HUD and Fema Announce Disaster Assistance for Families of Hurricane Ike

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced a rental assistance program that will provide temporary rental payments and case management services to help thousands of families who were displaced by Hurricane Ike. The new program, to begin November 1, 2008, will help these families find intermediate housing as they rebuild their homes and their lives.

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"It is critical that we provide a degree of stability in the lives of these families until they can get back on their feet," said U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston. "Knowing you have a roof over your family's head for the next 18 months should alleviate at least one major concern."

FEMA and HUD created a program similar to the successful programs that helped and continue to assist the families of the 2005 hurricanes.

The program will be named: The Disaster Housing Assistance Program-IKE (DHAP-IKE) will be implemented through an agreement between FEMA and HUD. It is planned to run for 18 months, beginning November 1, 2008. FEMA will determine the families that qualify for assistance.

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DHAP-IKE will be performed as follows:

  • Families in need of assistance must register with FEMA by calling 1 (800) 621-FEMA (3362) or online at the FEMA Website
  • HUD will use its network of local Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) to administer the program where families reside.
  • FEMA will begin referring families to HUD by October 15, 2008, so that HUD can contract with its local PHAs for the delivery of DHAP-IKE services starting November 1, 2008.
  • Prior to November 1, 2008, PHAs will contact eligible families referred by FEMA to begin outreach and intensive case management services to help displaced families rebuild their lives.
  • Beginning November 1, 2008, HUD will begin making rental payments to families declared eligible by FEMA who have been placed in rental housing.
  • PHAs will contact landlords and ensure the necessary documents are in place so that those families will continue to receive uninterrupted assistance payments through DHAP-IKE.
  • PHAs will work with families and landlords to enter into rental assistance contracts as soon as families are referred by FEMA and begin case management.
  • PHAs will pay the higher of the Fair Market Rent rate or the PHAs payment standard.
  • All eligible families will begin contributing $50 toward their rent starting May 1, 2009. Every month thereafter, the family portion of the rent will increase in increments of $50 through March of 2010.
  • The program provides a hardship waiver of the $50 Incremental Rent Transition (IRT) for families that prove that they cannot afford the rent increment. The details of the hardship provision will be spelled out in standard operating procedures that will be published shortly.
  • Starting in August 2009, families whose rent burden does not exceed 30 percent of post disaster gross income, taking into account existing mortgages for personal residences that remain uninhabitable, will no longer be eligible for DHAP- IKE.
  • Families whose rent burden and mortgage exceed 30 percent of post disaster income, will continue to be receive assistance, subject to the IRT, through March 2010 when the program ends.
  • " Family must accurately and honestly certify the receipt of benefits from either Small Business Administration grants or loans, insurance proceeds, or any other duplication of benefits.

For more information visit the HUD website

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