Feds may put up FEMA trailers in New York to house tens of thousands whose homes were devastated in superstorm Sandy

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said 4,800 FEMA staffers are in the area working to solve the housing crisis.

By Erica Pearson AND Tracy Connor / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Monday, November 5, 2012, 1



Andrew Theodorakis/New York Daily News

Damage along Kissam Ave in Staten Island from Hurricane Sandy on Monday November 5th, 2012.

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The feds may put up trailers and pre-fab houses to shelter tens of thousands of New Yorkers whose homes were ruined by superstorm Sandy.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Monday that 4,800 staffers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency are in the area, working to solve the housing crisis, which is growing more urgent by the day with the cold weather.

“Every option is on the table,” Napolitano said as she visited the Staten Island Ferry Terminal at the tip of Manhattan.

“We don’t really have a good sense of the number who are going to need temporary housing.”

On Sunday, Mayor Bloomberg said 30,000 to 40,000 families need immediate shelter because their homes were wrecked or are without power.

That number, he suggested, could drop to 20,000 or so in a few weeks as power is restored.

But he also cautioned that some large New York City Housing Authority buildings could be out of commission for “a very long time” — leaving thousands of the city’s most vulnerable residents scrambling for a place to live.

Napolitano gave no timetable for the arrival of housing that could include trailers or manufactured homes.

Andrew Theodorakis/New York Daily News

Damage along Kissam Ave in Staten Island from Hurricane Sandy on Monday November 5th, 2012.

She said the feds will have a better handle on what’s needed after storm-slammed homes and apartments are inspected.

President Obama green-lighted the hiring of more inspectors and said the feds would reimburse the city.

In the meantime, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) asked Napolitano and FEMA administrator Craig Fugate to open more Disaster Relief Centers where people can walk in and get help. There are only five in the city now.

The spotlight on the housing gap came amid signs of continued, if slow, progress in getting aid to the ravaged region:

— Con Edison reported about 88,000 customers in the city are still without power and another 68,000 in Westchester are dark, but the utility expects to restore electricity to the “vast majority” by the weekend.

— Construction work at the World Trade Center has resumed, with 750 hard hats on the site. Nearly all the water has been pumped out of the building site and the 9/11 museum, Gov. Cuomo said.

— Longshoremen are back at the Red Hook Container Terminal in Brooklyn and the New York Container Terminal on Staten Island after a week of frenzied work to repair swamped roads, rail lines, electrical system and shipping containers.

Feds may put up FEMA trailers in New York to house tens of thousands whose homes were devastated in superstorm Sandy - NY Daily News