NEW YORK — Hurricane Sandy victims who were displaced by the storm and are still living in hotels will get help from the federal government to move into longer-term housing, Senator Chuck Schumer announced.
FEMA and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will launch their Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP), which began after Hurricane Katrina, in New York to temporarily pay rent for families who lost their homes in the storm.
The program will help families find an apartment and end their fear of eviction from hotels when an earlier assistance program runs out, Schumer said in a release.
“This new program will allow displaced families now living from week-to-week to secure more stable housing,” Schumer said. “It is a better bridge from displacement to permanent relocation in their former homes.”
Families were put up in hotels and motels by FEMA through Transitional Sheltering Assistance, which is set to end on April 14, according to FEMA.
The program has received numerous two-week extensions to the checkout date, but DHAP will help families find a more stable solution as they search for a new permanent home or wait for their old one to be rebuilt or repaired, Schumer said.
DHAP, modeled after the Section 8 housing program, will give families a voucher to pay directly to a landlord for an affordable housing option, the release said.
