ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. (WFLA) — U.S. Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna is fighting for FEMA to waive its 50% rule.

Rep. Luna shared this plan first with News Channel 8, along with her plans to get the president involved.

It’s been over four months since Hurricane Helene sent a fatal storm surge up and into many Tampa Bay coastal communities.

Then Hurricane Milton came, packing a heavy punch with both wind and water.

Both left wreckage behind, with millions left picking up the pieces.

It’s a fight Chace Vaughn of St. Petersburg knows all too well.

“Once we got the substantial damage letter, we actually ended up having to send in all of the estimates, draw up all the things, actually literally go room by room and say, ‘This is how much this is going to cost; this is how much we paid for the drywall to be taken out; this is what’s it’s going to cost to get it put back in;’ and on,” he said. “You literally have to detail every single aspect of everything.”

News Channel 8 reporter Nicole Rogers asked, “So you have to fight for the right to repair your own home?”

“Yeah,” Vaughn responded. “That’s the crazy part.”

“You pay all the taxes and everything else for these people… and they’re holding you hostage out of your home is essentially what it comes down to,” he continued. “I think that’s absolutely crazy.”

Vaughn said he had to prove his home wasn’t substantially damaged.

So what does that mean?

Well, FEMA said, if the cost of your repairs is 50% or more of the market value of your house, not including the value of the land, your home is considered to be substantially damaged.

Why does that matter?

If you’re in a flood zone, you might not be allowed to just do repairs.

You might have to completely rebuild, at a higher elevation, which can cost a small fortune.

“I’ve requested and we are actively working this, trying to get FEMA to waive the 50% rule,” Rep. Luna explained. “It’s forcing out a lot of residents.”

“They can’t recover,” she continued. “They’ve been forced to sell their homes for pennies on the dollar and it’s simply unacceptable.”

Now, she’s hoping President Donald Trump can help.

“What we’re hoping for is not only that President Trump can really overhaul FEMA top down, because we saw in some of our investigations that FEMA was actively discriminating against individuals, but also too, maybe they’ll make an exception and waive this 50% rule so that we can ensure that Pinellas residents are able to stay in their homes,” she explained.

The congresswoman hopes that announcement is made in the coming months.

“First week in March is when [FEMA] should actually be down here,” she said. “Hopefully, I’m fingers crossed, that they’ll be making the announcement that they’re going to be waiving the 50% rule.”

But, Rep. Luna said, it’s all up to President Trump.

“That’s going to be up to the president’s discretion,” she said. “We’re pretty hopeful.”

“We have a really good relationship with President Trump and, as you can see, he’s helping out a lot of victims of natural disasters not just in California in North Carolina, but hopefully in Florida,” she continued.

Some of the mayors of Pinellas County’s coastal cities are also calling on President Trump.

Treasure Island Mayor John Doctor sent the following letter to the president saying in part, “FEMA, federal regulations and bureaucracy stand in our residents’ way. It has now been 120 days – four months – since the first hurricane and most of our residents still can’t make simple repairs and return to their homes. We as local government have tried to help our residents, and FEMA steps in to hold us back.”

St. Pete Beach Mayor Adrian Petrila sent the following letter to the president, saying in part, “Neighborhoods are sitting in limbo as rebuilding is stalled by FEMA regulations and federal bureaucracy.”

Petrilla spoke with News Channel 8 On Your Side Wednesday, detailing his plea to President Trump saying, “We saw the president’s comments when he was in North Carolina and then California the past weekend.”

“He talked about eliminating some of the federal bureaucracy that’s keeping people from getting back into their homes as quickly and as safely as possible,” he continued. “My ask to the president is to simply not forget your home state.”

“Remember the people of Florida, especially the barrier islands here in Pinellas County, and St. Pete Beach,” Petrila said.

But Petrila isn’t stopping there.

The Big C, incorporated in 1990, is a governmental council including the following 11 municipalities residing on the west coast of Florida, from St. Pete Beach to Clearwater:

• Belleair Beach
• Belleair Shore
• Clearwater
• Indian Rocks Beach
• Indian Shores
• Madeira Beach
• North Redington Beach
• Redington Beach
• Redington Shores
• St. Pete Beach
• Treasure Island

Petrila asked the mayors of all 11 of those cities to join him in writing one unified letter to the president Wednesday.