BAYAMÓN, Puerto Rico – Ilia González had to make some tough decisions in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane María’s landfall a year ago. Chief among them: whether to leave her home and support network in Barrio Santa Olaya and give up her job.
Gonzalez registered with FEMA for disaster assistance and today is living in an apartment while the home María destroyed is being rebuilt. Both her home and the temporary apartment were paid for by two FEMA programs, and Gonzalez still has her job.
“I am so grateful to FEMA,” she said. “Where would I be without their help?”
María ripped through the modest wood home where Gonzalez raised her three children, destroying all her belongings and wiping out more than 40 years of memories. In the Barrio Santa Olaya neighborhood in Bayamón, about 15 miles south of San Juan, her sister lives nearby. Neighbors are family. “Christmases are the best there. Everyone comes together,” she said.
The night of Sept. 20, 2017, María practically destroyed all that. Everything “was completely gone. Even the flooring flew away,” she said.
Yet Gonzalez never lost hope she would find a safe place to live.
Through FEMA specialists at a disaster recovery center, she learned about the Direct Lease program, one of FEMA’s many temporary housing programs. Under Direct Lease, eligible survivors may live in homes provided by FEMA for up to 18 months from the date of the disaster declaration while they find permanent housing.
FEMA requires a property deed or mortgage documents, among other program eligibility requirements, to verify home ownership. Documents that proved González owned her home were destroyed in the storm.
She remained undeterred.
“I got moving. I had to get all those documents. I went everywhere I needed to go,” she said.
Although she was determined eligible for FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance program, which would provide a temporary hotel room in Cabo Rojo, on Puerto Rico’s southwest coast, she declined the assistance because the municipality is more than two hours from Bayamón. After the storm, the program approved more than 7,000 Puerto Rico households for hotel stays on the island and in 48 states.
“It was perfect. I would have loved to go (to Cabo Rojo),” Gonzalez said. “But I wasn’t going to lose my job.”
She kept in touch with FEMA, and with their assistance and help from local government agencies, she moved into the apartment in Bayamón earlier this year. The walls of her living room are decorated with a collection of small frames, pictures of her grandchildren in the hallway and a colorful tablecloth on the dining room table.
Sitting in her apartment overlooking an enormous blooming red Flamboyan tree, González is able to focus on rebuilding her home in Barrio Santa Olaya with the help of a FEMA grant. She is reminded of how far she’s come since the day she lost it all, and the important role FEMA has played in her recovery.
Her goal is to complete construction and move in by Christmas. “I’ll make it,” she said. “I will have my home.”
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Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, religion, nationality, sex, age, disability, English proficiency or economic status. If you or someone you know has been discriminated against, call FEMA toll-free at 800-621-FEMA (3362) 711/VRS - Video Relay Service). Multilingual operators are available. (Press 2 for Spanish). TTY call 800-462-7585.
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