Red Cross workers: Charity changed eligibility after promising Sandy aid

Rosaline Fernandez and her three children live in a tiny apartment. It’s all the high school Spanish teacher could find – or afford – after Superstorm Sandy ravaged her Jamaica Bay home on Long Island, N.Y., a year ago. The bay water met the ocean water, soon destroying her car, the furniture inside her home, her kids’ clothes and all the food.

“The first floor was completely washed out,” Fernandez told America Tonight. “There was mold. There was water. There [were] funky smells.”

Months of living in a hotel came and went before Fernandez heard that the Red Cross could help her out. She said she spoke to a caseworker who told her about the Move-In Assistance Program, a program that has helped nearly 3,000 households, according to the Red Cross. She said that the caseworker explained how Fernandez would be eligible for money to move into a new place and that all of her household items would be replaced. The Red Cross told Fernandez that she was eligible for $10,000. Once she found a new home, all she had to do was submit a W-9 tax form and the application, and she’d be set. Months later – and now more than a year after Sandy – she has not received her Red Cross aid.

The Red Cross raised $308 million to help the victims of Sandy, more than any other agency. It created the Move-In Assistance Program to help people get back to their homes, or find new ones. But for Fernandez and an estimated 1,000 other Sandy-devastated households, they were denied badly needed assistance they say they needed it the most.

In a report on Thursday from America Tonight, correspondent Sheila MacVicar looked at the people who were denied aid that had been promised to them when the Red Cross suddenly changed its eligibility criteria.

“There are hundreds of people across New York that all have the same story, that were all told they would be assisted or they’re eligible for assistance, and did homework for the Red Cross,” said Ben Smilowitz, founder of the Disaster Accountability Project, a nonprofit aiming to improve transparency in relief organizations. Smilowitz, a former Red Cross volunteer during Hurricane Katrina, said that many people affected by Sandy “jumped through hoops, took days off work to collect information, and then only to find out that they weren't eligible in the first place.” 

Around the same time the Red Cross was disqualifying hundreds of families who believed they were eligible for Sandy aid, the charity publicized one of its success stories: a 95-year-old woman who was able to return to her damaged home due to Red Cross money. But this could have been a very different story. Two caseworkers told America Tonight that under the changed criteria, the woman, as well as many others who had already been awarded assistance, would have been deemed ineligible and denied funding.

Smilowitz has collected the stories of dozens of Sandy victims who were promised – and denied – funding by the Red Cross.

“I’ve never seen this type of behavior from a relief organization,” Smilowitz said. “I mean, an organization that’s supposed to be helping people and has a track record for helping people having this type of mess-up.”

The current Red Cross worker who spoke to America Tonight said that there were hundreds of cases that involved a caseworker giving a positive indication to a client that their case would move forward, only to have the case be frozen.

The criteria changes got the attention of Congress. This past summer, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) wrote a letter asking the Red Cross for an explanation of the criteria changes to the program. In September, the Red Cross told congressional staff members that they would review and make good on cases where promises were made. A Red Cross spokesperson reiterated that position to America Tonight.

“If clients believe they were promised assistance by a Red Cross caseworker and our documentation supports this, we will honor their request, even if they do not fully meet program criteria,” the spokesperson said.

Standing on one of the most damaged streets in Long Beach on Long Island, New York Attorney Gen. Eric Schneiderman said that the Red Cross would contribute additional millions of dollars to help Sandy victims.

“They are working to correct some problems and go back and review cases where people might have been denied relief where they should have gotten it,” Schneiderman said last month.

But there are still lingering questions about the criteria. Take Laura DiVito, who has had her case reviewed – and was denied a second time.

“I’m hoping my boilers will hold out,” DiVito said to America Tonight, “and if they don’t I will borrow money. I’ll use my credit cards again.”

Recently, DiVito was told that she was now ineligible. The reason? She said it was due to the fact that she didn’t stay in a hotel paid for by the government after Sandy. One issue that was overlooked, however, was that she has a cat, which would have been one of the exceptions the Red Cross should have allowed since most hotels don’t allow pets. The criteria also fails to consider those people who stayed with family or friends, or the victims who stayed in their damaged homes to protect them.

Even as other victims such as Fernandez are trying to move on, there’s a sense of uncertainty that’s still present. Fernandez said she feels that door after door has been shut on her and her family, adding that the refusal of the Red Cross to help is what hurts the most. She remembers the phone call she received, telling her that the Red Cross aid wasn’t coming after all.

“It was wrong,” Fernandez said. “I thought it was wrong, and I said that to him. “I said, ‘You know this is unfair.’” She added: “There was never that idea that I was not going to be eligible. There was never that conversation. It was always, ‘You have met all the requirements to make you eligible,’ and then, all of a sudden, the requirements change and now, you’re no longer eligible.”