Hurricane Ian destroyed his house. Still homeless, he's facing near-record summer heat.
LINDEN, N.J. − Javier Velez has been homeless ever since Hurricane Ian blew the roof off his Fort Myers, Florida, home and filled it with more than 4 feet of water in September 2022.
This summer will be his second living without proper shelter. His work as a truck driver brought him north to New Jersey in May, and with summer forecasts predicting unusually hot temperatures in the northeast, he'll likely face sweltering conditions for weeks in June, July and August.
Forecasters warn hotter than average temperatures this summer, which officially begins near the end of June, will take a heavy toll on unhoused populations − which include many low-income people who lost housing to wildfires and hurricanes and remain homeless like Velez. Nationally, more than 250,000 unhoused people live on the streets, in vehicles or in other spaces unfit for human habitation, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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