FEMA extends deadline for Puerto Rican evacuees staying in hotels

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Bethzaida Crespo and her family are one of the dozens of Hurricane Maria evacuees still using FEMA vouchers to pay for their Kissimmee hotel rooms. And, they don't know how much longer that will last.

"It's like living in a bubble that could pop any second," Crespo said.

She said her hotel didn't know FEMA had extended the deadline for the evacuees by five days. 

"When we woke up in the morning, the hotel had no knowledge of it," she said. "They knocked, housekeeping, and they're like, 'Oh, you're checking out today,' and I was like, "What?'"

A Latino civil rights group filed an injunction Saturday night. 

A judge later granted a temporary stay for those families, with FEMA pushing the deadline to July 5.

Congressman Darren Soto and his staff took it upon themselves to inform local hotels of the change.

"This will give us a few more days to hopefully get some of these families that have been more difficult to place, a place to go," Soto said.

The lead attorney, Kira Romer-Craft, hoping to get these family into homes.

"To get them into more permanent situations, so we don't have this sort of week-to-week needing to request another extension," she said.

This is the eighth time FEMA has extended the deadline for providing hotel vouchers to Hurricane Maria evacuees.