Thousands of WNC residents who were deemed eligible for Federal Emergency Management Agency housing aid declined the agency’s offer for a free place to stay in the months or weeks after Hurricane Helene, a new data analysis by BPR shows.
By estimates from the state government, Hurricane Helene damaged more than 73,000 homes, potentially leaving thousands displaced in Western North Carolina.
FEMA helped nearly 17,000 people find housing after the storm including hotel rooms paid for by the federal government and rental properties leased by FEMA, according to government data. But more than 10 times that amount were offered housing or temporary shelter help from FEMA, BPR’s analysis finds.
Bryanna Bible, 42, of Woodfin, applied for FEMA aid because she needed financial help due to being unable to work after Hurricane Helene. Her apartment, she said, wasn’t damaged but the agency offered her shelter in a hotel nonetheless.
She worried she may have made errors on her application but was told her information was correct, she told BPR.
“ I was very specific that I did not need housing and they just really didn't care,” Bible said. The FEMA representative she spoke with, she said, “was like ‘This is what we can offer. This is it.’”
At the time, Bible – like many in Buncombe County – was living without tap water and electricity. She lost income in late September and October when she couldn’t work in her sales job, which is a remote position and based on commissions.
She’s one of the more than 200,000 North Carolina residents who qualified for FEMA housing help. But in her case – and thousands of others – the help wasn’t needed.
Declining FEMA assistance
In the immediate aftermath of the storm, FEMA offered free hotel stays to roughly 72% of the people who applied for aid in every WNC county affected by Helene.
About 90% of those offered hotel rooms, like Bible, opted not to take them. The hotel program, called Transitional Housing Assistance, sheltered more than 13,000 people in hotel and motel rooms, since October, while they sought permanent housing. The program is still helping 2,050 households, according to FEMA.
Agency data indicates nearly 3,000 people given the option to live in an apartment, rental house or mobile home through a program called Direct Housing ended up passing on the offer. Less than 5% of the households FEMA deemed eligible actually signed up when offered a spot.
Some who qualified for temporary housing help instead decided to stay in their damaged homes, according to FEMA. Others have received help from nonprofit organizations, who are often able to work at a faster pace than the massive federal agency. Others simply told FEMA, after applying for aid, that they didn’t need help finding housing.
One area that bucked the trend was rental assistance, a service FEMA provides that helps tenants pay for their existing housing. As of Feb. 12, the agency said it has helped 3,421 families by paying for their rent. According to the data from the agency, every person who has qualified for rental assistance has taken advantage of the program.
Hotel offers: ‘Not what I needed’
If and how a person qualifies for FEMA assistance may influence whether they accept the help.
Eligibility requirements range widely for the FEMA housing programs. The agency uses a central application process for those affected by disasters and then analyzes the applicant’s eligibility for a variety of benefits or aid.
The federal government’s requirements for staying in a hotel after a disaster are the widest.
To qualify, an applicant primarily needs to have lived in an area with a qualified disaster, pass an identity check, and have experienced damage at their home.
Of the 278,830 people who applied for FEMA assistance in North Carolina after Helene, the agency deemed 200,734 eligible to stay in a hotel for weeks or months, depending on their needs. The number is nearly five times the number of people who reported a need for shelter on their FEMA application.
People like Bible weren’t looking for a place to live as much as they needed financial help in the aftermath of Helene.
Bible applied for FEMA assistance at the end of October, hoping to receive some financial relief.
“They came back to me less than a week later and offered me free hotel rooms and gave me a list of hotels within a certain radius that I could go to and just give them my name and tell them that I'm on the FEMA list,” Bible said. “I called them and told them, ‘Hey, I don't need a hotel room.’”
FEMA’s offer surprised her since she didn’t report any damage to her apartment.
Housing, she said, was “not what was needed. I think I was just shocked.”
Bible’s experience was not unusual. BPR’s analysis shows less than 7% of those eligible for hotel rooms took FEMA up on its offer.
West Asheville resident Mackenzie Kramer applied for FEMA assistance at the urging of her friend after a tree fell, missing her house but hitting her fence.
Like Bible, she received an almost immediate decision that she was eligible for TSA.
“ I was clear about the damage, but it was definitely surprised that it came through as a housing voucher and then even more surprised when seeing that other people who actually needed the housing vouchers didn't seem to have the same situation,” she said.
Kramer received an initial $750 from FEMA to pay for emergency supplies like water, food and first aid. Then the agency gave her an additional $350 for her fence. The repairs cost more than that – FEMA usually will help with repair costs after home insurance pays out – and Kramer said the agency is supposed to inspect the home.
“ We have pictures and everything that we've held on to in case they do. But I don't have any expectation of any follow up,“ she said.
Direct Housing
For storm survivors with more extensive damage, FEMA offers help through the Direct Housing program which provides an apartment, rental house or mobile home.
Qualifying for the program entails a lengthy and bureaucratic process and is often a last resort for federal and local officials.
The help comes with more requirements – including possible credit checks and criminal background checks. In some cases, the eligible household has to pay a direct fee to the property owner – like those commonly found at apartment complexes – but FEMA picks up the tab for monthly rent. In other cases, FEMA buys and installs trailers or mobile homes for eligible applicants.
To qualify, a homeowner or renter must consent to a FEMA on-site inspection where they lived before the disaster to verify that:
- The home was damaged by the disaster with a loss amount of at least $12 per square foot (for owner-occupied properties).
- The residence was destroyed or received major damage as a result of the disaster (for renters).
After this inspection, FEMA will determine eligibility but may refer the owner or renter to other programs, like hotel offers or rental assistance, before setting up a direct lease or helping them move into a FEMA-owned unit.
In North Carolina, FEMA decided 3,607 households were eligible for direct housing post-Helene, as of Feb. 11, but almost 3,000 households declined the FEMA units.
Of those who opted not to take the direct housing help, about a third said they preferred to stay in their damaged homes. Roughly two-thirds indicated they have or will find their own housing, according to the agency.
So far, only 174 households have used direct housing options with 110 more households eligible and being considered.
An additional 329 households are eligible but the agency has been unable to reach them since they applied for aid.
The majority of temporary units or mobile homes used in FEMA’s direct housing program are set up in Buncombe and McDowell counties, the data show. As of Feb. 13, according to FEMA, 136 people are currently living in temporary units across the region.
The direct housing program also offers to lease a property – usually a vacation home or second home – for eligible people. Records show 29 people currently using the program. The remaining nine households who used the program have since left.
FEMA applications remain open until March 8. Find more details here.
How we did it
BPR requested FEMA direct housing data under the Freedom of Information Act to analyze how many people are living in temporary housing units post-Helene and where they are placed. We then cross-checked that data with each of the counties in WNC that were affected by the storm. BPR also used open FEMA data on individual assistance applications to find how many people were eligible for the TSA program, how many had checked in, and how many applicants reported a need for shelter.
