With limited housing options, the 33 Westbrook residents whose homes either were condemned or burned face a serious situation.

After two separate incidents suddenly left 33 Westbrook residents without homes last week, city officials and the community are rallying to help what has become a challenging situation.

However, city staff said this week that there is only so much that can be done for the families using city resources such as emergency General Assistance, and they are instead looking to other options.

On June 18, city code enforcement condemned a large apartment building on Brackett Street due to multiple code violations that included dangerous electricity issues, displacing 23 people, including 12 children.

The next day, a kitchen fire in an apartment on Pierce Street destroyed the building, leaving 10 people without homes and one woman critically injured.

Since that time, the displaced residents have been put up in local hotels, but according to Maria Dorn, the city’s director of community services, a housing shortage is cause for concern.

“Housing is absolutely at a standstill,” Dorn said Tuesday, adding that subsidized housing is also hard to come by and area shelters are full.

All families were initially put up in area hotels by the American Red Cross, but that is short-term assistance.

John Lamb, a spokesman for the American Red Cross, said families in emergency situations are typically put up in hotels for three days, but that each situation is different. Lamb said the organization’s disaster program manager was scheduled to meet with city officials Wednesday to discuss housing for the Pierce Street families.

As of Wednesday, Dorn had met with all the affected families. She said that in order to give General Assistance, the city still needs to follow guidelines, limiting the amount of emergency funds they can provide. However, Dorn said, other resources are being pulled together.

“We’re trying to come up with some creative ways to help in the immediate,” she said. “This community has always been extraordinary at reaching out and supporting. That’s what we should be looking at for their immediate needs.”

On the Westbrook Community Center’s Facebook page this week, residents were urged to support the families by dropping off donations to the center.

“The Westbrook Community Center is more than willing to take donations of household items, furniture, etc. for the families and store it all until needed,” the post said. “We have been asked where financial donations can be made and will offer more info when we get it. This is a community that supports each other and looks after one another. Special thanks to the American Red Cross whose work in our community is vital during times like this.”

Teresa Needham, who had been living in the Brackett Street apartment building with her husband and four children, said her family’s biggest problem has been food.

The Needhams have been staying at the Super 8 Motel on Larrabee Road, first with assistance from the American Red Cross, and now from the city’s General Assistance. However, she said, the family didn’t qualify for any other assistance.

“We have a small refrigerator and microwave in the room, but we’re not able to cook anything,” she said Tuesday. “And we don’t really have the money to keep eating out.”

Needham said her daughters are “having a really hard time” with the move. After city staff determined that the Brackett Street apartment was an immediate fire hazard, the family was initially given 30 minutes to leave. A few days later, families were given an hour to return and take additional belongings.

“I can’t imagine that the apartment will be ready for anyone anytime soon,” Needham said. “We’re doing as good as can be expected.”

Needham said the community center was able to put her kids into the community center’s day camps.

Needham’s four children are 13, 8, 7 and 3 years old. The family had the first-floor apartment on Brackett Street. She said her husband has been in contact with the other family, which has been staying at the Day’s Inn in South Portland. That family lived on the top two floors of the Brackett Street building and has eight adults and eight children.

City Administrator Jerre Bryant said this week that the city expects the landlord, Bruce Hepler, to cover the costs of the General Assistance funding for the Brackett Street families. With the city’s General Assistance budget already in limbo due to the unresolved negotiations on the state budget, the sudden events have put more pressure on the GA office.

A call to Hepler was not returned by the American Journal’s deadline Wednesday.

The Pierce Street fire, however, is a more difficult situation because it was accidental. Bryant said the city is still working with the American Red Cross and Westbrook Housing to find a solution for either short-term or long-term housing.

“It’s difficult, it’s a challenging market right now as far as housing goes,” he said.

In the meantime, Dorn said, the community has been reaching out to help.

“We’ve got a lot of phone calls from people who want to help,” Dorn said Tuesday, adding that local churches have also reached out.

Needham said her family received a visit from Westbrook state Rep. Drew Gattine last weekend. Gattine posted on his social media pages about the displaced families, encouraging the community to help.

“The Needhams are good hard-working people with kids in our schools,” he said. “They and the other families face an uncertain future and need our help.”

Gattine went on to commend the Westbrook Code Enforcement staff.

“People may not be aware, but Westbrook added additional staff to code enforcement after last year’s tragic fire in Portland to focus on substandard properties,” he wrote.

Gattine was referring to David Fenochetti, hired this year to help Rick Gouzie, who had been the department’s lone officer.

Bryant said no timeline has been established for families to return to the Brackett Street building, but said the landlord had hired electricians to evaluate the property.

On Wednesday, after meeting with the remaining families affected by the Pierce Street fire, Dorn said the city will “cast a net” on social media for available housing.

She said high rents in Portland are difficult to circumvent, and rural areas with little to no transportation can be “isolating” to families.

Two families lived in the building on Pierce Street, with four people living in the first-floor unit, and six people living on the second floor. Madelena Kassa, who lived on the first floor where the fire was said to have started, was taken by LifeFlight to Boston with severe burns. She lived in the apartment with with her husband, James, and their sons, Cliff, 30, and Emanual, 22.

Westbrook Fire Chief Andrew Turcotte said it was a three-alarm fire, and more than 70 firefighters were eventually on scene from six different municipalities. The State Fire Marshal’s office also assisted.

A family of six, the Abduallahs, lived on the second floor. Three of the six people suffered smoke inhalation, including Shymma Abdaullah, 37, Alak Abduallah, 13, and Abdullah Abduallah, 30.

Khalid al-Kanani, a family friend of the Abduallahs, said the family was on their way to Westbrook Housing Wednesday to check possible availability.

Chris LaRoche, the executive director of Westbrook Housing, said Wednesday that short-term or emergency housing is nearly impossible to come by in Greater Portland.

“There is an immediate need,” he said. “But there are very limited funding sources for this type of housing.”

The Needham family has set up a GoFundMe page – www.gofundme.com/xeb87c. – to raise money toward a new home. As of Wednesday afternoon, people had donated $245.

“Everyone has been extremely helpful, but there’s only so much that will help,” Needham said.