FEMA Asks Disabled NYC Adults For Money

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has asked dozens of New York City residents who lost their housing to Superstorm Sandy for thousands of dollars in payment. The elderly residents of Belle Harbor Mansion, some of whom have significant disabilities, were displaced after Sandy flooded the adult home. The residents were placed four to a room in a hotel in a crime-plagued neighborhood after Belle Harbor was damaged in the storm. Now, FEMA has asked at least a dozen residents to pay up after notifying them they were retroactively declared ineligible for the aid checks they received in 2012. Robert Rosenberg, 61, who has a spinal disability and chronic health problems, has been asked to pay FEMA $2,486 by November 15. "We're on a fixed income. I don't have that kind of money!,” he said. Rosenberg feels betrayed because FEMA workers encouraged him and his residents to apply for government aid. "Everyone asked, 'Do we have to pay this back later on? Is it a loan?' They said, 'No. It's a gift from Obama. If I wasn't eligible, then why give it to me in the first place? It's not like we lied on the application."