While $320 million has been approved for alternative housing, WCNC Charlotte found more than 80 unused FEMA trailers not yet deployed to survivors.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which came under extra scrutiny after a visit by President Donald Trump on Friday to western North Carolina, has released an update on their ongoing recovery efforts from Helene.
FEMA’s fact sheet said $320 million has been approved to help more than 146,000 households and individuals, which includes money to help people find temporary housing as they rebuild. The agency also said more than 2,800 households are already staying in temporary hotel and motel rooms, with 141 households getting temporary housing units from FEMA. It also has contracts with 17 commercial parks to place those units with eight more parks being considered.
This has been way too slow. We have got to do better,” frustrated Avery County County Manager Phillip Barrier told WCNC Charlotte’s Nate Morabito on Friday morning.
Barrier was responding to almost 80 FEMA trailers, which sit unused behind a guarded fence in Hickory.
Barrier said 10 families in his community need trailers, yet almost four months after the historic hurricane devastated western North Carolina, FEMA has only delivered two to Avery County.
Barrier said as those families remain temporarily housed in hotels, FEMA has spent two weeks looking at a possible site where the agency could place several trailers. In addition to delays caused by weather and permitting requirements, finding accessible locations continues to prove challenging.
The Small Business Administration has also approved 3,019 loan applications totaling $252 million, according to the updated FEMA fact sheet. Further, FEMA said $83 million in low-interest disaster loans have already been paid out to survivors.
FEMA also noted that $318 million in Public Assistance funding has been approved for community recovery and that the agency has awarded about $12 million to repair roads and bridges.
More than 3.46 million cubic yards of debris has been cleared from public areas as well.
FEMA further said nearly $50 million in federal unemployment benefits have been distributed to over 9,000 survivors. Agricultural Recovery Centers are also being set up in multiple counties to help farmers rebuild.
FEMA published their routine recovery update just a day after Trump blasted the agency’s response to the storm.
“FEMA has been a very big disappointment,” Trump said. “They cost a tremendous amount of money, it’s very bureaucratic and it’s very slow. Other than that, we’re very happy with them.
reimbursement of eligible FEMA expenses for another six months.”
Trump said he was going to recommend FEMA goes away, instead paying states directly for their work and cutting out the federal agency that “complicates” recovery.
WCNC’s Matthew Ablon and Erika Williams contributed to this report
