Use of FEMA Trailers to House NY’s 40,000 Left Homeless By Sandy a ‘Community-by-Community Option” According to NY Governor Cuomo

As a winter chill sets in and a nor’easter threatens some of the same areas that were hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy last week, more than 40,000 New Yorkers are still without homes, according to City government officials, as reported by ABC News Tuesday.

One possible answer is the use of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trailers as temporary housing, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said during a press conference Monday. He emphasized that trailers are just one of a number of options including hotels and temporary housing.

“There are some local governments that will want trailers. …it’s going to be a community-by-community option,” he said, as reported by ABC News.

“Given the extent of the housing need, no option is off the table,” said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

So far, FEMA has spent $200 million in emergency housing assistance, placing 34,000 people from New York and New Jersey in hotels and motels, ABC News reported. Long-term housing plans have not yet been announced by City and State officials.

The worst of the nor’easter is expected to hit on Wednesday afternoon to evening, bringing rain, wind, cold and more coastal flooding, with steady winds of 25-30 miles per hour and gusts of up to 50 miles per hour, according to ABC. New York reported that according to computer models, the storm could, “carry far less forceful gusts than first forecast.”

On Nov. 1, a spokesperson for FEMA, Craig Fugate, said that available rental housing should be abundant enough that the trailers wouldn’t be necessary to house displaced hurricane victims, as reported on the Fierce Homeland Security website.

Half of the people left homeless are residents of New York City’s vast public housing complex, ABC News reported. The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) website noted in an undated letter from general manager Cecil House, that there are “365 buildings experiencing power outages in Zone A and other areas that require inspection.”

FEMA has created a website to coordinate support for the disaster victims, www.serve.gov/sandy.