\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCreating extra living space without permits can be deadly, fire officials say.A rise in illegal home conversions has Cape Coral officials urging residents to follow proper permitting rules, warning that cutting corners can lead to devastating consequences.A fire caused by a faulty, unpermitted water heater destroyed an illegal conversion in a Cape Coral home, leaving two families homeless. Fire Marshal Dale Deleacaes said many of these makeshift rentals lack a second exit, trapping people as they try to escape. \u201cIf you cut into a garage and meet a wall, it creates a real challenge in an emergency,\u201d he said.Cape Coral code compliance officers investigated 111 illegal conversions in the past year. Officer Ric Miles said safety remains the top priority. \u201cWe take a sympathetic approach, but ultimately it\u2019s about protecting the people living in the house,\u201d he said.Miles says they understand the need for affordable housing, but wants to urge residents and teach them, these illegal conversions have to be permitted. North Fort Myers homeowner Gina Angello knows first-hand the need to find an affordable place to live. Angello says she bought her house with FEMA funds and legally converted it to house three families. “So, I give opportunities for people who are in need,” Angello said. Angello says efficiencies like hers offer affordable options at a time when demand is high.DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tCAPE CORAL, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Creating extra living space without permits can be deadly, fire officials say.<\/p>\n
A rise in illegal home conversions has Cape Coral officials urging residents to follow proper permitting rules, warning that cutting corners can lead to devastating consequences.<\/p>\n
A fire caused by a faulty, unpermitted water heater destroyed an illegal conversion in a Cape Coral home, leaving two families homeless. <\/p>\n
Fire Marshal Dale Deleacaes said many of these makeshift rentals lack a second exit, trapping people as they try to escape. \u201cIf you cut into a garage and meet a wall, it creates a real challenge in an emergency,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cape Coral code compliance officers investigated 111 illegal conversions in the past year. Officer Ric Miles said safety remains the top priority. \u201cWe take a sympathetic approach, but ultimately it\u2019s about protecting the people living in the house,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Miles says they understand the need for affordable housing, but wants to urge residents and teach them, these illegal conversions have to be permitted. <\/p>\n
North Fort Myers homeowner Gina Angello knows first-hand the need to find an affordable place to live. Angello says she bought her house with FEMA funds and legally converted it to house three families. <\/p>\n
“So, I give opportunities for people who are in need,” Angello said. <\/p>\n
Angello says efficiencies like hers offer affordable options at a time when demand is high.<\/p>\n
DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app<\/a>\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app<\/a> to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Creating extra living space without permits can be deadly, fire officials say.A rise in illegal home conversions has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[34325,209,211,210,34330,1089,34326,5052,34323,18303,34327,34329,992,34331,2171,34324,34328],"class_list":["post-55100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-angello","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-efficiency","tag-family","tag-fire-official","tag-house","tag-illegal-home-conversion","tag-need","tag-officer-ric-miles","tag-past-year","tag-people","tag-proper-permitting-rule","tag-resident","tag-safety-risk","tag-unpermitted-water-heater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}