HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing Programs continued its practice of providing periodic updates on the status of private, HUD-assisted housing in the disaster areas.
HUD will continue to make Section 8 payments to the owners of the HUD-assisted housing through January. Most properties were able to submit electronic requests for subsidy reimbursement for November, despite spotty availability of electricity. For properties unable to electronically submit for reimbursement, HUD urges property owners to contact the HUD Field Office or Headquarters so that the owners can complete paper reimbursement forms.
For Texas, Florida, and Georgia, HUD has completed its assessment of all private, HUD-assisted properties and is now in the recovery phase. HUD reports:
- Texas: 51% of private, HUD-assisted properties had no damage, 36% had minor damage, 4.6% had moderate damage, and 8% had severe damage.
- Florida: 30% had no damage, 55% had minor damage, 10% had moderate damage, 1% had severe damage, and HUD could not assess 1% of the properties.
- Georgia: 77% had no damage, 11% had minor damage, 3% had moderate damage, and HUD could not assess 8% of the properties.
For Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, HUD is still in the assessment phase, which has two components, preliminary assessments based on telephone conversations and on-site assessments. The on-site assessments are just beginning. Three HUD Multifamily damage assessment teams deployed to Puerto Rico on Sunday, November 26 to begin assessing the damage at private, HUD-assisted properties; another four teams deployed on Sunday, December 3. One team will deploy for the Virgin Islands on December 10. Based on the telephone assessments:
- Puerto Rico: 1% of the private, HUD-assisted properties had no damage, 45% had minor damage, 47% had moderate damage, and 5% had severe damage.
- Virgin Islands: 5% had no damage, 29% had minor damage, 23% had moderate damage, and 41% had severe damage.
For the California wildfires, HUD’s Multifamily office has completed all preliminary assessments and reports that 4% of the private, HUD-assisted properties had minor, smoke damage.