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Subscribe to RSSAbout a hundred homeless Sandy refugees in New Jersey were left without a place to stay for several hours on Saturday as a FEMA housing program appeared to run out on them.
At one point, they were being told to shelter at a church in Brick Township where volunteers were trying to find replacement accommodations for them.
NBC New York has learned that when Gov. Chris Christie learned of the situation, he ordered his Department of Community Affairs to work with FEMA to place them in alternate motel rooms.
"We're not going to let people be out on the street," said DCA Commissioner Richard Constable.
At the last minute the night before(on Friday night), a FEMA spokesman said a two week extension to the Transitional Shelter Assistance program had been granted, but that some of the 1500 or so families still sheltering in motels probably would not be notified until Saturday morning, just before they would have been forced to check out.
The hundred or so who ended up losing their motel rooms never got word Saturday morning they could have stayed, according to Constable, and that's when the state jumped in.
FEMA leaves many Sandy victims languishing
Working with FEMA, the families were finally contacted by late Saturday afternoon or early evening, and all were placed in new motel rooms, where they can stay for the next two weeks, which is the duration of the program's extension.
"All families who were displaced were relocated by Saturday night," Constable said.
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The people in this country are too used to government handouts. We have way too many folks that they think the government should fix everything, but in the end it is the taxpayer. The government should help of course, these were taxpayers, but there is a limit on what you can expect. Yes a number of these folks were rentors and probably the land lords have not or maybe do not plan to fix the rental so these folks really need to try to work out a permanent solution. I have seen many times were tornados, hurricanes have damaged in our state of NC and you never hear a lot about it. At some point folks need to be responsibile for themselves just a little bit. Even though you say that housing is tight in this area(by the way it is New Jersey not NY), folks are going to have to decide at some point to get out of motels and back to some place to live. But as long as the it is 'free' to them, they are going to hang on to that free ride. I do feel sorry for anyone of these people who cannot help themselves but I can guarantee you that there are probably a good number of these who could if they wanted to do a little more to help themselves.
Welcome to the United Socialist States of Amerika....
Christie doesn't want people out on the street.........but he does want to: a) Take your guns away..... b) Put toll collectors out of job and give the cash to a wealthy corporation .... c) Keep it illegal to pump your own freaking gasoline .... d) Eat his opponents in the upcoming Gov Race.
Hahahahaha...I love it! What a bast*rd TRAITOR Christine Chrissy TRULY is....
how horrible that there are still folks without a home!!!!!!!! it must feel like the end of the world for some of these folks. you're all in my prayers!
It's okay, Ava. I feel horrible for these peole too. It is a TRAGEDY. You should take solace in knowing that soon, once Blowbama is impeached and unceremoniously dumped out on his a$$, he and his transvestite "wife" will be back in the murder capital of Amerika, living in a spacious, 3-room refrigerator box. They will know what it is like to have a REAL "housing crisis", when theose freeloading sponges no longer have a big, white one to infest...
I'd like to know if any other countries (not states) offered to help us in this devastation?