FEMA Disaster Assistance

I have heard of many people receiving FEMA money who were not affected by the storm. I wanted to examine the types and requirements for FEMA to see if that might shed some light on this.

Disaster assistance is defined by FEMA as “money or direct assistance to individuals, families and businesses in an area whose property has been damaged or destroyed and whose losses are not covered by insurance. It is meant to help you with critical expenses that cannot be covered in other ways. This assistance is not intended to restore your damaged property to its condition before the disaster.” There are two types of disaster assistance: housing needs and other than housing needs.

Housing needs include:

• Temporary Housing (a place to live for a limited period of time): Money is available to rent a different place to live, or a government provided housing unit when rental properties are not available.
  
• Repair: Money is available to homeowners to repair damage from the disaster to their primary residence that is not covered by insurance. The goal is to make the damaged home safe, sanitary, and functional.
  
• Replacement: Money is available to homeowners to replace their home destroyed in the disaster that is not covered by insurance. The goal is to help the homeowner with the cost of replacing their destroyed home.
  
• Permanent Housing Construction: Direct assistance or money for the construction of a home. This type of help occurs only in insular areas or remote locations specified by FEMA, where no other type of housing assistance is possible.

To obtain housing needs assistance, all of these must be true:

• You have losses in an area that has been declared a disaster by the president.
  
• You have filed for insurance benefits and the damage to your property is not covered by your insurance.
  
• You or someone who lives with you is a citizen of the United States, a non-citizen national, or a qualified alien.
  
• Your home is in an area that has been declared a disaster area by the president.
  
• The home in the disaster area is where you usually live and where you were living at the time of the disaster.
  
• You are not able to live in your home now, you cannot get to your home due to the disaster, or your home requires repairs because of damage from the disaster.

You are not eligible for housing needs assistance, if any one of these is true:

• You have other, adequate rent-free housing that you can use (for example, rental property that is not occupied).
• Your home that was damaged is your secondary or vacation residence.
• Your expenses resulted only from leaving your home as a precaution and you were able to return to your home immediately after the incident.
• You have refused assistance from your insurance provider(s).
• Your only losses are business losses (including farm business other than the farmhouse and self-employment) or items not covered by this program.
• The damaged home where you live is located in a designated flood hazard area and your community is not participating in the National Flood Insurance Program. In this case, the flood damage to your home would not be covered, but you may qualify for rental assistance or items not covered by flood insurance, such as water wells, septic systems, medical, dental, or funeral expenses.

Assistance may be obtained for Other Housing Needs, which include:

• Disaster-related medical and dental costs.
• Disaster-related funeral and burial cost.
• Clothing; household items (room furnishings, appliances); tools (specialized or protective clothing and equipment) required for your job; necessary educational materials (computers, school books, supplies).
• Fuels for primary heat source (heating oil, gas, firewood).
• Clean-up items (wet/dry vacuum, air purifier, dehumidifier).
• Disaster damaged vehicle.
• Moving and storage expenses related to the disaster (moving and storing property to avoid additional disaster damage while disaster-related repairs are being made to the home).
• Other necessary expenses or serious needs as determined by FEMA.

To qualify for Other Housing Needs assistance, all of the following must be true:

• You have losses in an area that has been declared a disaster area by the President.
• You have filed for insurance benefits and the damage to your property is not covered by your insurance. You may be eligible for help from the Individuals & Households Program (IHP) to repair damage to your property.
• You or someone who lives with you is a citizen of the United States, a non-citizen national, or a qualified alien.
• You have necessary expenses or serious needs because of the disaster.
• You have accepted assistance from all other sources for which you are eligible, such as insurance proceeds or Small Business Administration Disaster loans.

Just going over the types of disaster assistance and the eligibility shows that no one living in Baton Rouge should be eligible for FEMA money. Baton Rouge was never declared a disaster area by the President. The question still begs: how did ineligible people in Baton Rouge get FEMA assistance?