Page 28 - Magazine 1-winter 2017

Habitat Container Magazine Smart and Sustainable Habitats Winter 2017
Habitat Container Magazine November 1, 2017
Before her relatives arrived, Ms. Garcia, who bought their plane tickets, figured out the living arrangements. She gave up her bed so the two couples could trade off sleeping in her room. The children all pile onto a foldout bed and two bunk beds. The rest, including her, sleep on air mattresses in the living room.
The women will share cooking duties, and while food stamps have been slow in coming, the family has picked up groceries at food pantries. Finding jobs is a priority. Fortunately, the job market is relatively healthy in the Orlando area, where the unemployment rate is 3.2 percent, compared with 4.1 percent in the country over all. Photo

Rita Garcia gathered supplies from the Puerto Rico Family Response Center at Latino Leadership’s headquarters in Orlando.
Credit
Eve Edelheit for The New York Times
“I am ready for this,” Ms. Garcia said of the jumble of people in her home. “I think we are O.K.”
Others are not as fortunate as Ms. Garcia’s relatives. More than 1,100 Puerto Ricans were staying in Florida hotels as of Nov. 14. But with peak tourist season fast approaching — Orlando gets 68 million visitors a year — rates are climbing, and the new arrivals will soon have to find more permanent places to stay.
“If they are not finding a house, or hotel, or need to find some independent living, we need to make sure we don’t have a crisis situation,” said Ms. Jacobs, the Orange County mayor. “The situation could deteriorate quickly.” But so far, no plan has emerged.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will not bring in mobile trailers, said Daniel Llargues, a spokesman, something it did on a small scale in Florida after Hurricane Irma. The agency also provides rental assistance. Beyond that, long-term housing is a local issue. The situation is so dire that at a recent round table there was talk of buying an abandoned motel to house people.
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