One Chinese landlord in Whitestone, Queens, said she did not apply for public aid because she illegally rented out the first floor and basement of her house for $1,100. “My tenant wants to sue me for her damaged furniture and personal belongings. I really don’t know what to do,” said Ms. Chen, who refused to supply her first name.
Another immigrant, Yuqing Shi, 60, who speaks no English, took out a loan at a 7 percent interest rate to pay for refurbishment of her house on Kissena Boulevard in Flushing – when she could have applied for cheaper home loans of 3.1 to 6.3 percent offered by the federal Small Business Administration.
Because of language barriers, many tenants and home owners don’t realize they can apply for loans from the SBA. “In the past, more than 90 percent of SBA loans were awarded to individuals,” said SBA spokeswoman Bonny Wright. SBA has issued 1,253 applications to New Yorkers affected by the tornado so far. But because not many applications have been completed and returned, it has approved only two loans – a home loan of $3,900 and a business loan of $40,400.
Some Brooklynites feel they were shortchanged because their borough was declared a federal disaster area on Sept. 7, almost a week after Queens’ Sept. 1 declaration. Brooklyn residents became eligible for the Economic Injury Disaster Loans of up to $1.5 million – one of the three disaster loans offered by the SBA – after their Queens counterparts.
The varying outcomes of the same storm were caused by differing circumstances – Queens homes were damaged by the deluge that clogged drains, but Brooklyn homes were torn apart by the twister. The storm hit 1,359 Queens homes, and FEMA declared 460 of them unlivable. By contrast, 189 Brooklyn houses were impacted, and 76 of them were deemed uninhabitable.
As of Friday, 1,290 households in Queens were registered for disaster assistance offered by FEMA, New York state and New York City; only 171 households were registered in Brooklyn. The disaster assistance center in Flushing, Queens had received 245 visitors, while 130 people sought help at the Brooklyn center. FEMA’s Individuals and Households Program had approved grants of $1.5 million and $56,000 to residents in Queens and Brooklyn respectively. Between both boroughs, 811 home inspections have been completed.
FEMA does not offer cash or unemployment assistance to illegal immigrants, but their American-born children are eligible for aid. Outside charities and volunteer agencies have offered assistance too, helping many undocumented immigrants to make ends meet, such as Tzi Chi Foundation, a Taiwanese Buddhist humanitarian relief group sometimes called the "Asian Red Cross"; the American Red Cross; and New York Disaster Interfaith Services.
Although fewer people are affected in Brooklyn, Katie Wong, an aide to state Sen. Martin Golden, a Republican who represents Bay Ridge, argues that average house damage in Brooklyn far exceeds the toll in Queens. “When a basement is flooded, you can clear it and still live in the house. But if your roof is gone, you have no choice but leaving,” said Wong, as she examined the homes that were wrecked in Bay Ridge and Sunset Park.
