FEMA Extends Deadline for Evacuees
Two-Week extension of hotel program for all states, 10 states receive extension through Jan. 7
Release Date: November 22, 2005
Release Number: HQ-05-378
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced today a two-week extension of the deadline for termination of FEMA’s hotel program for evacuees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It will now end on December 15 nationwide. The 10 states with the highest concentration of evacuees have also been given the opportunity to further extend the termination deadline through January 7, 2006, upon application by the Governor.
To accommodate efforts to move all evacuees out of hotels and into apartments and longer-term homes, FEMA has extended the previously announced end of the federally-reimbursed hotel program which had been Dec. 1. With 29 states lodging less than 100 families each, the task of locating housing before the holidays is an attainable goal. For example, the state of New York is hosting 273 households, which means they need to place roughly 12 families a day in order to have everyone in homes by Dec. 15.
The 10 states with the highest concentration of evacuees in hotel rooms will have the ability to extend until Jan. 7 to help evacuees find longer-term housing on the condition that they provide FEMA with a plan to reach the Jan. 7 deadline. The ten states eligible to request the additional extension are Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Tennessee and Texas. The request and transition plan must be submitted to FEMA for expedited review. More than 92 percent of the approximately 50,000 families still living in hotel rooms are located in these 10 states.
“Our top priority remains addressing the long-term needs of millions of hurricane victims. Today we offered an extension to the end of the hotel program because we are committed to working with Governors and Mayors to move evacuees out of hotels and into long-term housing,” said Acting FEMA Director David Paulison. “We recognize that finding housing is a challenge, but this is a doable task and we are confident that as we work together we will improve the quality of life for thousands of evacuees.”
FEMA will require the 10 states receiving further extensions up to Jan. 7 to outline plans and timelines for completing the placement of evacuee households into qualified temporary housing. FEMA will also require those states to submit periodic status reports outlining their progress in meeting in conjunction with extensions of the hotel program beyond Dec. 15.
FEMA will continue to provide rental assistance to hurricane victims across the country for up to 18 months. That means that by Jan. 7, tens of thousands of Katrina victims will have had a safe, private and comfortable home, be it a hotel or motel room, for four and a half months after the storm at no cost to them and without reducing their eligibility for other FEMA assistance.
FEMA has provided $500 million to hurricane evacuees in the last seven days and has provided more than $4.4 billion to 1.4 million families affected by the Gulf Coast hurricanes, to date.
The $300 million hotel program is a less cost effective and less comfortable solution for families working to recover from these storms. As of Nov. 21, less than 50,000 hurricane evacuees remained in hotels and motels. Evacuees are being encouraged to call the toll-free FEMA helpline to learn about available housing options.
In order to communicate all available options, FEMA is reaching out to evacuees with public service announcements through local media, and distributing flyers to all of the hotels and motels in the program. Evacuees are also being contacted directly by state, voluntary organizations and FEMA representatives visiting hotels and motels. FEMA has also set up a housing referral service.
All evacuees who need help finding housing may contact FEMA’s housing locator service (1-800-762-8740; TTY 1-800-462-7585 – open daily from 8 am – 9 pm EST). For other forms of assistance, evacuees may contact FEMA’s help line (1-800-621-FEMA or TTY 1-800-462-7585) or a nearby Disaster Recovery Center to learn more about alternative housing options and referral services. For information about HUD programs, call 1-800-955-2232 (TTY is 1-800-877-8339) for general inquiries and 1-866-373-9509 (TTY 1-800-877-8339) for affected families to learn about the Katrina Disaster Housing Assistance Program.
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: Wednesday, 23-Nov-2005 18:20:56