Scores of Hispanic residents in Prince William County are still in search of housing two weeks after their trailer park was ravaged by storms that produced floodwaters 12 feet deep. About 110 former residents of Holly Acres moved to their third temporary shelter Friday after being forced to leave a county-run shelter at the Dale City Recreation Center.
County officials said they lacked the resources to keep the shelter open since the rec center was unable to collect its normal fees and oversight was costing the county as well, county spokesman Jason Grant said.
“There are citizens that use that [center], including thousands of kids. We had to vacate that [Friday],” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart, adding that federal and state governments had not coughed up any cash for the emergency relief effort. “The county has been forced to shoulder the entire burden.”
The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to pay the Red Cross $40,000 to help find homes for the displaced residents.
For now, the residents are living in a Red Cross shelter at First Mount Zion Baptist Church in Dumfries.
A representative from Mexicanos Sin Fronteras — “Mexicans Without Borders” — helped the evacuees produce a petition last week asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency for help, but given the strict requirements for federal aid, that help isn’t likely to come, officials said.
“They created some false hopes with the belief that FEMA could come and give them some money,” Grant said. “That’s not the way FEMA works. They’re really slow. We’re still trying to get funds from 2009. [This recent flood] is not a large enough disaster to trigger automatic response from FEMA.”
Stewart was critical of the federal response.
“We’re very disappointed,” he said. “We understand there are rules. But at the end of the day, I just don’t think it’s fair that just because it wasn’t a total widespread disaster that these poor folks don’t qualify for FEMA assistance.”
The county and the Red Cross said they will assign case workers to each of the residents to help them find places to stay by the time the church shelter closes Friday.
The county has also raised about $7,200 in private donations to help the evacuees.
