FEMA And State Provide Housing To Thousands Of Displaced Hurricane Victims
Release Date: November 23, 2004
Release Number: 1539-288
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ORLANDO, Fla. -- Providing safe and sanitary housing for Floridians with housing damage from this year’s hurricanes has been a top priority in the disaster recovery for the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Florida’s State Emergency Response Team (SERT). Of the approximately 255,000 Florida households found eligible for housing assistance because of Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne, 99 percent now have been helped with money for rent or repairs, and more than 7,500 displaced households have been housed in travel trailers and mobile homes.
“FEMA and the state have taken unprecedented steps in meeting Florida’s housing needs,” said Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response. “We are ensuring people are living in safe and clean environments, and we have housed more than 1,500 families in this past week alone.”
"Every day, more and more Floridians are moving into safe housing, bringing them one step closer to a permanent home," said Governor Jeb Bush. “We will continue to work with FEMA until all the urgent housing needs are met."
The 255,000 households, including some damaged more than once by the repeated storms, are those where the primary residence was damaged, damage was not covered by insurance, and damage was considered sufficient to make the home uninhabitable. Many of the residents have found alternate housing using financial assistance through FEMA’s Individuals & Households Program and aid from FEMA caseworkers in locating available housing units. Still, those in areas with little rental housing available because of the damage needed direct housing assistance from FEMA in the form of a travel trailer or mobile home.
To provide housing in those areas with few rentals available, FEMA and SERT sent teams to clear and prepare sites for travel trailers, identified commercial sites to lease, helped repair damaged parks so FEMA units could be placed in them, created a new type of sheltering park called “Emergency Group Sites” (13 groups of up to 200 travel trailers linked together by quickly installed utilities), and built or are building 11 new mobile home parks. The direct housing program is being made available for those in need while they make long-term housing plans.
FEMA and SERT partnered with Florida State University and Florida Realtors to create a new housing website, www.DHRonline.org. This website currently lists 26,000 disaster housing resources to help landlords and potential tenants find each other. Landlords with access to the internet may post their listings on the website directly. Several thousand visitors have used that site to date.
In addition to the website, fax lines were set up to help landlords with rental units in the hardest-hit areas find tenants. Those fax numbers are: 407-858-6230 or 407-858-2018.
Through the rental assistance and repair money, approximately 245,000 households were able to return home, rent a new home or find a temporary place to live while they put together their long-range plan.
FEMA and SERT continue to reach out through several means to find all storm victims still in need of housing. The primary method is the ongoing FEMA registration helpline, 1-800-621-FEMA, and online registration, http://www.fema.gov.
Another means to find those in need of housing was the creation of the Florida Hurricane Housing Hotline, which to date has helped identify 1,555 households that indicated a need for emergency housing. The Hotline number, 1-888-472-1727, is operational every day from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. EST.
A third tool to identify those in need was Operation Red Tag—a sweep through hard-hit areas by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to identify heavily damaged properties, including those properties tagged as uninhabitable by city and/or county officials. The sweep visited 19,252 residences and identified or verified 1,111 households that needed housing.
Working closely with local and county governments, housing strike teams were sent to the hardest-hit counties and identified many others in need of housing.
Approximately 8,000-10,000 households located in hard-hit areas had no alternative housing resources available because of the major impact the storms had on their regions. In addition to the 7,500 households in FEMA mobile homes and travel trailers by the close of business Monday night, hundreds are being placed daily as requests continue to come in. FEMA and SERT have another 2,750 units already in the state and are prepared to order more if additional needs develop.
FEMA and SERT reiterate their commitment to have all Florida hurricane victims in safe and habitable housing as soon as possible.
On March 1, 2003, FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. FEMA’s continuing mission within the new department is to lead the effort to prepare the nation for all hazards and effectively manage federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates proactive mitigation activities, trains first responders, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program and the U.S. Fire Administration.
Last Modified: Wednesday, 24-Nov-2004 10:12:39