Is FEMA paying rent? (Still??)

[annegal]

I know someone who is moving in with a friend who is renting an apartment in the French Quarter. Rent is $1500. The man claims that FEMA is paying half the rent -so I'm guessing about $700? This person says he'll only have to come up with half of the half the guy pays. He also says FEMA is paying the rent for 18 months.

Why?

(PS....this person tends to exaggerate a lot)

 

[Marie17]

Excerpt from WWL - 870am website...

The latest deadline from FEMA, which has been candid about wanting to transition evacuees from federal assistance to self-reliance, only affects refugees already enrolled in an 18-month assistance program that expires in February.

The program, also known as the Section 408 program, was only open to evacuees who are heads of households and who rented or owned property in hurricane-battered areas.

Under the program, recipients are renewed assistance every three months so long as they show FEMA receipts for rent payments and provide a long-term housing plan. FEMA said it sent letters to 30,000 victims whose latest three months of aid ends Monday but that only 10 percent responded with the correct forms and information.

Anybody on this program has to have met the guidelines set up already AND they only have 7 months left in its entirety. The 18 months are from the date of the storm - same thing goes with the FEMA trailers that are set up in front of people's homes.

 

[ducklite]

I know someone who is living in a FEMA trailer. The trailer is parked on his land next to what was his home. He has the cash to rebuild the home (was properly insured), has the plans, the permits, but is on the list with the builder. The land has been cleared and prepped.

His house had been built on stilts, and would have survived the storm with minimal flooding, but a neighbors house had been ripped off it's foundation by the storm surge, came crashing into this guys house, and it got knocked off the stilts. They found it a few blocks away, everything in the attic was completely intact and dry! (They had moved a lot of belongings into plastic tubs and stored them in the attic in case of flooding--it's a pretty remarkable story.)

He has been in regular contact with FEMA, and they have told him that as long as he has taken the steps that he has, he is not in danger of losing the trailer.

BTW--his parents house was also damaged to the point that it needed total rebuilding, and their new home is being built now. He will move in there with his family once the parents house is done and live there until his home is rebuilt, so there is an end to their need for the trailer in sight.

Anne

 

[lulu71]

He has been in regular contact with FEMA, and they have told him that as long as he has taken the steps that he has, he is not in danger of losing the trailer.

I don't think he'll have a problem, at least until he actually wants the trailer removed. There have been a number of stories on the news here about people who have finished their homes but can't get FEMA to pick up the trailers. And yet there is still a waiting list for people to get trailers.

 

[lucas]

I don't have any answers to the OP. Just wanted to say that my uncle (in his 80's) is also living in a FEMA trailer, and so is the rest of his neighborhood. His trailer is on the lot where his house used to be in Slidell. He lost everything he owned except his truck and what he left with.

What is interesting and what I don't undestand is all the trailers in Metairie, sitting in front of peoples houses - even where there was no flooding. My parents live in Metairie (close to Delta Playground) and they had no flooding in that area, but you still see so many trailers in the front yards of other houses in that area.

 

[MrsKreamer]

I don't have any answers to the OP. Just wanted to say that my uncle (in his 80's) is also living in a FEMA trailer, and so is the rest of his neighborhood. His trailer is on the lot where his house used to be in Slidell. He lost everything he owned except his truck and what he left with.

What is interesting and what I don't undestand is all the trailers in Metairie, sitting in front of peoples houses - even where there was no flooding. My parents live in Metairie (close to Delta Playground) and they had no flooding in that area, but you still see so many trailers in the front yards of other houses in that area.

Maybe I can answer that for you. My dad lives on the westbank and his neighborhood did not flood. HOWEVER, the high winds ripped off some shingles, which led to his home getting rain water in. Due to the parish being closed for a month after the storm, the mold moved in. He had to have all of the ceilings replaced, as well as all of the drywall in the kitchen, both bathrooms, and his bed room. Because of the mold, he and my stepmother could not live in the home...therefore they were provided with a FEMA trailor. So as you can see, even theough their home didn't flood, they still could not live inside it.

 

[Marie17]

Where my parents live they have a lady down the street that has a FEMA trailer. No damage was done pratically to the entire neighborhood but her son did live in New Orleans. The trailer can be placed anywhere that is legal to do so - he is renovating his home in New Orleans but lives in his FEMA trailer at his mom's house until the house is done.

 

[lucas]

Makes sense! Thanks, guys.

 

[annegal]

Where my parents live they have a lady down the street that has a FEMA trailer. No damage was done pratically to the entire neighborhood but her son did live in New Orleans. The trailer can be placed anywhere that is legal to do so - he is renovating his home in New Orleans but lives in his FEMA trailer at his mom's house until the house is done.

I would bet LOTS of people are doing this-living in FEMA trailers in a relative's property.