Since Hurricane Fiona hit Puerto Rico, FEMA has approved disaster aid for thousands more individuals and households than received aid after Hurricane Maria in 2017
It was a moderate hurricane whose damage seemed tame compared to the destruction five years earlier from Hurricane Maria.
“This is a direct result of policy changes and program enhancements,” FEMA spokesperson Jeremy Edwards said. “FEMA has put equity and accessibility at the center of our mission.” Just over 1.1 million people have applied for FEMA aid in response to Fiona — the same number that applied for aid after Maria.
FEMA aid to individuals is typically worth only a few thousand dollars and pays for expenses such as short-term hotel stays, minor home repairs and emergency supplies. The aid is not intended to help people make permanent home repairs or replace all their belongings. The rejections were acute in Puerto Rico, where legal records are incomplete, and in southern states among Black homeowners, who were historically shut out of legal systems and transferred real estate informally to relatives, without legal documentation.
Most Puerto Rico residents receiving aid have been approved only for “critical needs assistance,” which provides much less money than housing aid.
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