Direct temporary housing available for Floyd flood victims

FRANKFORT – To assist survivors displaced by the July 26 floods in Eastern Kentucky, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved direct temporary housing assistance to Floyd County, bringing the total number of approved counties to five.

The program makes available several additional short-term housing solutions to disaster survivors, but it will take time to transport, permit, install and inspect the units before they are available.

The direct housing program provides three primary options:

• Multi-family lease and repair, where FEMA enters into a lease agreement with the owner of multi-family rental properties (i.e., three or more units) and makes repairs to provide temporary housing for applicants.

• Temporary housing units such as a travel trailer or manufactured home.

• Direct lease, which is leasing existing ready-for-occupancy housing not usually available to the public.

Direct temporary housing takes significant time to implement and is not an immediate solution for a survivor’s interim and longer-term housing needs. “Additionally, not everyone impacted by the disaster will be eligible for direct housing,” a FEMA press release said. “Therefore, it is important that partners at all levels – local, Commonwealth, other federal agencies, nonprofit and private sector organizations – work together to fill any gaps.”

Survivors who have applied with FEMA for assistance do not need to reapply to be eligible for direct housing. FEMA reviews applications to identify those with housing needs. If a survivor has not yet applied with FEMA, they can do so by going to DisasterAssistance.gov, by calling the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362 or downloading the FEMA mobile app.

For the latest information on Kentucky flooding recovery, visit fema.gov/disaster/4663 or follow the agency on Twitter at twitter.com/FEMARegion4.