FEMA Hotel Money May End On January 12

Time is running out for Superstorm Sandy victims who were placed in Brooklyn hotels by FEMA following the destruction of their homes and apartments late last October. According to an article in the New York Daily News, the deadline set by FEMA to allow for displaced storm victims to stay in hotels and motels is January 12, and a further extension seems unlikely.

FEMA has housed close to 2,200 families, extending the deadline for the program twice already, but many of the people living in the hotels have no place else to go come mid-January.

“Where am I going to go?” Ruebin Hernandez asked the Daily News, a 53-year-old on disability who lost his Seagate apartment. “If an extension isn’t made some people are going to freeze.”

Hernandez is currently staying at a Super 8 motel in Park Slope, a building with half its rooms occupied by Sandy victims. For those wondering, the January 12 deadline has nothing to do with the proposed $60 billion Sandy aid package stalled  in the House of Representatives.

For its part, FEMA has urged the Sandy victims to stay in touch with the agency, no matter what happens come the January 12 deadline.

“We are proactively working with each family to provide all the assistance we can,” FEMA spokesman Ed Conley said to the Daily News. He has strongly urged victims to call (800) 621-3362.

Here at Sheepshead Bites, we are wondering if any readers know anybody from the area currently staying in a hotel or motel with a FEMA voucher, and if they have no place to go by the January 12 deadline. Please email us at nberke [at] sheepsheadbites [dot] com with any details.