Sunday, March 16, 2014

110 people placed in temporary housing after Harlem blast

 Lucy Reyes, 57, stands with her son Ibrahim Ocasio, 23, outside the NYC resident services center on Park Avenue in East Harlem. The pair were displaced from their apartment at 1652 Park Avenue after the explosion.

Erik Badia/new york daily news



Lucy Reyes, 57, and her son, Ibrahim Ocasio, 23, visit the NYC Resident Service Center after they were displaced from their apartment at 1652 Park Ave. Reyes says the pair opted not to take a city-offered temporary home. ‘It was like a studio apartment in a shelter building,’ she says.




Caesar Mendoza, his parents and his three siblings are packed tightly in their new home — not that anyone’s complaining.


“It’s better than being in the shelter,” said the 18-year-old, whose family was forced from their Harlem apartment by last week’s deadly gas explosion.


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The Mendozas signed up Friday for new housing and landed in a three-bedroom apartment just a few blocks from their old home within hours. “It’s good right now,” the teen said. “Everything is clean. It’s a little small for us. But we can live with it.”


Mendoza said his parents were a bit more melancholy about the move than their four kids.


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“They’re sad right now because they really want to go home,” he said. “They miss our home.”


Mayor de Blasio said 28 families — with 110 people — have been placed into temporary housing. He urged others left homeless by the blast to reach out.


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The city was trying to locate long-term housing for displaced residents. Those seeking shelter can go to the NYC Resident Service Center at 1580 Park Ave. inside La Marqueta Building 3.


Lucy Reyes, 57, said she and her 23-year-old son opted not to take a city-offered temporary home. “It was like a studio apartment in a shelter building,” she said.


clestch@nydailynews.com





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