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The
last benefits of a federal aid program for Hurricane Maria
evacuees from the island had been set to run out on Sunday
morning, cutting off housing assistance for the group residing
in state-side motels.
But late on Saturday U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin of
Massachusetts ordered the U.S. government to extend the aid for
hotel vouchers to at least check-out time on July 4. At the
hearing, he could decide whether to extend it further.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has said 1,722 families
are currently receiving aid under its housing program, 585 of
whom reside in Central Florida motels.
FEMA said in a statement on Sunday it was aware of the judge's
decision and was contacting vendors to comply with the court
order.
U.S. Democratic Representative Darren Soto, whose Kissimmee
district includes Puerto Ricans facing eviction, said a
displaced family can either remain in the hotel with the looming
fear of losing aid or take a free flight back to the island.
"There's a couple tough decisions people really have to make,"
Soto told reporters.
Hurricane Maria dealt a vicious blow to an already struggling
island that has been in recession for more than a decade, with a
poverty rate near 50 percent.
Maria destroyed or significantly damaged more than a third of
about 1.2 million occupied homes on the island, the government
estimates.
The task of rebuilding Puerto Rico's housing stock ultimately
falls to the territory government, which has no ability to pay
for it after racking up $120 billion in bond and pension debt in
the years before the storm.
(Reporting by Joey Roulette; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing
by Nick Zieminski)
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