Region prepares for evacuees
Thousands of Puerto Ricans fleeing to Central Florida
Since Hurricane Maria ravaged her native Puerto Rico, Mariane Ortiz has been trying desperately to move her family from the island to her Kissimmee home.
But airline ticket prices have soared beyond her reach and thousands of people are stranded at the San Juan airport, making it impossible to bring her parents, siblings and other family members to Central Florida. So only her niece and two nephews, all 12 years old, are coming.
“I want to bring them all here,” said Ortiz, 40. “But I just can’t do it. …This is the best that we can do for now — to make sure that they are still able to go to school.”
Across Central Florida, officials are bracing for a huge influx of Puerto Ricans — as many as 100,000 by some estimates — in the coming months, placing an added burden on school districts, social service
agencies and government services.
“I’m anticipating that a very, very large number of people from the island will be evacuating,” said Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs, who has reached out to other Central Florida leaders and state and federal officials to work together in handling the expected arrivals.
About 320,000 Puerto Ricans live in Central Florida — almost a third of the 1 million statewide — according to the latest U.S. Census data.
Those residents have strong ties to their families and friends on the island, where people are expected to be without power, telephone service or even permanent places to live for weeks, if not months. Making matters worse, the U.S. territory is plagued with chronic unemployment and crippling debt.
On Friday, the Heart of Florida United Way was already launching plans to create a reception center in either Orange or Osceola county — or possibly both — where displaced Puerto Ricans could find immediate help with benefits and information on schools, housing and employment.
Schools
Schools could see an immediate impact as Puerto Rican families seek to avoid a gap in children’s learning.
Orange Deputy Superintendent Jesus Jara said he has already messaged school principals and registrars about how to respond.
“Welcome the students,” he said. “Bring some normalcy back into their lives.”
But he said an influx of new students could affect school districts’ budgets and their efforts to comply with state class-size rules. The district could seek flexibility or help from the state in the coming months if it faces a surge of unexpected new students.
As of Friday, the Orange school district already has had six Puerto Rican students arrive in the aftermath of the storm.
Kelvin Soto, an Osceola County School Board member who is from Puerto Rico, predicted his district could get 2,000 new students by year’s end. By Friday, the district already had 80.
“It’s a lot of guessing, but I’m not just pulling things out of thin air,” he said. “Will people be leaving [Puerto Rico]? Yes, people will be leaving. How many? I would say as many as can get out on airplanes.”
Administrators in the Orange and Osceola districts have been told to enroll Puerto Rican students even if they’re missing some of the paperwork typically needed to enter school. They’ve also been urged to make school social workers, counselors and bilingual staff available to help students and their families as they cope with a hurried relocation.
Osceola Superintendent Debra Pace has also detailed preparations, from a hot line staffed by Spanish speakers who can answer school questions to social workers who will check up on newly arrived students “to ensure that they have acclimated and are comfortable in their new school setting.”
She also noted that her district — now 60 percent Hispanic — has bilingual staff on every campus who can help Puerto Rican families navigate school life. The fast growing district is always looking to hire, she added, so just-arrived Puerto Ricans would be welcome to apply for open jobs as teachers, bus drivers and other staff.
The University of Central Florida, Valencia College and Seminole State College said they would offer new students from Puerto Rico the lower Florida resident tuition rate to help them continue their education.
Social services
The influx of thousands of new residents also will also put more pressure on local charitable organizations that provide food, housing and job-placement services to the needy.
Officials with Catholic Charities of Central Florida, for example, said they’ve started planning on how to help the large numbers of Puerto Ricans expected to arrive with food, housing assistance and community resources.
“Realistically, it has to strain the system,” said Gary Tester, executive director of Catholic Charities.
Organizations are preparing for many refugees staying in Central Florida for the long term, including by helping them find jobs.
“I don’t think people are going to ... go back in a month,” he said. “They are going to be here for a longer stay. That brings into play the employment piece.”
Vickie Martin, executive director of Christian HELP, based in Casselberry, agreed.
“I think our unemployed population is going to rise as people flee [to] here, looking for a new beginning, if you will, because their home cities have been impacted so severely,” she said. “If they are not able to work, even for a week, whatever they’ve saved up will be gone or nearly so. So we’re going to see requests for food and bill-pay assistance.”
State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, said he’s worried local officials won’t be ready.
“They’re booking their flights as quickly as they can get out,” he said. “We need to be asking: What is the state going to do about it? Where are the affordable housing options for those people? Where are they going to work and how are they going to make a life here? I think we’re going to have major issues.”
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said his city is “probably the most logical location in the entire country” for departing islanders because of its large existing Puerto Rican population. He said a coordinated plan involving all levels of government to help people relocate is vital.
“This can’t simply be a local plan,” he said. “It has to be a coordinated federal, state and local plan.”
Dyer said the city’s Hispanic Office for Local Assistance can help bilingual newcomers connect with government and community organizations and find jobs and housing.
Housing
Housing could be a problem for Puerto Ricans who don’t have family or friends to lean on in Central Florida, which has a dearth of affordable housing.
“As if that weren’t enough, essentially all Florida metros already have their own displaced households from Irma and an influx from areas that were hit hard, such as Naples or the Keys, that are bloating the already crowded demand pool,” said Brian Alford, who studies Florida economics for the CoStar Group.
Despite the coming challenges, Gov. Rick Scott said the state is ready.
“That’s why they want to come here,” he said during a stop Wednesday in Kissimmee to visit with volunteers collecting donations for Puerto Rico. “They have family here. They know people here, and they know that they can find a job here. … And we’re blessed that our state is doing so well.”
Puerto Ricans have been migrating to Florida in recent years seeking a better life because of the island’s woeful economy. According to a March 2016 report from the Pew Research Center, the island’s population fell 9 percent between 2000 and 2015, to 3.47 million.
Tester, of Catholic Charities, said the next wave of Puerto Ricans arriving in the Orlando area faced a much more dire situation than a depressed economy.
“They’ve been to hell and back,” he said. “They’re coming traumatized. This isn’t simply that they just want to start a new life.
“No. They’re starting a new life with stress and trauma involved.”