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Washington, 213515

December 20, 2017

The Honorable William B. Long
Administrator

Federal Emergency Management Agency
500 Street S.W.

Washington, DC. 20472

Dear Administrator Long:

We write to urge your agency to approve the expansion of the Direct Lease program, or in the
alternative, to extend the Transitional Shelter Assistance (TSA) program beyond the January 13,
2018 deadline for the evacuees of Hurricane Maria currently residing in Florida. As a host state,
Florida has received over 250,000 evacuees from Puerto Rico. However, the state of Florida and
its local governments have been unable to provide affordable housing due to limited resources.

As you know, the Puerto Rican government has not requested approval from FEMA for the Direct
Lease program. As a result, we request these funds directly for Florida as a host state. This is a
direct detriment to the state of Florida and the evacuees from Puerto Rico. Despite Florida?s best
efforts to assist Puerto Rican evacuees, Florida?s local and state governments lack a suf?cient
supply of housing to accorrnnodate the recent, and anticipated, arrivals of evacuees from Puerto
Rico.

Puerto Rican evacuees in Florida need housing. Florida need assistance to support the housing
needs of the Puerto Rican evacuees. Therefore, we respectfully request that you approve the Direct
Lease program for the Puerto Rican evacuees in Florida, or in the alternatives, extend the TSA
program past the January 13, 2018 deadline for a minimum of six months. We thank you for
continued attention to this ongoing matter.

Sincerely,

?ag

DARREN SOTO DENNIS A. ROSS
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

 

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VAL DEMINGS TE DEUTCH

Member of Congress Member of Congress
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STEPHANIE MURPHY ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

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Member of Congress