An aerial view of people standing near destroyed and damaged buildings in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene flooding on Oct. 8, 2024 in Bat Cave, North Carolina. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Gov. Josh Stein has asked FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell to extend the agency’s Transition Sheltering Assistance (TSA) program for eligible North Carolinians for an additional six months. After a presidentially-declared disaster, the TSA program allows for temporary, short-term accommodations for disaster survivors when other housing options are not available.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has extended hotel stays for more than 3,000 western North Carolina residents displaced by Hurricane Helene until Jan. 25. The extension is the third FEMA has granted to displaced residents using the TSA program.
An extension through September 30, 2025, is needed to provide people displaced by Hurricane Helene “certainty about a safe place to live as they rebuild,” Stein said.
“The people of western North Carolina are experiencing chaos and uncertainty that is untenable,” Stein said. “That is why I am urging FEMA to extend its Transitional Sheltering Assistance program for six months to get folks through the winter in safe, secure shelter as they rebuild their homes.”
Stein noted in his letter to Criswell that residents in North Carolina’s mountains are facing below freezing temperatures this week. He said the state will experience another cold snap that may bring more winter weather.
“I know that you agree that people are entitled to pass the winter safely and securely as they rebuild their damaged or destroyed homes,” Stein wrote to Criswell. “The shock of the damage Hurricane Helene caused is still very real for the people of western North Carolina. They need assurance that they will have shelter during this time so long as their home is still uninhabitable. We owe them support, not fear or confusion.”
In recent days, North Carolina Senators Ted Budd and Thom Tillis have expressed frustration over Hurricane Helene victims who were forced to leave hotels in western North Carolina after their vouchers expired.
The two Republicans said on the social media platform X that their offices had received dozens of calls from residents of western North Carolina who had been kicked out of hotels.
“My office has been helping dozens of Helene victims today who have been told their hotel vouchers expired despite not having a safe and livable home to go back to,” Tillis wrote Tuesday. “Their homes have mold and broken windows … it’s 20 degrees tonight. Hotels are trying to help them, and a number of nonprofits are stepping up to pay for victims to stay in their hotels, so FEMA has another day to get its act together.”