GENERAL UPDATES
- Funding Request from PR. Monday, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló sent a letter to President Trump, requesting $94.4B in additional disaster aid to help the island rebuild and recover from the devastation caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. From that amount, Governor Roselló is seeking more than $46 billion in Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds—$31 billion of which would go to repairing or rebuilding the more than 472,000 housing units that were severely damaged or destroyed by the hurricanes.
The letter notes that Puerto Rico lost a substantial portion of its housing stock, at a time when safe and decent housing is in high demand, and that families with low incomes or who have special needs have been particularly impacted by these losses. As a result, the letter states, “it is anticipated that temporary housing solutions for those affected by the hurricanes will be needed for months or, in some cases, years. This produces a temporary recovery need for residents that includes rental assistance as well as repair and mitigation.” The letter suggests that these programs will be operated by the local Puerto Rican government.
- OMB may send its third supplemental funding request to Congress as soon as Tuesday. They are certain to request substantiallyless than the combined $200 billion request from Puerto Rico, Florida, Texas and California governors and/or congressional delegations. They may ask that any emergency funding be offset by cuts elsewhere in the federal budget. Congress is unlikely to take up the request until later this month, given tax reform efforts and the upcoming Thanksgiving recess. We continue to push for the top 10 asks of the Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition: http://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/Disaster_Recovery_Supplemental_11062017.pdf
CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES
FEMA
By the Numbers: (as of 11/13)
- 3,954 Individual Assistance (IA) applications approved*
- $10,491,449 Individual & Household Program (IHP) approved*
- $6,758,651 Housing Assistance (HA) approved*
- $3,732,799 Other Needs Assistance (ONA) approved*
*Assistance dollars approved but not necessarily disbursed.
FEMA Recovery Efforts. A release from FEMA provides additional numbers regarding recovery efforts in California as of November 9.
- 73% of requested site inspections are complete
- 199 families (469 individuals) are housed through the TSA program
- 100% of household hazardous waste has been completed in four counties, and 70% has been completed in the others.
- 1,369 loan applications have been submitted to Small Business Administration from homeowners.
- $27 million has been approved by SBA
HURRICANE MARIA
FEMA
Puerto Rico
By the Numbers: (as of 11/13)
- 227,811 Individual Assistance (IA) applications approved*
- $134,604,863 Individual & Household Program (IHP) approved*
- $30,068,559 Housing Assistance (HA) approved*
- $104,536,304 Other Needs Assistance (ONA) approved*
- $426,691,550 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 11/13)
- 3,330 Individual Assistance (IA) applications approved*
- $3,602,632 Individual & Household Program (IHP) approved*
- $1,715,350 Housing Assistance (HA) approved*
- $1,887,282 Other Needs Assistance (ONA) approved*
- $72,362,113 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
- FL Response to PR Evacuees. According to reports from a NLIHC member organization, approximately 143,000 people from Puerto Rico have arrived in Florida, and another 3,000 are waiting to be flown to Florida. FEMA and the Florida Division of Emergency Management are coordinating to provide assistance to evacuees. TSA is already available for short-term housing assistance in hotels. However, other disaster recovery housing resources, such as short-term rental assistance, is not available to those interested in staying in Florida long-term. FEMA still recommends these individuals and households register with FEMA in case these other resources are activated for evacuees from Puerto Rico.
HURRICANE IRMA
FEMA
Florida
By the Numbers: (as of 11/13)
- 739,966 Individual Assistance (IA) applications approved*
- $910,144,650 Individual & Household Program (IHP) approved*
- $625,502,934 Housing Assistance (HA) approved*
- $284,641,715 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
Public Assistance Deadline Extension. The deadline for state and local governments and certain private nonprofits to file a Request for Public Assistance (RPA) has been extended to November 21. Filing an RPA is the first step in receiving federal assistance for debris removal, emergency services related to the disaster, and repairing or replacing damaged public facilities.
Georgia
By the Numbers: (as of 11/13)
- 8,962 Individual Assistance (IA) applications approved*
- $12,172,217 Individual & Household Program (IHP) approved*
- $8,886,941 Housing Assistance (HA) approved*
- $3,285,276 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 11/13)
- 923 Individual Assistance (IA) applications approved*
- $2,015,149 Individual & Household Program (IHP) approved*
- $1,063,043 Housing Assistance (HA) approved*
- $952,106 Other Needs Assistance (ONA) approved*
- $2,871,448 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 11/13)
- 3,886 Individual Assistance (IA) applications approved*
- $5,888,156 Individual & Household Program (IHP) approved*
- $3,686,640 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 11/13)
- 350,297 Individual Assistance (IA) applications approved*
- $1,384,985,374 Individual & Household Program (IHP) approved*
- $1,078,539,881 Housing Assistance (HA) approved*
- $306,445,493 Other Needs Assistance (ONA) approved*
- $485,328,434 Total Public Assistance Grants (PA) obligated**
- $422,390,309 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
Local Perspectives
- Additional Recovery Numbers. The Weekly Update from the Governor’s Commission to Rebuild Texas provides some additional numbers on the recovery efforts in Texas. All numbers are as of November 8.
- 914 Requests for FEMA Public Assistance from jurisdictions
- 887,146 applications for FEMA Individual Assistance received
- 48,439 participants in TSA
- 557,338 inspections completed by FEMA
- Struggles on the Texas Coast. On November 8, mayors and county officials from along the Texas Coast testified in front of a Texas House Appropriations Committee about the continuing difficulties their communities are facing. They described the complete lack of housing available in small towns such as Fulton, Rockport, Port Aransas, and Refugio. Many of these towns do not have the financial capacity to rebuild or provide resources without some assistance. The local elected officials expressed frustration with the process, saying they are often continuously referred to another agency when looking for answers.