NEWSLETTER
Do you remember the last time he was in endless service with customer service? Or online in the endless DMV?
Take those experiences and multiply them and you could begin to explain how life has been for Felisa Wright since January. He lost his home in Altadena, where he also directed a child care business, in the Eaton fire. That was just the beginning.
A few dozen of other local child care suppliers are in a similar situation. The State offered financial assistance for a month, but that money Since then he has exhausted.
Wright said that what is followed is an endless bureaucratic maze, since it seeks the help it needs to recover. This path is established with blockages and innumerable visits to the disaster center in Pasadena and the Post Office. And yet, two months later, Wright and his family do not have a permanent place to live. She said she has not been able to access a loan for small businesses, or FEMA money beyond an initial emergency of $ 770. Even its disaster unemployment has not yet begun.
“I am requesting everything, but what does not work is that it is not immediate,” Wright said. “I need something now. Right now.”
'They are not doing easy'
Wright and other child care suppliers told Laist that his recovery efforts are in layers with CATCH-22S. Wright said it was rejected by requesting a loan for small businesses because it did not earn enough money. But to start earning money again, you will need to reopen your child care center.
He has not been able to rent a new place in part because he has no income proof or any savings. But you can't get new income until you rent a new place and resume your business there. She said she has not yet received disaster unemployment payments.
“It's too much feet game and, and I already have enough stress in me at this time,” Wright said. “They are not making it easy. It's not easy.”
Someone launched a gofundme for Wright, but she wants to save that money for long -term recovery. Then, for daily expenses, the saving grace has been the insurance of her tenant, which she has helped to cover basic hotels and needs for her, her children and grandchildren after the fires. He also paid him for something he lost. This has been a lifeguard, but he said that it is also the reason why he has not been able to access significant FEMA funds, although FEMA has given him some free nights in short -term rentals and hotels.
What has California offered offered to child care suppliers?
Governor Gavin Newsom extended payments to child care suppliers for 30 days after fires, but declined extending those payments further. On the other hand, he has ordered the state agencies to help suppliers who cannot yet operate investigating their eligibility to Disaster unemployment assistance.
The union that represents child care suppliers said that suppliers in Altadena received an average of $ 3,854 monthly by the State from October. They want those payments to continue.
“I am baffled,” said the president of the child care suppliers, Max Arias of the governor's decision not to continue paying. “And I don't know why, because it's not even expensive.”
The California Social Services Department said that 33 family care houses with license are not yet operational after fires. The union put that number in 54 and estimates that these suppliers served 280 families.
The Alana Lewis child care provider, like Wright, said that a loan for small businesses has been denied, and that state payments would help you get another help.
“Continue paying me is the difference I would make when I am going to request an apartment. Show that I have income that enters,” Lewis said. “When I am going to request a loan for small businesses, it will show that I have income.
A Newsom office spokesman said that the governor's executive action directed child care suppliers “speaks for himself.”
Fighting to get help for disaster is a national problem
Studies show that after disasters, federal aid disproportionately benefits the richest people and white communities. One reason for this is the time and resources necessary to request help.
FEMA He tells disaster victims not to give up If they receive a letter that says they are not eligible and look at the letter closely and continue. Alessandra Jerolleman, who investigates disaster relief at the University of Loyola, New Orleans, said that is not easy for people who sail for a crisis.
“When someone is trying to reach the end of the month, correct, when every minute is necessary for survival, is it reasonable to ask them to spend days trying to navigate this process so that they may receive help?” She said.
Defenders say that a solution to this problem would be to rationalize federal aid applications through a main center instead of people requesting so many different ways of support.
A bill to do exactly that, the Disaster Assistance Simplification Lawapproved the United States Senate in 2023, but did not go through the camera.
“The system does not work in the way in which it was intended and needs a dramatic reform,” said Noah Patton with the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a group that presses for this change.
Felisa Wright is still in a daily struggle to recover. She said that your tenant's insurance money for temporary homes has been exhausted, so now she hopes to get more fema to continue.
“I'm not a resignation. I don't easily give up,” he said. “I will continue to press towards the brand.”
