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FEMA Hotel Assistance Program Ends July 1 for 2,500 Families Left Homeless by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria
FEMA Hotel Assistance Program Ends July 1 for 2,500 Families Left Homeless by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria
Jan 17, 2024 3:44 PM

People walk down a flooded street as they evacuate their homes after the area was inundated with flooding from Hurricane Harvey on Aug. 27, 2017 in Houston, Texas.

(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

At a Glance

Some victims of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria have been living in hotel rooms funded by a FEMA assistance program.However, FEMA says that program will end July 1 after seven extensions.The agency says assistance will remain available for those who need it, but victims say they're still on edge because of the news.

Roughly 2,500 families displaced by hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria could be homeless by this weekend when FEMA’s housing assistance program ends.

More than 10 months after Hurricane Harvey inundated much of southeastern Texas with days of heavy rain, FEMA officials say evacuees who are still living in hotel rooms paid for by the agency'sTransitional Sheltering Assistance program will have to pay to stay in them starting July 1.

The funding will also end on that date for Puerto Rican victims of hurricanes Irma and Maria. According to a FEMA fact sheet,are in Puerto Rican hotel rooms funded by the TSA program, and about 1,200 Puerto Rican families are still enrolled in the program on the U.S. mainland.

In Texas, more than 800 Hurricane Harvey survivors are still using the TSA program , according to the Houston Chronicle.

(MORE: )

For hundreds of Puerto Ricans, like María Baez, seemingly the only option after the hurricanes devastated the U.S. territory was to flee to the mainland, and the TSA program made it possible. Now, with little money and fewer options, they're not sure what to do next.

"We wish to have an apartment or a house ," Baez told NBC News. "We feel marginalized. We feel discriminated. All of the Puerto Ricans living here, what we’re wishing for at the moment is to have a home."

FEMA has offereda free one-way ticket back to the island for all Puerto Rican evacuees in the program, NBC News also reported, but many say that's not a realistic solution. Baez, for example, declined the ticket because her grandson is scheduled to have surgery soon, and she wouldn't want to put him in danger, the report added.

The agency said there are other options for those who can't afford to leave federal assistance altogether on July 1. Representatives with theImmediate Disaster Case Management program will be able to help such families with long-term assistance, but they'll need to get set up before July 2. FEMA has asked those survivors to call the hotline at855-742-5993.

The TSA program, which was extended seven times, provided assistance to more than 55,000 Texans in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, the Chronicle also said. More than 7,000 Puerto Rican families used the program for shelter following hurricanes Irma and Maria, FEMA added.

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