NEW YORK – Shivering victims of superstorm Sandy went to church Sunday to pray for deliverance as cold weather settling in across the New York metropolitan region – and another powerful storm forecast for the middle of the week – added to their misfortunes and deepened the gloom.

With overnight temperatures sinking into the 30s and hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses still without electricity, New York City officials handed out blankets and urged people to go to temporary warming shelters set up during the day at senior citizen centers.

At the same time, government leaders began to grapple with a daunting, longer-term problem: where to find housing for the tens of thousands of people whose homes could be uninhabitable for weeks or months because of a combination of storm damage and cold weather.