FEMA Slowness In Referring Qualified Residents For Rental Housing Program Scored

October 30, 2008 8:11 a.m. EST

Houston, TX (AHN) - The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been criticized for taking too long in enrolling Hurricane Ike victims in the Disaster Housing Assistance Program.

With only two days before the start of the rental housing program, only 500 of 6,000 families qualified have been referred. Milan Odzinec, deputy assistant director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said the FEMA failed to send referral letters of eligible families to public housing authorities.

But FEMA has already provided the HUD data on about 6,600 families who qualify for assistance under the DHAP. The FEMA help includes checks or bank deposits for families in the DHAP.

FEMA officials explained the delay to the transition in the DHAP program which did not begin until Oct. 15, which left the agency with little time to trace thousands of qualified families and start the enrollment process.

The families who will qualify for DHAP will pay a $50 monthly rent starting May 1, which will go up $50 monthly until they are paying the full rent or leave their units.

Meanwhile, FEMA also announced it will stop paying for hotel bills of half of 7,000 families after the agency found out these families are not qualified for assistance. But eligible families are allowed to stay in hotels until Nov. 30.

The FEMA likewise extended until Jan. 15, 2009 the assistance it extends to eligible Texas and Louisiana families by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike under its Transitional Sheltering Assistance program. The program provides accommodation alternatives to evacuees who need shelter temporarily until their damaged homes are fit for living.