CAPE CORAL, Fla -  The City of Cape Coral is taking a giant step to rid homes of Chinese drywall.

Effective immediately the city is waiving permitting fees associated with repairing damage caused by Chinese drywall.

It's estimated nearly two thousand homes in the Cape could have chinese drywall.

The damage it causes is extensive and expensive to repair.

The city is now moving forward with a plan to help people get rid of the defective drywall, while still keeping money in their pockets.

Cape Coral resident Richard Kampf knows first hand the damage Chinese drywall can do.

It destroyed piping, copper coils, faucets, which caused major damage to his home.

"We suffered a silent hurricane here," Kampf said.

Last summer, Kampf gutted the entire home to get rid of the problem.

"It's literally taken down from the walls to the rafters," he said about the repairs.

Nearly a year later everything inside is brand new.

"We're happy," he said about the repairs.

But these repairs didn't come without a price.

The Kampf's spent more than a hundred thousand dollars to fix the house.

"We're one of the lucky people who were able to do it ourselves. But there are many unlucky people still out there," he said.

This is why the City of Cape Coral is stepping in to help.

To prevent people from walking away from their homes, the city is waiving building permitting fees associated with the cost of repairing Chinese drywall.

The waiver applies to homes built from January 2003 through December 2010.

This could potentially save someone hundreds to thousands of dollars in fees.

The savings depends on the size of the home and the scope of the work.

But only the original homeowner is eligible.

"We can only deal with the people who are the first time owners and never attempted to walk away or give up on their home," said Chris Chulakes-Leetz.

Cape Councilmember Chulakes-Leetz drafted the resolution, which runs until June 2015.

His next step is to get members of the Chinese of government involved.

"It's time now for them to step up in 2011 and come to cape coral. Stay honorable and deal with they inadvertently created for our city," he said.

Multiple states across the country also have problems with Chinese drywall.

Later this week Councilmember Chulakes-Leetz and Richard Kampf will send a letter to President Obama.

They want him to give federal disaster dollars to help people rebuild their homes.