Three Days Remain For Evacuees To Request FEMA Hotel Code 

Release Date: January 26, 2006
Release Number: 1603-309

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BATON ROUGE, La. -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the State of Louisiana remind hurricane evacuees still living in FEMA funded hotel/motel rooms that they must request an authorization code by Monday, Jan. 30, 2006 in order to have their hotel stay paid for beyond Feb. 7, 2006.

Evacuees in hotels and motels must contact FEMA at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) (for the TTY caller,

1-800-462-7585) to receive a unique authorization code that must be presented to a hotel or motel to extend the federal subsidy for their hotel stay beyond the night of Feb. 6. The code is also required for evacuees who change hotels or are checking in for the first time.

The FEMA authorization code program has a few, simple important dates:

If evacuees have not received an eligibility decision on temporary housing assistance by Jan. 30, 2006, FEMA will continue to pay for that hotel room through March 1, 2006, or two weeks after receiving eligibility determination, whichever is later. In every case, FEMA will fund the hotel or motel room for evacuees for two weeks after they have received a determination on their request for assistance from FEMA. Evacuees DO NOT need to complete a Small Business Administration loan application to be eligible for FEMA housing assistance.

The authorization code allows FEMA to work closely with individuals and families displaced by the hurricanes to ensure they are registered with FEMA for assistance and to ensure they are fully processed for rental assistance eligibility before making the transition to long term housing. In addition, the authorization code process will help FEMA make referrals to other assistance sources if individuals are not eligible for FEMA programs and will aid in identifying individuals who may be attempting to exploit the program.

More than 15,000 applicants had already received codes from FEMA as of midnight January 25, representing approximately 55 percent of the current hotel population occupying 27,000 rooms.

FEMA to date has provided rental assistance to more than 750,000 families affected by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Although most evacuees nationwide are already situated in apartments, trailers or other types of long term housing, fewer than 27,000 families still remain in hotels and motels nationwide. More than $520 million has been spent by FEMA to provide hotel and motel rooms rent free to evacuated individuals and families for nearly four months.

FEMA prepares the nation for all hazards and manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates mitigation activities, trains first responders, works with state and local emergency managers, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program.

Last Modified: Friday, 27-Jan-2006 12:25:39