From staff reports

 

At least some Golden Triangle people displaced by Hurricane and Tropical Storm will continue in transitional lodging until May 31, with check-out from their hotels on June 1, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday.

FEMA previously set April 23 as the final day for staying in hotels at FEMA expense.

Bob Howard, a FEMA spokesman in Austin, said the deadline has been extended on a case-by-case basis because home repair work remains incomplete for some Harvey victims and, in other cases, alternate housing, such as rental property, is not available.

Howard said 576 families in Jefferson County remained in transitional housing Monday. Orange County still had 209 families in transitional housing; Hardin, 25.

He said the extension would be effective in all 41 Texas counties declared as disaster areas.

People participating in TSA will receive a notification phone call message advising them if they have continued eligibility for assistance through a participating hotel. FEMA will notify all applicants.

Displaced people in hotels who are unsure of their eligibility can:

• Call the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362 (voice, 711 or VRS) or 800-462-7585 (TTY).
• Log into their account on disasterassistance.gov/.
• Visit a Disaster Recovery Center; for DRC locations and hours go to fema.gov/DRC.
• Ask the hotel to look in the lodging web portal to see whether they have eligibility beyond the current checkout date of April 23.

For information, visit the Hurricane Harvey disaster web page at www.fema.gov/disaster/4332, or Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/FEMAharvey, the FEMA Region 6 Twitter account at twitter.com/FEMARegion6, or the Texas Division of Emergency Management website at www.dps.texas.gov/dem/.