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Over the weekend, as power returned to parts of New York and New Jersey after a very dark few days, disturbing news began to surface. Lawyers and volunteers from Brooklyn Jubilee, a small legal rights organization, had been visiting a number of evacuation centers in Brooklyn to help people in public housing or with Section 8 vouchers understand their housing rights and options, only to find that FEMA had not yet been to a number of shelters.

In one particular case, at the FDR evacuation center at 5800 20th Avenue, FEMA had not visited at all, leaving these evacuees—who are already very resource-poor—with a complete lack of information about returning to their homes or other shelter options after these temporary shelters are closed. For people who live in Section 8 housing, they are unable to qualify or move to a new apartment until a FEMA representative certifies their current apartments are uninhabitable. This bureaucratic red tape, however well-intentioned, is completely stymieing lower-income folks’ housing security and makes the already vulnerable even more so. For Brooklyn Jubilee’s account, please visit their blog.

What’s more, it remains unclear what is being done for folks who lost their HASA-rented apartments and the steps this population must make to avoid moving from shelter to shelter and finding stable housing.

While the situation may have changed over the last day, we we will continue to monitor the situation. Stay tuned for updates.

Follow the Update blog on Twitter @housingworks.

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