BRANDON, Fla. – Volusia County is now approved for FEMA Direct Temporary Housing Assistance for Hurricane Ian survivors.
Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Hardee, Lee and Sarasota counties are the other counties currently approved for Direct Temporary Housing Assistance, which provides options for eligible survivors whose homes are uninhabitable
because of the hurricane.
FEMA determined that rental assistance is insufficient to meet the housing needs in those counties because of the lack of available housing resources.
FEMA will notify survivors who are eligible for direct housing. It will take time to transport, permit, install and inspect these units before they are ready to occupy.
The Direct Housing Program Provides Three Primary Options:
- Multi-Family Lease and Repair, where FEMA enters into a lease agreement with the owner of multi-family rental properties and makes repairs to provide temporary housing for survivors.
- Transportable Temporary Housing Units, including travel trailers and mobile homes.as a travel trailer or manufactured home.
- Direct Lease, which is leasing existing ready-for-occupancy housing.
Direct Temporary Housing Assistance may be provided for up to 18 months from Sept. 29, 2022, the date of the federal disaster declaration, to March 28, 2024.
Direct Temporary Housing Assistance takes significant time to implement and is not an immediate solution for a survivor's interim and longer-term housing needs. Additionally, not all survivors impacted by the disaster will be eligible for direct housing. It is important that partners at all levels – local, state, other federal, nonprofit and private sector – work together to fill potential gaps.
Survivors who have applied to FEMA for assistance do not need to reapply to be eligible for Direct Temporary Housing Assistance. If you haven’t yet applied, you can apply online at DisasterAssistance.gov, use the FEMA app for smartphones or call 800-621-3362. Help is available in most languages. If you use a relay service, such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others, give FEMA the number for that service. Lines are open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week. The application deadline is January 12, 2023.
For the latest information on Florida’s recovery from Hurricane Ian, visit floridadisaster.org/info and fema.gov/disaster/4673. Follow FEMA Region 4 (@femaregion4) / Twitter and at facebook.com/fema.
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