More than 10,000 households living in hotels after Helene, Milton through FEMA program

Jason Rule and his girlfriend lost everything, other than some of their clothes, when Hurricanes Helene and Milton flooded their home in South Pasadena.

"It was absolutely heartbreaking," he said. "My girlfriend just beat breast cancer, and she had this huge garden that was her therapy and that was wiped out. There was nothing there whatsoever that was salvageable." 

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He said the owners of the home they rented decided to tear it down.

"We were left with nothing and then no hope of going back," he said.

Rule slept in a friend’s car until they were approved for FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA) program. It has allowed them to live in the Bilmar Beach Resort on Treasure Island.

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"It’s been such a blessing, an overwhelming blessing," Rule said.

Rule, his girlfriend and their dog have lived at the hotel for about two months with, currently, about 85 others in the program. Every 14 days, FEMA reviews applicants’ eligibility for continued TSA. 

According to FEMA, 411 households affected by Helene or Milton became ineligible on Tuesday across Florida. Across the state, 10,844 households are still living in hotels and motels after the storms, though, including Rule.

"It adds on to the angst and the stress and everything else we've gone through. It's like going through the storm over and over again every two weeks. It sucks," he said.

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Some of the reasons FEMA said people may no longer qualify include their homes are deemed safe to occupy, they’re already receiving FEMA rental assistance, or someone else in their household is getting FEMA housing assistance. FEMA will contact someone by text, email and/or phone call seven days before they have to check out if they’re not eligible. 

Rule, who works in construction, said he’s hoping to move into a home he helped renovate for a client. He said without the program, though, he’s not sure where they’d be.

"If I didn't have assistance from, number one, FEMA, number two owners and managers of hotels, who work with FEMA, I don't know what I would do. Like I said, the first two weeks I slept in the car. You know, I could still be there. But, my girlfriend, she has medical needs and I don't know what we do. We'll be absolutely done," he said.

According to FEMA, people still have access to other disaster resources, like information about additional housing options, through Activate Hope, and the State of Florida’s 211 after their TSA program eligibility ends. For more help, they can call FEMA’s Hotline at 800-621-3362 or go to DisasterAssistance.gov.

The Source: The information in this story was provided through interviews as well as data from FEMA on the Transitional Sheltering Assistance program. 

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