In the News

With federal housing support set to run out on June 30, dozens of Western Massachusetts residents displaced by the Puerto Rico hurricane took to Capitol Hill Thursday to share their stories and ask lawmakers for help. 

Hurricane evacuees, who boarded bound buses early Wednesday, met with several members of Massachusetts' congressional delegation to share their stories and urge them to call on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to extend shelter benefits, as well as to utilize other supports. 

Emily Rodriguez, an organizer with the Pioneer Valley Project which sponsored the two-day lobbying trip, said the 100 evacuees pressed lawmakers to support U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey's, D-Massachusetts, bill requiring FEMA to stand up the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Disaster Housing Assistance Program.

They further urged lawmakers to pressure FEMA to activate the program on its own and to take all other actions in their power to help those impacted by the hurricane -- requests which Rodriguez said appeared to garner a "positive" response.

"The people that we met, they all were down to help and to push FEMA into continuing to support these families and to open the DHAP program, which has been done before for others," she said in an interview. 

Rodriguez, however, said she believes more must be done to educate the public and Congress about the uncertainty and challenges still facing these evacuees.

Denise Nieves, who lives in a West Springfield hotel with her two children, said she faces the potential of becoming homeless if the upcoming Transitional Sheltering Assistance program deadline is not extended or DHAP activated.

"Right now, if the deadline of June 30 comes ... I don't have anywhere to go. I don't have a plan B for this situation," she said in an interview. "And that's what is really desperate, what are we going to do?"

Nieves said she hopes lawmakers heard her and other Puerto Rico hurricane survivors who traveled to Capitol Hill "with their hearts" and understand that there's a big need for the Disaster Housing Assistance Program, which provides subsidies to help families pay rent, put down security deposits or pay utilities.

"All we need is the opportunity to get back on our feet, to stand up for ourselves. ...  In 22 days we're not going to do it, we're not going to find a house and everything," she said, noting that she hopes to stay in the mainland United States so she and her family can have better work and educational opportunities.

Warren and Markey said in a joint statement that they're committed to helping Massachusetts hurricane evacuees as the FEMA deadline approaches.

"Families in Western Massachusetts and all across the country are still struggling after being displaced by Hurricane Maria and have been abandoned by FEMA and the Trump administration as they face a housing crisis," they said. "With the deadline approaching for the end of temporary housing assistance, we will keep pushing for longer-term housing aid and working to support those evacuees who have made Massachusetts their home."

U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, a Springfield Democrat who met with Puerto Rico hurricane evacuees at his Capitol Hill office on Wednesday, said he also intends to push FEMA to extend its transitional shelter benefit or activate DHAP so that families still living in hotels across Western Massachusetts have more certainty about their futures.

The congressman added that he could sense the evacuees' frustration with FEMA planning to end its housing support on June 30, despite ongoing efforts to restore Puerto Rico's power grid and a reported lack of permanent housing solutions for those looking to remain in the mainland United States. 

"For them, there's a lot of frustration given the fact that some would like to return to the island and some, based on their current status, might not go back -- they're not sure," he said in an interview. "They need some transitional sheltering and I certainly favor that ... and I did point out that, until the grid is reconstructed, that it's going to be very, very difficult to see how everything else falls into place to get some stability to the island economically and socially." 

Neal said the entire Massachusetts congressional delegation plans to send a letter to FEMA requesting urgent action to help hurricane evacuees. 

U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, who recently slammed the Trump administration's response to the Puerto Rico hurricane in a Massachusetts Democratic convention speech, was among other delegation members to meet with local residents impacted by the September storm. 

The Worcester Democrat's office said the congressman "strongly supports this effort by Western Massachusetts advocates to raise the voices of those displaced and hurt by the hurricane."

"Congressman McGovern is proud to stand with these families and will continue to call for FEMA to activate the Disaster Housing Assistance Program and do all they can to help our fellow Americans in need," a spokesman said in an email. 

FEMA Federal Coordinating Officer Michael Byrne told Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello Nevares in mid-May that the agency would not implement DHAP for the island's recovery efforts. 

He noted that FEMA's Individuals and Households Program, which offers financial housing assistance and direct housing assistance, had obligated more than $1.2 billion in assistance, including $593 million in housing assistance for survivors. Puerto Rico, he added, would receive $19.9 billion in HUD's Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery to help cover home construction and repairs.

Evacuees who relocated in the continental U.S., meanwhile, can utilize FEMA's Immediate Disaster Case Management program in developing their permanent housing and recovery plans, Byrne said.