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KNOW THIS: FEMA is ONLY short term recovery. FEMA Trains all it's employees, temporary contractors the same. FEMA also trains your local city, county, parish, and state government Emergency Management agencies. This is why you will NEVER see the full recovery process on FEMA documents. This is why many of you will drop out of the recovery process and this is why MANY of you will lose your homes because of the delivery process and what is NOT said by FEMA.

  1. FEMA tells you that your household needs to apply for IA and IHP grants.
  2. FEMA sends damage determination letter called FEMA Verified Loss (FVL).
  3. FEMA tells you to to apply to the SBA Disaster Loan program if you would like to continue with your disaster recovery.
    • FEMA may tell you that you must apply with the SBA and if declined by the SBA agency you will be referred back to FEMA for additional federal resources.
    • It is very rare this will ever happen and if it does you can expect maybe $7,000 or less in ONA (Other Needs Assistance) grants.
    • SBA will approve a loan for your household based on total income of $18,090 net per year.
    • SBA will approve your household if you have a credit score of 350 or more.
    • SBA will count all persons 15 years of age and older making a taxable income as part of the household income.
    • SBA will approve your loan based on the amount of insurance you have related to the disaster. Example: $150,000 in Flood insurance the SBA will lend that homeowner regardless of income or credit scores up to the maximum payout of the insurance policy.
    • SBA will approve your loan based on the collateral that was damaged and at pre-flood.
    • You're not told about HUD CDGB-DR grants that you may have been qualified for if you didn't apply to the SBA disaster Loan Program.
    • You're not told that Grants are awarded based on household income levels.
    • You're not told that if your household income is less than 80% AMI you will receive HUD CDBG-DR grants when they become available in about 12 months from the disaster month.
    • You're not told that if you take an SBA Disaster Loan that amount of the loan you are approved for will be counted as Duplication of Benefits against any future federal assistance even if you do not draw the full loan mount.
  4. FEMA's Flowchart on Federal Assistance Delivery Sequence.
  5. Our updated based on real world input to FEMA's flowchart on Federal Assistance - Delivery Sequence.
  6. What we need to assist more disaster victims is this flowchart for Federal Assistance. FEMA to HUD / SBA Flowchart for a more balanced recovery process based on ability to take additional household debt.

  • We have several grassroots programs which can help you if you interact with them. Don't think for a moment recovery will come knocking on your door. You have to go out and make it happen.

    We'll help you build your advocacy group as well as help you with becoming a positive change activist.

    Some groups you might be interested in.

    • Restore LA Program Info Exchange Focus: HUD CDBG-DR Grants, State Grantees, SBA DOB related to HUD Grants. Focus on HUD Recovery Grants and local state policies.
      (Private Facebook.Com Group in Louisiana all are welcome.)
    • Stop FEMA Now Focus: FEMA Recovery efforts, SBA Disaster Loans, Long term recovery focus on Super storm Sandy Victims. (Public Facebook.Com Group based out of New Jersey.)
    • SBA Disaster Recovery Loans Learn who should not apply. Learn what the SBA will do to approve you. Learn about low income homeowners without credit being offered loans by using their homes as collateral. Learn the truth about the SBA lending practices and how some homeowners would never be able to repay the loan.
      (National group focused on SBA Disaster Loans and what the true costs are.)
    • Homeowner - Contractor Focus: Helping Homeowners self contract and manage their own hiring and firing of workers to get the job of recovery completed. We share our experiences and share our processes.
      (Public Facebook.Com Group for homeowners managing their construction projects)
    • Disaster Recovery Reform Act (DRRA) Focus: Disaster Feedback in relationship to Congressional Representatives actions for better recovery processes. This is a mix of federal policy with homeowners feedback related to federal disaster recovery policy.

    Proposed / Needed Groups:

    • State of XX HUD CDGB-DR Grantee: We need individuals that have time to administrate and moderate local groups focused on your state agencies that distribute HUD CDBG-DR grants. We will assist you with your setup and help you keep up with HUD policy as well as forecast what move your state will make within the program. We'll teach you how to be your states "Watchdog" to reduce government waste and to help guard against fraud against the American Taxpayers.
      (Groups by state for HUD CDBG-DR Grant award assistance. Groups need to form before FEMA - SBA applicants are started.

Articles

  • What to expect when you register with FEMA after your disaster from a homeowners point of view.
    Murray Wennerlund

    FEMA has some great media information, but like all glossy handouts, its missing the actual end user experiences and feedback. We never find customer complaints and it's always missing information they just seem to not share with disaster victims.

    Read more
  • FEMA Individual and Households Program IHP Grants explained Part 2 spending for reimbursement earnings.
    Murray Wennerlund

    After you have read part one this is the part that ties it all together. This is from our 2016 Floods and our experience with FEMA Grants and the Duplication of Benefits issue we all face when HUD CDBG-DR grants become available.

    Read more
  • FEMA Individual and Households Program IHP Grants explained Part 1 of 2
    Murray Wennerlund

    FEMA may have awarded you up to 30,000 in Individual and Households grants called IHP and they may have listed that this grant is for Home Repairs. Your letter will say home repairs and you might think everything in your home is repairable, right?

    Read more
  • Appeal FEMA inspector verified loss determination. You need $8,000 in damages to qualify for HUD CBDG-DR Grant
    Murray Wennerlund

    Appeal FEMA using these two sample pages and documents to write your appeal to FEMA and your states CDBG-DR for those that have not been allowed into the program because of the FVL FEMA Verified Loss being below 8,000 or 12" of water.

    Read more
  • Just tell FEMA No Thanks when they refer you to the SBA Disaster Loan Program. 80 Percent AMI or lower? Say NO
    Contributor

    After a Disaster you must identify what your AMI is before you file with FEMA. This was learned from experience and from policies in place by states with declared disaster.

    Read more
  • Limited rental assistance to no more than 24 months to a household, now is 3 yrs. for TX, LA, PR, Virgin Isl
    Contributor

    FEMA Limits rental assistance to no more than 24 months to a household. Continuums of Care in Texas, Louisiana, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Florida due to damages and related flooding sustained by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria.

    Read more
  • Not all Federal Grant Dollars that are classified a Duplication of Benefits counts against you.
    Supervisor

    If you have had any experience with a natural disaster you know the term "Duplication of Benefits". But do you know they are not always the same when it comes time to tally up the grant money and assign it to your recovery project?

    Read more
  • Manufactured Home Owners MHU should avoid the FEMA IHP Home Repairs Grant at all costs
    Writers Pool

    FEMA IHP Grants for Home Repairs on MHU may sound like a good idea at first but when you apply for your HUD CDBG-DR Grant you are going to find the FEMA IHP Grant will count against you and amount to nothing in return toward your rebuilding.

    Read more
  • FEMA grants required you to carry flood insurance. Did you get enough to justify the DOB for the next flood.
    Writers Pool

    When FEMA told us we had to continue to carry at least the minimum amount flood insurance or we would have to return any grant awards given by them we agreed. But did we get enough insurance? The minimum is 30,000 in coverage 1/6th replacement cost

    Read more
  • Give $30K to a disaster victim that lost everything and they are going replace what is important to them.
    Writers Pool

    They spend it on what they feel is important to get back to normalcy. Everyone from the Governors office to FEMA was preaching for everyone to work on getting back into their homes and to get back to a normal life.

    Read more
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