Judge Grants Restraining Order Prolonging Evacuee Housing
BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge in Massachusetts has temporarily blocked the eviction of about 1,700 Puerto Rican hurricane evacuees from hotels across the country.
Assistance vouchers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were set to expire at midnight Sunday when U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin granted a temporary restraining order.
The order says the agency cannot end its Transitional Sheltering Assistance program until at least midnight on Tuesday.
The temporary sheltering assistance program has paid for hotel stays for thousands of Puerto Ricans displaced by Hurricane Maria last September.
FEMA says that as of June 27, there are 338 displaced households from Puerto Rico still sheltering in the state — 222 through the federal housing program.
The civil rights group LatinoJustice PRLDEF had filed a lawsuit Saturday seeking a restraining order.
(© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)