Landlords: Let FEMA and HUD Help You Fill Your Vacant Rental Units
Landlords are asked to register their available apartments with FEMA and the Disaster Housing Assistance Program
Release Date: July 11, 2008
Release Number: 1603-799
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NEW ORLEANS, La. -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are working together to find apartments to house the anticipated 2,000 families that will be moving out of travel trailers or mobile homes and entering the rental housing market. In order to do that, they are asking landlords to register their available rental units to help link families with homes.
FEMA, through HUD's Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP), will pay landlords housing DHAP participants up to 120 percent of the fair market rental rate. In Orleans Parish, for example, FEMA will pay up to $1,188.00 per month for a two bedroom apartment. Payments will be made through March of 2009.
Landlords with available rental property, and FEMA applicants looking for housing, are encouraged to call the FEMA Louisiana Rental Resources Department at 1-888-294-2822. Representatives are available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., to assist callers with listing their available rentals or with locating affordable rentals.
Those with Internet access can search rental properties at asd.fema.gov/inter/hportal/home.htm, a consolidated database of all rentals located by FEMA; www.lahousingsearch.org, a housing site maintained by the state of Louisiana; or hudapps.hud.gov/nhls/, a site maintained by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Web sites are updated continuously, so people searching for housing should check back often.
Landlords calling to register their properties should be prepared to answer a few basic questions related to their rental unit, such as type of dwelling, number of bedrooms and baths, handicapped accessibility, pet policy, monthly rental amount and other items of interest to renters. Landlords have the right to request applicants to pass a credit or background check.
FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.
Last Modified: Friday, 11-Jul-2008 14:46:14