The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the largest of many agencies that provide assistance after disasters. FEMA’s assistance is supposed to fill in the gaps not covered by ongoing government assistance programs, insurance companies and private charitable organizations like the Red Cross. In all cases, FEMA’s operational goal is to facilitate moving households from temporary shelter to permanent housing solutions as quickly as possible. Knowing more about what FEMA can and cannot do can help speed your household’s return to stable housing.
You must register with FEMA to apply for disaster assistance. If you have not yet registered, you should go to DisasterAssistance.gov. Scroll down to the section titled “Currently Declared Disasters” to find out if your county is eligible. Even if you are not eligible for FEMA housing assistance, you should register because you may be eligible to receive assistance for other personal recovery needs. FEMA also has a Fact Sheet about what to expect when applying for assistance, including information needed, inspections and following up with FEMA. FEMA staff suggest that making sure you complete an accurate registration helps process applications with fewer delays. It is also very important to make sure your current contact information is kept up to date with FEMA so that they can contact you quickly about your assistance.
FEMA’s primary assistance program is the Individuals and Households Program (IHP). IHP can provide Financial Housing Assistance, Direct Housing Assistance and Other Needs Assistance.
Financial Housing Assistance includes Rental Assistance and Lodging Expense Reimbursement (LER). LER is used to reimburse hotel, motel or other short-term lodging, while Rental Assistance is used to rent temporary housing until building repair or replacement is completed. Homeowners may also qualify for Home Repair Assistance and Home Replacement Assistance.
Direct Housing Assistance is provided when there is not adequate existing rental stock in the area to use as temporary housing. It can include FEMA-owned manufactured housing or multi-family rental housing that FEMA leases directly from the landlord. In insular areas outside the continental United States, FEMA can also support Permanent or Semi-Permanent Housing construction.
FEMA determines each household’s maximum limit of IHP assistance. Direct Housing Assistance does not count against a household’s IHP limit. IHP assistance is available for up to 18 months following the disaster declaration date. The maximum amount of IHP financial assistance is based on the Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index for the Fiscal Year in which the disaster is declared. For Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria the maximum amount is $33,000; and $33,400 for the California wildfires.
FEMA also administers Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA) in areas where the scale of damage or projected duration of disaster reconstruction is great. FEMA makes direct TSA payments to lodging providers for short-term accommodations. TSA lasts 14 days, and is renewable up to 60 days. TSA does not count against a household’s IHP limit.
Households receiving FEMA housing assistance are required to create a Permanent Housing Plan early in the registration process. It outlines how a household plans to return to a permanent housing situation similar to what they had before the disaster. Households may receive different forms of FEMA housing assistance as they progress through recovery efforts. LER and TSA are most commonly used early following a disaster, with FEMA moving families onto the Rental Assistance program quickly as part of going forward with their Permanent Housing Plans. The goal is also to move households from FEMA-owned housing onto Rental Assistance and permanent housing as soon as possible.
Rental Assistance is the primary tool FEMA uses to move people into more permanent housing. IHP Rental Assistance will pay up to the HUD Fair Market Rent (FMR) for the area in which the housing is located, including the HUD-determined utility allowance. Utilities covered include gas, electric, water/sewer and garbage, but not phone, TV or Internet. Rental Assistance will also cover one month’s security deposit. The maximum compensation limit for IHP Rental Assistance is 18 months rent plus security deposit. It can be used to rent an apartment, house, manufactured home, recreational vehicle or other fabricated dwelling.
A good flow chart showing how people should move through the FEMA assistance process can be found on page 4 of an overview provided by SBP, a nonprofit organization that helps to speed the time between disaster and recovery. It also includes many tips for completing FEMA applications. You can access SBP’s FEMA assistance overview here.
A household cannot receive FEMA housing assistance and housing assistance from another government program at the same time. If a public housing tenant’s apartment is damaged and they have to move out, HUD would stop making the public housing subsidy payment and the family would use FEMA assistance while dislocated. When their apartment is repaired and they return home, their HUD subsidy will begin anew and the FEMA assistance will stop. Owners of Project-Based Section 8 properties have the option of renting other apartments for their tenants to use while the damaged building is repaired. In that case, the Section 8 property owner would continue receiving HUD subsidy and the tenants would pay the same Section 8 rent. Otherwise, the tenant would find their own temporary housing with FEMA Rental Assistance, and restart their Section 8 subsidy when their old apartment has been repaired.
If you are looking for either temporary or permanent affordable housing, owners and operators of affordable housing properties have options that allow them to prioritize and help disaster survivors. This is true both in the areas of a declared disaster and elsewhere in the country should your household decide to relocate.
Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) can relax their multifamily housing guest rules, allowing people to stay with relatives for longer periods. Many PHAs have disaster survivor waiting list preferences for public housing and Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers. You can visit Affordable Housing Online’s Disaster Housing Assistance Search Page here, or check with the PHA in the area where you are applying to live to see if they have this preference. Owners of Project-Based Section 8 properties can give preference to disaster survivors for vacant units. If the household is not eligible for Section 8, they may still rent the unit but must pay the full Fair Market Rent. FEMA Rental Assistance can pay this rent. Another option is to search for properties funded through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program (LIHTC). Owners of LIHTC properties can opt to accept disaster survivors, although they are not required to do so. These properties have rents at or near the HUD Fair Market Rent and FEMA rental assistance can be used. You can search for your area on Affordable Housing Online here, and look for properties with the Low Income Housing Tax Credit tag.
IHP also provides for Other Needs Assistance (ONA). This program helps individuals and households address serious recovery needs besides housing. Eligibility for some types of ONA is dependent on a household’s status with the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Disaster Loan program, which provides long-term, low-interest loans to help with personal property, transportation, moving and storage expenses. Only individuals and households that do not qualify for SBA loans can receive ONA personal property, transportation, moving and storage assistance. Regardless of whether a household has qualified for a loan from SBA, they may receive funeral assistance, medical and dental assistance and child care assistance through ONA.
Many people have misconceptions about FEMA disaster assistance. Blair McDonald, senior advisor at FEMA, noted a couple of the most common. First, FEMA will not cover all of a household’s disaster losses. The actual FEMA award a household may receive is adjusted by several factors, including insurance proceeds, other federal programs and voluntary organization assistance provided. Although the 2017 IHP cap is around $33,000, the average IHP award prior to the 2017 hurricane season was approximately $7,700.
Also, many believe that once FEMA approves the use of Direct Housing for a disaster, anyone can apply for a Temporary Housing Unit. FEMA makes the determination about who is eligible for Direct Housing and uses specific criteria to make these decisions. In the case of renters, FEMA’s inspectors must determine that the pre-disaster home had major damage or was destroyed. FEMA then contacts applicants for information about their unmet housing needs and works with them to identify appropriate rental housing. Direct Housing is considered only after these steps have been taken.
Finally, many people make the mistake of believing that their Temporary Housing Assistance is guaranteed for 18 months from the time they first receive it. However, the limit for assistance is 18 months following the initial disaster declaration. Continued receipt of assistance past that point is based on the applicant demonstrating to FEMA continued eligibility based on need.
Recovering from a disaster is challenging, but knowing more about what kinds of assistance are available can make the process go more smoothly.
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