El Reno Woman Claims Government-Paid Contractors Destroyed Home - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports |

An elderly woman says contractors, paid for by a special government program, have left her home in shambles.

Alta Grant says the contractors didn't just take advantage of her, but are using taxpayers' money to do botched repair work for the elderly, disabled and those on a fixed income.

This El Reno homeowner says you don't have to be a contractor or even a handy man to know that her house won't be a home for very long.

"See that eventually over time it is going to fall. It's going to be buckling, it's going to look terrible," Grant said.

With just one look you see faulty siding, a sloping foundation and bricks used to prop up her home and cover exposed piping. She says a grant from the housing finance authority was supposed to help, but she claims they made a bad situation worse.

"They were supposed to have supported this bedroom floor and when you go in there it shakes like a bowl of jelly it shakes," said Grant.

While subcontractors worked on her home she had to stay in a hotel, but she took several pictures of the work before and after. She says six months later, she realized taxpayer money wasn't being used well.

"When you use federal funds to do anything, your records are supposed to be open to the public because they are federal funds, taxpayers' money and the law says you treat everybody the same," said Grant.

Grant has written dozens of letters to the program directors, HUD and the housing authority. And she says she discovers new problems daily.

"My cable lines had all been cut up. They chopped up all my cable lines."

Grant was out of her home a total of six months. She says she will now have to hire a contractor to make repairs. Grant says she is nervous to stay in her home. News 9 contacted the housing authority, but haven't heard back.