Elderly, disabled adult home residents asked to repay FEMA Hurricane Sandy aid
At least a dozen residents of an assisted-living center in Rockaway, Queens, that mostly houses low-income disabled and elderly people are being asked to return aid they received from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after Hurricane Sandy damaged their facility.
After the Belle Harbor Manor was evacuated, residents bounced from shelter to shelter for four months. The residents first stayed inside an armory in Brooklyn, then slept four to a room in a hotel "in a crime-plagued neighborhood where they were advised not to go outside after dark," NBC New York reports. Eventually, they moved to a halfway house on the grounds of a sparsely populated psychiatric hospital in Queens.
Twelve Belle Harbor Manor residents have been asked to pay back their aid money. Sixty-one-year-old Robert Rosenberg was told in a letter from FEMA he had until Nov. 15 to send a check for $2,486 or file an appeal. The letter said the money he received was supposed to be spent on temporary housing, but because the residents all were placed in state-funded shelters, it was a mistake for him to receive any funds.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"We're on a fixed income," Rosenberg told NBC New York. "I don't have that kind of money." He said he used the funds to purchase food and clothing, and that FEMA workers told him to apply for the assistance without saying it could only be used for housing.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
The influencer court case shaking up social media
Under The Radar TikTok star accuses her rival of stealing her beige 'aesthetic' but are there shades of grey in US copyright law?
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
What is Mitch McConnell's legacy?
Talking Point Moving on after a record-setting run as Senate GOP leader
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
'A man's sense of himself is often tied to having a traditionally masculine, physical job'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Thirteen missing after Red Sea tourist boat sinks
Speed Read The vessel sank near the Egyptian coastal town of Marsa Alam
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Global plastics summit starts as COP29 ends
Speed Read Negotiators gathering in South Korea seek an end to the world's plastic pollution crisis, though Trump's election may muddle the deal
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Biden visits Amazon, says climate legacy irreversible
Speed Read Nobody can reverse America's 'clean energy revolution,' said the president, despite the incoming Trump administration's promises to dismantle climate policies
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
At least 95 dead in Spain flash floods
Speed Read Torrential rainfall caused the country's worst flooding since 1996
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Cuba roiled by island-wide blackouts, Hurricane Oscar
Speed Read The country's power grid collapsed for the fourth time in just two days
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Wildlife populations drop a 'catastrophic' 73%
Speed Read The decline occurred between 1970 and 2020
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Floridians flee oncoming Hurricane Milton
Speed Read The hurricane is expected to cause widespread damage in the state
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Beryl kills 4, knocks out power to 2.7M in Texas
Speed Read Millions now face sweltering heat without air conditioning
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published