Bitter cold inside a disaster shelter
'You could see your breath,' displaced resident says
By Stephen Edelson, Asbury Park Press, Nov 10, 2012

OCEANPORT —. [....]

“Sitting there last night you could see your breath,” said Sotelo. “At (Pine Belt) the Red Cross made an announcement that they were sending us to permanent structures up here that had just been redone, that had washing machines and hot showers and steady electric, and they sent us to tent city. We got (expletive).

“The elections are over and here we are. There were Blackhawk helicopters flying over all day and night. They have heavy equipment moving past the tents all night.”

Welcome to the part of the disaster where people start falling through the cracks [....]

As Sotelo tells it, when it became clear that the residents were less than enamored with their new accommodations Wednesday night and were letting the outside world know about it, officials tried to stop them from taking pictures, turned off the WiFi and said they couldn’t charge their smart phones because there wasn’t enough power.

“My 6-year-old daughter Angie was a premie and has a problem regulating her body temperature,” Sotelo noted. “Until 11 (Wednesday) night they had no medical personnel at all here, not even a nurse. After everyone started complaining and they found out we were contacting the press, they brought people in. Every time we plugged in an iPhone or something, the cops would come and unplug them. Yet when they moved us in they laid out cable on the table and the electricians told us they were setting up charging stations. But suddenly there wasn’t enough power.”

All of this is merely the last straw for a 46-year-old on disability, with two rods and 22 staples in his back.

“The staff at the micro-city are providing for the needs of all the evacuees,” said Nicole Brossoie, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services. “Each day there is transportation to the pharmacy for prescription medications, if needed. There are ADA (handicapped-accessible) toilets and showers on site. [....]

LI officials hunt for housing amid shortage
By Keith Herbert and Sarah Crichton, Newsday, Nov. 11, 2012

Thousands of LongIslanders have housing assistance money in their pockets but no place to go because hotels and motels are jammed and county officials haven't decided which temporary housing options to pursue.

Two weeks after Sandy ravaged the region, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials say they're awaiting requests for housing from local government.

Options for Nassau and Suffolk include placing mobile homes on storm-scarred properties, creating large temporary communities and moving families into foreclosed properties [....]

Besides hotels, motels and hospitals -- all of which are full -- unused space in nursing homes, unoccupied and undamaged homes, military bases and college campuses will be considered, Eisenstein said. Even cabins at a Baiting Hollow Boy Scout camp are under consideration. [....]

"We receive 6,000 phone calls a day from people looking for a place to stay," said Marc Soblick, 32, general manager of the Best Western Woodbury Inn, one of the FEMA temporary housing sites. "Demand is so high. There's just no availability."

Suffolk director of real estate Jill Rosen-Nikoloff said the county reached an agreement late last week with the Long Island Housing Partnership and federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to use rehabilitated foreclosed homes. Eighteen homes had been identified by Saturday, she said [....]