Six New Haven families who had fled the devastation of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, scheduled to lose emergency hotel rooms, won a five-week reprieve Wednesday.
The six were among 31 Puerto Rican families statewide who are scheduled to lose subsidies from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) at midnight Wednesday. The subsidies have paid for them to stay in hotels. FEMA ruled that their homes back in Puerto Rico are now in livable condition, so they can return there.
The families contest that conclusion for a variety of reasons and aren’t able to return to the island. So the New Haven government-community task force set up to help the post-Maria influx of families from Puerto Rico has been scrambling for days to deal with an impending emergency.
“Emergency averted,” city emergency management chief Rick Fontana, who heads the task force, reported Wednesday afternoon.
Fontana said that the state’s Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security has agreed to foot the 31 families’ emergency hotel bills through March 20.
New Haven State Rep. Juan Candelaria, who took a lead in urging the state to take action, praised the Malloy administration for the decision.
“This was a community effort. Many people vocied their concerns that we have families that are maybe on the streets after today,” Candelaria said.
Agencies like Junta for Progressive Action have been working with families resettling here from Puerto Rico.
