GENERAL UPDATES
- Homeless Education Advocacy Manual. The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty released Homeless Education Advocacy Manual: Disaster Edition, a resource guide for families and students displaced by disasters. This is an updated manual that includes information on homeless students’ right to attend the same school.
- GAO Report on Workforce Management in Public Assistance Program. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) studied FEMA’s redesigned Public Assistance (PA) grant program delivery model to address past challenges in workforce management. In the past GAO identified challenges related to shortages in experienced and trained FEMA PA staff, as well as high turnover among these staff. These challenges often led to applicants receiving inconsistent guidance and to PA project delays. As part of its new model, FEMA is creating consolidated resource centers to standardize and centralize PA staff responsible for managing grant applications, and new specialized positions, such as hazard mitigation liaisons, program delivery managers, and site inspectors, to ensure more consistent guidance to applicants. However, FEMA has not assessed the workforce needed to fully implement the new model.
- November 7 Summary of Known Deadlines. NLIHC has updated its summary of known application deadlines from the FEMA website. The summary includes deadlines for programs administered by FEMA, SBA, DOL, SNAP, and HUD.
- FEMA Planning to Airlift Puerto Ricans. According to The Hill, FEMA is finalizing plans to airlift Puerto Ricans to Florida and New York – without any clear plan for meeting their housing needs when they arrive.
CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES
FEMA
- By the Numbers: (as of 11/8)
- 3,732 Individual Assistance (IA) applications approved*
- $8,689,736 Individual & Household Program (IHP) approved*
- $5,725,786 Housing Assistance (HA) approved*
- $2,963,950 Other Needs Assistance (ONA) approved*
*Assistance dollars approved but not necessarily disbursed.
- TSA Participants: (as of 11/2)
- 573 checked in
HURRICANE MARIA
FEMA
Puerto Rico
- By the Numbers: (as of 11/8)
- 225,260 Individual Assistance (IA) applications approved*
- $124,893,350 Individual & Household Program (IHP) approved*
- $20,532,093 Housing Assistance (HA) approved*
- $104,361,257 Other Needs Assistance (ONA) approved*
- $425,489,708 Total Public Assistance Grants (PA) obligated, all for emergency work
(Categories A-B)**
*Assistance dollars approved but not necessarily disbursed.
**Funds made available to the state via electronic transfer following FEMA’s final review and approval of Public Assistance projects.
- Individual Assistance Numbers: (as of 11/2)
- 792,757 referrals
- 537,851 pending applications
- 1,297 withdrawn
- 10,014 ineligible
U.S. Virgin Islands
- By the Numbers: (as of 11/8)
- 3,083 Individual Assistance (IA) applications approved*
- $2,942,474 Individual & Household Program (IHP) approved*
- $1,119,306 Housing Assistance (HA) approved*
- $1,823,168 Other Needs Assistance (ONA) approved*
- $10,912,004 Total Public Assistance Grants (PA) obligated, all for emergency work
(Categories A-B)**
*Assistance dollars approved but not necessarily disbursed.
**Funds made available to the state via electronic transfer following FEMA’s final review and approval of Public Assistance projects.
- Individual Assistance Numbers: (as of 11/2)
- 15,859 referrals
- 11,556 pending applications
- 73 withdrawn
- 536 ineligible
Local Perspectives
- Lack of Housing Plan in Florida. Tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans have left the island following Hurricane Maria. Many left for Central Florida (Orlando area) where there has long been a significant Puerto Rican population 345,000 people). However, they are having trouble finding any affordable housing. Officials at the county level have asked FEMA and the Florida Division of Emergency Management (DEM) about a plan to help house these evacuees, but no such plan appears to exist, despite the lack of affordable housing even before Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Although displaced Puerto Ricans are eligible for Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA), the supply of hotel rooms in the area is limited; there are only 15 hotels eligible in the three-county Central Florida area. DEM asserts that sheltering is a local obligation, not state or federal.
HURRICANE IRMA
FEMA
Florida
- By the Numbers: (as of 11/8)
- 734,540 Individual Assistance (IA) applications approved*
- $895,774,754 Individual & Household Program (IHP) approved*
- $615,310,699 Housing Assistance (HA) approved*
- $280,464,055 Other Needs Assistance (ONA) approved*
*Assistance dollars approved but not necessarily disbursed.
- Individual Assistance Numbers: (as of 11/2)
- 1,885,007 referrals
- 273,386 pending applications
- 85,121 withdrawn
- 513,671 ineligible
- 20,417 participants in TSA
Georgia
- By the Numbers: (as of 11/8)
- 8,919 Individual Assistance (IA) applications approved*
- $12,038,001 Individual & Household Program (IHP) approved*
- $8,769,257 Housing Assistance (HA) approved*
- $3,268,744 Other Needs Assistance (ONA) approved*
- $26,488 Total Public Assistance Grants (PA) obligated, all for emergency work
(Categories A-B)**
*Assistance dollars approved but not necessarily disbursed.
**Funds made available to the state via electronic transfer following FEMA’s final review and approval of Public Assistance projects.
- Individual Assistance Numbers: (as of 11/2)
- 27,005 referrals
- 5,093 pending applications
- 1,822 withdrawn
- 8,151 ineligible
Puerto Rico
- By the Numbers: (as of 11/8)
- 849 Individual Assistance (IA) applications approved*
- $1,907,093 Individual & Household Program (IHP) approved*
- $992,029 Housing Assistance (HA) approved*
- $915,064 Other Needs Assistance (ONA) approved*
- $1,316,250 Total Public Assistance Grants (PA) obligated, all for emergency work
(Categories A-B)**
*Assistance dollars approved but not necessarily disbursed.
- Individual Assistance Numbers: (as of 11/2)
- 3,312 referrals
- 1,411 pending applications
- 117 withdrawn
- 861 ineligible
U.S. Virgin Islands
- By the Numbers: (as of 11/8)
- 3,845 Individual Assistance (IA) applications approved*
- $5,779,589 Individual & Household Program (IHP) approved*
- $3,578,073 Housing Assistance (HA) approved*
- $2,201,516 Other Needs Assistance (ONA) approved*
- $25,567,068 Total Public Assistance Grants (PA) obligated, all for emergency work
(Categories A-B)**
*Assistance dollars approved but not necessarily disbursed.
**Funds made available to the state via electronic transfer following FEMA’s final review and approval of Public Assistance projects.
- Individual Assistance Numbers: (as of 11/2)
- 11,821 referrals
- 6,292 pending applications
- 145 withdrawn
- 984 ineligible
HURRICANE HARVEY
FEMA
Texas
- By the Numbers: (as of 11/8)
- 346,628 Individual Assistance (IA) applications approved*
- $1,358,215,835 Individual & Household Program (IHP) approved*
- $1,056,469,231 Housing Assistance (HA) approved*
- $301,746,605 Other Needs Assistance (ONA) approved*
- $478,212,770 Total Public Assistance Grants (PA) obligated**
- $415,274,645 Emergency Work (Categories A-B) obligated**
*Assistance dollars approved but not necessarily disbursed.
**Funds made available to the state via electronic transfer following FEMA’s final review and approval of Public Assistance projects.
- Individual Assistance Numbers: (as of 11/2)
- 730,699 referrals
- 44,551 pending applications
- 45,842 withdrawn
- 249,241 ineligible
- 52,050 participants in TSA
SBA
- $2 Billion in Disaster Loans Approved. SBA reports that it has approved 23,273 loans for $1,920,488,500 to help residents, and 1,435 loans for $143,630,000 to help businesses.
Local Perspectives
- Stories from Houston. A Houston Chronicle photo essay follows three Houston families as they recovery post-Harvey. Many have returned to work without a safe and steady housing situation and continue to struggle. The essay follows a teacher sharing the bare bones of a home with her family, a young family faced with an eviction case, and a son taking care of his parents.