There is assistance available to homeowners and business owners who are still recovering from Hurricane Irma damage. We spoke with John Mills of FEMA and Richard Daigle of the SBA on Sundial to answer listener questions about how to get that assistance.
Where are the FEMA disaster recovery centers? They're open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Miami-Dade County
Miami Dade College (no closing date yet).
Kendall Campus Bldg. K
11011 SW 104th St.
Miami, FL 33176
Miami-Dade County
Portofino Plaza (closes Nov. 24)
650 NE 22nd Terrace
Homestead, FL 33033
Broward County
Atrium West (closes Nov. 24)
7771 W Oakland Park Blvd
Sunrise, FL 33351
Palm Beach County
Carolyn Sims Center (no closing date yet)
225 NW 12th Ave.
Boynton Beach, FL 33435
There are four Disaster Recovery Centers (DRCs) open in the Florida Keys (Monroe County). They include Marathon, Big Pine, Key West and Islamorada.
Call the FEMA helpine 1-800-621-3362
From FEMA:
HOME INSPECTIONS AND INSURANCE
FEMA has done 352,000 home inspections in Miami-Dade, Broward, Monroe and Palm Beach counties. About 93 percent of home inspections have been completed. As more inspections are done, more FEMA grant money for uninsured losses, such as for home repairs, may be approved for survivors. By law, FEMA cannot duplicate insurance payments. About 233,000 insurance claims have been filed in these four counties, according to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation’s Hurricane Irma webpage.
RENTAL ASSISTANCE STILL AVAILABLE
Rental assistance money from FEMA helps survivors rent an available rental property if their home is unsafe. People who still cannot live in their primary residence may be eligible for continued rental assistance. They can visit one of the FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers or call FEMA at 1-800-621-3362 to request continued rental assistance. Eligibility is determined on a case-by-case basis. FEMA lets each household know what it is eligible to receive.
TEMPORARY HOTEL PROGRAM / TRANSITIONAL SHELTERING
As of this week, people from more than 1,900 households in Miami-Dade, Broward, Monroe and Palm Beach counties who have uninhabitable primary residences and have encountered difficulty finding an appropriate place to rent are staying in hotels in FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance program.
That number is down by 600 over the past two weeks and down from a cumulative high of about 8,100. The temporary hotel program deadline can be extended more than once, based on survivor needs and rental property availability. Continued eligibility for each household is determined on a case-by-case basis, so the check-out deadline may or may not apply to a specific household. It may be extended beyond Thanksgiving and into December for those who are eligible. FEMA speaks with each household one-on-one to determine continued eligibility. Survivors choose a hotel on their own.