FEMA Hotel/Motel Emergency Sheltering Transitions To Long-Term Housing Assistance
Release Date: February 11, 2006
Release Number: HQ-06-028
FEMA Hotel/Motel Authorization Codes Expiring 2/13/06 By State
WASHINGTON, D.C. - As the nation's largest post-hurricane emergency sheltering operation winds down, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has provided more than 770,000 families displaced by Hurricane Katrina and Rita with longer-term housing assistance.
"This has been an historic emergency sheltering effort that has assisted thousands of hurricane evacuees in their transition to longer-term housing," said Acting FEMA Director David Paulison. "The process of recovery is difficult and we continue to provide rental assistance, apartment locator services and housing referrals to help evacuees take the next step in securing longer-term housing."
More than 770,000 households have been helped with temporary housing assistance in the form of cash rental assistance or direct manufactured housing. This includes the 77,000 families now living in FEMA-provided manufactured homes placed on individual properties or in group sites in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Through presidential declarations issued in 44 states and the District of Columbia, 32 participating states and local partners have placed approximately 60,000 families into apartments that are being reimbursed by FEMA, in addition to those who have located apartments on their own using FEMA rental assistance.
For families remaining in the FEMA hotel/motel emergency sheltering program nationwide, an authorization code program was implemented in early January. The authorization code program enabled FEMA to work more closely with families to help provide them with rental assistance or educate them on alternative housing options before their hotel subsidy ends. Longer-term rental assistance from FEMA, available for up to 18 months, is for those uninsured or underinsured individuals whose primary home - whether owned or rented - was damaged to the extent to make it uninhabitable.
FEMA subsidized hotel rooms for many will end on the dates of February 13 or March 1, a minimum of two weeks after occupants received rental assistance from FEMA or referrals to other services. Of the more than 12,000 codes that will expire on February 13, nearly 10,500 families who are staying in hotels and motels have received housing assistance from FEMA in order to take the next step in recovery. They will join the hundreds of thousands of others who have already made that transition. Approximately 1,100 in hotels and motels not eligible for FEMA housing assistance were notified and referred to other federal, state or charitable resources.
FEMA has paid over $542 million for hotel and motel rooms. With a peak of 85,000 rooms occupied in one night, thousands more families used FEMA's transitional hotel program on their way to longer-term living.
Evacuees in hotels were made aware of the authorization code program through an aggressive outreach campaign which included ad buys in regional and national newspapers, broadcast public service announcements, outreach by community relations field teams and a series of six direct distribution flyers to evacuees under hotel room doors.
FEMA is also referring hurricane evacuees to federal housing options that have been made available by other federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Housing Development and Fannie Mae. Individuals not eligible for FEMA housing assistance because they were not homeowners or renters before Hurricane Katrina or Rita may be eligible for the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Disaster Voucher Program.
Additional resources include: FEMA's Housing Locator call center (800-726-8740, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST Mon-Fri), which will identify available apartments in the Gulf Region and across the nation that can be rented whether a family is FEMA eligible or not; and the online Disaster Housing Resource which lists available apartments, www.dhronline.org.
FEMA refers those not eligible for any form of federal housing assistance to States' departments of social and health services and to charitable organizations, most often organized as long term recovery committees in their communities. These referral relationships are in place for all disasters.
Hurricane Katrina has already resulted in the largest allotment of financial and housing assistance under FEMA's Individuals and Households Assistance Program (IHP) in the agency's history. The nearly $5.1 billion is three times the assistance provided following California's Northridge Earthquake in 1994. Hurricane Rita, which has surpassed the $1 billion mark for IHP allocations, is approaching the $1.1 billion provided to victims of the four major Florida hurricanes in 2004 combined.
FEMA manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates mitigation activities, works with state and local emergency managers, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program. FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.
Last Modified: Saturday, 11-Feb-2006 16:06:26