LEE COUNTY, Fla. — Many residents in the Harlem Heights community have questions after seeing construction crews working on trailers in the Heritage Heights community.

“This is empty right now, so everybody’s asking what these trailers are doing here,” resident Geraldine Reyes said.

Habitat for Humanity owns 55 plots of land where trailers are being built.

“This was phase 2, and neither phase 1 nor phase 2 flooded,” CEO Becky Lucas said.

They said FEMA is renting the land for Hurricane Ian victims. 

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Currently, FEMA said 13 families call this space home, and another three families are set to move in soon.

“I mean, it looks horrible,” Reyes said. “Also, like a mobile park.”

Construction is still ongoing at the property.

“The families who are in residence there are low-income homeowners, and many of them have physical limitations, which is why you see the wheelchair ramps,” Lucas said.

Residents seem to have one main question.

“Why, a year later, do they place mobile homes for people that needed it when the disaster happened with Ian,” Reyes said.

They know close friends who needed immediate help after Ian took everything.

“It’s devastating when this happens you need immediate help,” she said. “What happened with all these people? Maybe they have to leave the state and live with relatives. Some of them are probably still homeless.”

FEMA said residents who applied for their direct temporary housing program lived in hotels or stayed with relatives until these trailers were ready. Once they were up, FEMA handed over the keys to those families.

Habitat for Humanity CEO — Becky Lucas said these homes are in a central location, especially for those trying to rebuild.

“Hurricane in survivors that were displaced from their homes on the islands,” Lucas said.

But not everyone agrees with FEMA moving in.

“Is it just to show that they are trying to help because it doesn’t help if it’s a year later,” Reyes said.

At the end of the day, this new FEMA city is temporary in Harlem Heights.

“We have a year lease with FEMA, so we have an agreement for a year to be able to house those families on our property,” Lucas said.

Habitat for Humanity tells me once their partnership with FEMA is done, they will continue to build phase two of their low-income housing on this property. It will look similar to phase one.