News

FEMA housing lags behind demand for those who lost homes to Helene

By Bill Moss, Published: November 22, 2024

The next crucial job on the Hurricane Helene relief front is to house families whose homes were destroyed by the epic storm.

Left in Helene's wake after the winds died down and the water receded was this casualty list in Henderson County: 299 homes destroyed, 1,400 with major damage, 1,600 with minor damage and 1,100 “affected.” That left 53,800 homes or businesses that escaped storm damage.

Henderson County commissioners heard the updated statistics, what’s being done to house people left homeless by Helene and what still needs to be done as colder weather arrives.

“There's some chatter that there are people that aren't being helped,” Board Chair Rebecca McCall said. “Have we made sure that every citizen, even the ones that live in the back hollers somewhere, have the ability, or have been given the ability, to apply to FEMA without having to get in the car that they may not have anymore and drive to Asheville Highway or use internet that they may not even know how to use.”

County Manager John Mitchell and Assistant County Manager Chris Todd responded that efforts have been under way from the start to identify, find and offer help to all those most severely impacted.

“The very first thing to be damaged in an emergency is communication,” Mitchell said. Within the first 24 hours of Helene’s destruction, he and Emergency Services Manager Jimmy Brissie began talking about how to get the word out.

“One of the ways that we've dealt with it is by dealing with our volunteer fire departments, who are the backbone of the community. They know their residents individually," he said. “I can tell the board that every single resident in Bat Cave fire district and Gerton fire district has been visited personally — by now, I would wager that that's been more than once. We stood up those fire departments with internet through Starlink, which we secured on our own very early in the storm. We've been in constant radio communication with those individuals during that period as well.”

Todd said FEMA personnel also have been on the ground in the hard-hit hollers and the more isolated communities.

“They have sent case managers into the communities such as Bat Cave and Gerton in order to try to get those folks that wish to register and to be a part of this program,” he said. “That's an ongoing effort.”

The county’s count of 299 destroyed homes and 1,400 with major damage tracked closely with FEMA’s estimates of 335 and 1,391.

“What this signifies to me is that our numbers are in the correct magnitude,” Todd said.

There’s a big gap, however, in the number of people in transitional shelter and the total that need housing.

A total of 752 people are in FEMA’s temporary sheltering assistance program, which means the agency is putting up individuals and families in 325 motel or hotel rooms. FEMA has identified 74 households that are eligible for temporary housing — usually a trailer or RV.

“At this time, we’ve received three of those units,” Todd said. “We are working with FEMA. All three of these units have been placed on private property.”

Speeding up the delivery of housing is a high priority.

“These units can’t come quick enough,” Mitchell said, adding that he had communicated the sense of urgency to FEMA’s regional chief and to U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards. “I just want to let you know that we have been having those conversations and we advocate strongly that FEMA bring those units to the county and work as expeditiously as possible."

Mitchell added that the number of people who have applied for FEMA housing assistance is close to the number of homes were destroyed or severely damaged.

“It does give me some comfort looking at this,” he said. “If you see the numbers that we've done (through) the windshield assessment, and you stack those up next to the individuals we know have registered with FEMA, which is what they must do to receive temporary housing” the totals are close.

Commissioners also heard from Jeff Stevens, the executive vice president of iParametrics, the consulting company the county hired to guide it through the morass of FEMA rules and requirements.

“We know the seriousness of this. This was not a little disaster that you experienced,” Stevens said. “This was historic, and this will shape this community for generations to come. Our commitment to you is that we will be here shoulder to shoulder with you, making sure that your recovery outcomes are as good as they can be.”

The company’s team consists of a large engineering firm, a large accounting firm and other consulting firms “that have dealt with recovery issues for an extensive amount of time on multiple disasters.”

“We're going to have a strong focus on mitigation,” Stevens said. “If there's an opportunity to build something back better than it was before, we're going to take that opportunity.”