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New York

One year after Sandy, hundreds still homeless

The streets of Red Hook, Brooklyn, flooded after Hurricane Sandy
The streets of Red Hook, Brooklyn, flooded after Hurricane Sandy

On the first anniversary of Hurricane Sandy more than 200 people displaced by the storm are still living in shelters, in temporary housing or with friends. Most are waiting for the Bloomberg administration to approve a two-year housing voucher that would assist them with rent.

“They just can’t afford housing on the private market especially because the rents have gone up in the places they used to live,” Judith Goldiner, a Legal Aid Society attorney helping storm victims, told the New York Daily News. “The city has completely abandoned them and seems to just want them to go away.”

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But Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo disagrees, arguing that that the city “dedicated tremendous effort and resources to more than 3,000 individuals displaced by Hurricane Sandy.” City officials added that the cost of providing hotels to victims has reached more than $73 million.

And although so many are still homeless, the city claims that it cannot afford to support storm victims without continued FEMA funding, making the future of those stripped of their possessions even more uncertain. [NYDN] –Christopher Cameron

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Hurricane Sandy