Advocates demand fixes from FEMA after few Ida survivors get housing help

Advocates working with survivors of Hurricane Ida want FEMA to immediately provide more housing assistance to displaced residents in New Jersey. 

Nine groups sent a letter to FEMA representatives on Dec. 2, expressing concerns that fewer than 200 New Jersey residents had received housing aid beyond an initial two months of rental assistance. 

Gothamist reported last month that 10,700 people received initial rental assistance, but only 1.5% went on to receive additional aid. Since then, FEMA said another two individuals have received extended assistance, bumping the total to 174. FEMA offers another 18 months of housing help to storm victims whose homes were destroyed and who need longer to fix up their properties. 

“Despite the clear need, FEMA and its disaster housing programs often fail to address the housing needs of disaster survivors, exacerbating housing insecurity,” the letter signed by New Jersey Working Families, the New Jersey Resource Project, the National Low Income Housing Coalition and others said. “Without the affordable and accessible homes survivors need, many return to uninhabitable homes, sleep in cars or tents, stay at shelters, double- or triple-up with other low-income families, or pay more than half of their limited incomes on rent, putting them at increased risk of foreclosure or eviction.”