Louisiana (DR-4611) Frequently Asked Questions and Rumor Control

If you were relocated or evacuated and don't know if your home was damaged, you can visit DisasterAssistance.gov to apply for assistance online. You can also choose to call the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362 to tell an agent about your current situation. If you use a video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service, or others, give FEMA your number for that service.

No. In most cases, FEMA grants do not have to be paid back. If you have insurance that covers your temporary housing costs, but ask FEMA to advance you some money to help you pay for those costs while your insurance is delayed, you will need to pay that money back to FEMA after your receive your insurance settlement.

FEMA partners with other agencies to help meet the needs of disaster survivors. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) offers low-interest disaster loans to homeowners and renters in a declared major disaster area.

You may have been referred to SBA after applying for FEMA disaster assistance. If you still have unmet needs, loans may help with home repair or replacement, personal property, vehicles, mitigation, business losses, and working capital for small business and most private nonprofits.

Learn more about SBA disaster loans. You can also call the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362 if you have additional questions or need more information.  

FEMA assistance is not taxable income and won’t affect eligibility for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, or other federal benefits.

You can apply or update your information online at DisasterAssistance.gov, call the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362, or through the FEMA mobile app.

If you use a video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service, or other communication services, give FEMA your number for that service.

FEMA may be able to provide Lodging Expense Reimbursement (LER)  for out-of-pocket lodging expenses, but only if these expenses are not covered through other means, such as insurance.

To be considered for LER, you must meet basic eligibility criteria for assistance and FEMA must verify that your home is unlivable, inaccessible, or affected by an extended disaster-caused utility outage. You must also submit verifiable documentation, such as receipts, of your lodging expenses.

By law, FEMA cannot duplicate benefits provided through insurance. Many insurance policies include Additional Living Expenses (ALE) or Loss of Use (LOU) coverage, which provides money to cover lodging costs when you are unable to live in your home due to a disaster. If your insurance does not include ALE or LOU, or if the money provided by your insurance does not cover all your lodging expenses, you can submit your insurance documentation to FEMA to be considered for Lodging Expense Reimbursement.

Let the inspector know you did not apply for assistance. If the inspector has left, call the FEMA helpline at 800-621-3362 to tell them that you did not apply. FEMA will stop all further processing for the application. If you use a relay service, such as your videophone, Innocaption or CapTel, please provide your specific number assigned to that service. It is important that FEMA is able to contact you, and you should be aware phone calls from FEMA may come from an unidentified number.

Operators can also assist you if you wish to create a new application to apply for FEMA assistance.

A fraudulent FEMA application could be a sign of identity theft. For information on responding to identity theft, visit Identity Theft | FTC Consumer Information and IdentityTheft.gov.

Do not contact the FEMA Fraud Investigations and Inspections Division, DHS Office of Inspector General, or the National Center for Disaster Fraud for the purpose of reporting identity theft.

Louisiana renters who face eviction or have been evicted due to Hurricane Ida may be eligible for disaster assistance from FEMA. 

FEMA is also partnering with the Louisiana State Bar Association and the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division to provide free legal aid to low-income individuals with disaster legal needs, such as help addressing evictions. Call the toll-free legal aid hotline at (800) 310-7029, or you can get legal advice online through Louisiana Free Legal Answers. 

Fact:

After you apply for disaster assistance from FEMA, you may be contacted by the SBA. If you are asked to submit an application for a low-interest SBA loan, you are encouraged to do so. Applying with the SBA assures that all available disaster assistance options remain open to you. 

Fact:

Qualifying for an SBA loan does not mean you are suddenly ineligible for FEMA assistance. There are several important reasons to complete and submit an SBA application, even if you think you don’t currently need a loan.  For example, you may discover that you were underinsured for the amount of work required to repair or replace your home. An SBA low-interest disaster loan may bridge the gap between your recovery costs and the settlement amount. 

Fact:

The deadline to file applications for property damage is Oct. 28, 2021. The deadline to return economic injury applications is May 31, 2022.

The SBA has established a Virtual Disaster Loan Outreach Center that is open Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Survivors can contact an SBA customer service representative via email at FOCWAssistance@sba.gov or by phone at 800-659-2955. Survivors can apply online at https://disasterloanassistance.sba.gov.