapse in the united states quote There is
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no way to maintain homes where they currently
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are. End quote, Corbett says. He has delivered
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the same message directly to county residents
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at multiple public meetings in recent years.
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Quote, the only solution is to back off that
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front line. End quote. But removing homes from
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the front line is expensive. Tearing down a house
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costs at least $30 ,000, according to local contractors,
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and the price tag is even higher if the house
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is very large or difficult to access. The other
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option is to move homes further away from the
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water. Which, I guess that makes sense. They're
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on stilts. You can move them. Yeah, yeah. Which
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can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Most
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homeowners do not have that kind of money. Many
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of the at -risk properties in Dare County are
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vacation homes. Oh yeah, of course. People with
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vacation homes can't afford that. It just gets
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stupider. And their owners rely on rental income
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to pay for the mortgage, taxes, and insurance.
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as the ocean encroaches many houses get damaged
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and become uninhabitable sadly owners with high
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bills and no income at the very moment they need
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cash to prevent their homes from collapsing michael
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mcdaniel is in that situation with his house
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in buxton north carolina nicknamed the sea star
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he purchased it for about 500 000 in 2011 when
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he retired from the navy and he planned to eventually
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how did you make that much money in the navy
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I don't know. Like, I'm really, it sounds like
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these are, like, potentially some of them are
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not billionaires. They're just supplementing
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a mortgage by having it paid by... Oh, yeah,
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no, they're people who would be, like, just trying
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to enter the capital class. Yeah, yeah. He planned
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to eventually move there full -time with his
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wife. When he bought the house, about 250 feet
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of dune were between the front porch and the
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Atlantic. for years the house seemed like a good
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investment the property values rose and hit nearly
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1 million just two years ago but that beach eroded
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and today the home is uninhabitable mcdaniel
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says he can't afford to move the house which
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would be his first choice or to demolish it the
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house has a flood insurance policy that will
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pay out 250 000 if it collapses plus 100 000
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for lost belongings if it's teetering you just
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got to sit and wait for it to fall into the ocean
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he says foreman whose house is stranded in the
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middle of the Rodanth beach is in a similar bind.
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Quote, environmentally, it would be far better
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if they would allow me to tear it down on a beautiful
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day where all the debris is in one spot. Quote,
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he says. That's true. It's true. Yeah. Quote,
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but by requiring the waiting game for it to fall
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in a storm and it's going to be scattered for
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miles. I do find that a little funny that it
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is that way because clearly it's condemned and
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not livable. Like it's a safety issue. Just looking
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at this one that's teetering into the ocean,
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just like waiting. Oh yeah, nobody's touching
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that thing. Like I wouldn't step foot in there.
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You can't go in there. But the insurance company
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is like, no, it has to fall into the ocean so
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that it can all collect into the great trash
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can. No, the dumb thing is it's not even an insurance
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company. It's FEMA, which is a government agency
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that will be paying it. That's my other thing
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that I was like, I had no idea they were even
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involved in it. Yeah, because the whole thing
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with flooding is, unfortunately, it's not like
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a risk that you can spread around because it
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affects so many people. So generally, the government's
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going to take it on. Taxpayers are on the hook
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for increasingly expensive cleanups. Federal
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and county governments together estimate that
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they have spent more than a half million dollars
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cleaning up debris in coastal North Carolina
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since 2020. Those figures do not account for
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the economic costs of closed beaches and polluted
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ecosystems. County officials say they are frustrated
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by the federal government's approach. Quote,
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if there are waves breaking under the house,
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that's clearly threatened. End quote, says Dare
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County Manager Robert Outen. Quote, it's money
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there. going to spend either way it's cheaper
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to tear it down end quote their frustration is
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even greater because they say the federal government
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created a solution to the problem nearly 40 years
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ago and then killed it in the mid -1980s congress
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stepped in to help homeowners with threatened
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homes the result was called upton jones amendment
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to the national flood insurance program the law
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named for lawmakers from the erosion hot spots
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of michigan and north carolina allowed homeowners
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to access flood insurance payouts before a home
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fell to pay for demolishing it or moving it the
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law took effect in 1988 the homeowners immediately
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started using it to get their houses out of harm's
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way according to partial claims records obtained
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from fema through a public records request and
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analyzed by npr more than 400 homes in 27 states
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were demolished or moved under the policy But
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Congress was not happy with the results and the
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goal was to avoid having houses fall into the
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water. But in a series of congressional hearings,
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experts told lawmakers that some property owners
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were purposely waiting to remove their houses.
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And Chelsea, we got quite a bit left. I think
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that's a good place to stop for right now. We'll
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link up the article. It's good for the mini.
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I just have to, I think. You know what? I'm just
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going to keep it short and sweet. I can see where
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they're coming from. I really can. However, I
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keep reverting back to if you're buying a house
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on stilts. On the beach? Oh, no. The thing that
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was inevitably going to happen happened. I need
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to be held. You gotta know. Like, this is a whole
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other thing from which people and their emotions,
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where it's like a house that's clearly, like,
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solidified on land. Like, these things, they're
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on stilts. They know it's gonna come. They know
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that it's meant for the water. But they put it
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on wood stilts. Yeah. It couldn't be stupider.
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This is the most stupid thing I've ever seen.
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This is a rich man buying flaming torch juggling
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bear. Yes. And then saying that, oh no, you guys
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all need to pay for my house to be built again
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because it burnt down and who could have anticipated
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this? Who could have anticipated it when we did
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because we built it on fucking wooden stilts.
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Like, what? This is stupid. This is so dumb.
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And I'm still looking at this picture and that
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would be me there. There's like a person sun
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tanning, just waiting for this. Like they want
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to be witness, I think, to this house falling
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into the ocean and they probably go there every
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day just to be like, is today the day? I would
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actually wonder if the house falls off at stilts,
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can you technically go loot it? Because, like,
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they're talking about, like, everything's inside
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the house because it can't go in there. Yeah,
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I don't know that I want to go in there, honestly.
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So if it falls off the stilts, are you legally
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allowed to go loot it? Is looting legal at any
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time? It depends if it's actually, I'm just using
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the term looting as, like, a loose understanding
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of what we would be doing in that situation.
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I don't think it is because then I think the
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stuff belongs technically to the insurance company.
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Well, the insurance company is FEMA, which is
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you, technically. Or the ocean. Who is everyone,
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I think. The ocean might claim ownership to it.
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Maybe the orcas. Anyhow, you guys got 48 hours.
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You figure it out. Yeah, you guys figure it out.
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Don't commit crimes in our name, please. Bye.