FEMA officials ask landlords to register their property

By Chad Ruiz
St. Tammany News
Published on Monday, October 6, 2008 9:12 AM CDT

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Too many people, not enough room.

That’s the situation FEMA officials are dealing with a month after hurricanes Gustav and Ike barreled through southeast Louisiana.

Thousands of people across St. Tammany and surrounding parishes have been approved for millions of dollars in rental assistance, but Jack Heesch with FEMA public affairs said there are very few rental units available to house those people.

In St. Tammany alone, 354 applicants were approved for rental assistance, but according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, only 95 rental units are available in the parish.

That’s good compared to other parishes like East Baton Rouge, where nearly 3,000 people have been approved with only 351 units available.

The housing situation in Tangipahoa Parish is also grave with 523 people approved for rental assistance but only 18 rental units reportedly available by HUD.

To alleviate the problem, FEMA officials are urging property owners across the South to call 888-294-2822 and register their available rental units.

FEMA has also set up an online database at https://asd.fema.gov/inter/hportal/home.htm for families to search for available housing units in their area.

Landlords calling to register their properties will need to answer a few basic questions relating to their units, such as the type of dwelling, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, handicapped accessibility, pet policy and monthly rental amount.

Heesch said approximately $884,000 has been awarded to the applicants approved for rental assistance in St. Tammany.

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Comments

2 comment(s)

Joe wrote on Oct 15, 2008 9:32 PM:

" Right after I get FEMA involved with my rentals I will ask Jefferson to advise me on ethics and Blanco what to do if there is another hurricane. "

PR Davis wrote on Oct 9, 2008 8:26 PM:

" FEMA wouldn't know what to do with the list once they made it. What a joke. "

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