The Federal Emergency Management Agency has a message for victims of Hurricane Matthew and subsequent flooding in eastern North Carolina who have questions about disaster-recovery assistance or have not registered for federal aid: call us.

The deadline to register for assistance is Jan. 9.

“If you feel confused about the next step in your recovery, like finding housing or understanding what documents you may need to have on hand, FEMA says call us at 800-621-3362,” according to a FEMA news release. “If you disagree with a decision made by FEMA, or need help making a recovery plan, FEMA says call us. If you know people who seem stuck, tell them to call FEMA. If you haven’t heard from FEMA and you were expecting to, call 800-621-3362.”

Calling FEMA to obtain answers to questions could prove especially useful to hurricane and/or flooding victims living in hotels as part of the temporary sheltering assistance program. Anyone who is part of the TSA program should be working toward moving to a more-permanent place to live as soon as possible.

The following resources should be of assistance to people in the TSA program:

• NCHousingSearch.org, a free service to locate available and affordable rental housing. The service is available online or through this toll-free, bilingual call center, Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., at 877-428-8844.
• The FEMA Housing Portal (asd.fema.gov/inter/hportal/home.htm) provides rental housing information arranged by area.
• If you lived in public housing or a multi-family Section 8 apartment or had a housing choice voucher before Hurricane Matthew, the U.S. Housing and Urban Development may be able to help you. Contact the housing provider that assisted you before the disaster and contact HUD at 336-851-8058 or email hudhelpingu@hud.gov (mailto:hudhelping@hub.gov).
• Voluntary organizations in the community may help you in a number of ways, including finding housing. Referrals for unmet needs are available by calling the United Way at 211. North Carolina Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster offers a list of organizations currently assisting survivors at www.ncvoad.org/cms/NCVOADmembership.

As of Friday, 27,763 individual assistance applications from North Carolina had been approved, according to FEMA, with $86.3 million in individual and household program funding had been approved by the federal government, with the majority of that amount — about $60 million — earmarked for housing assistance, and about $26.3 million allocated for other-needs assistance. Housing assistance provides money for disaster-related housing needs, while other-needs assistance provides funds for other disaster-related needs such as household furnishings, transportation and medical care.

After closing for the New Year’s Day holiday, the FEMA/North Carolina Emergency Management Disaster Recovery Centers will open today and resume their regular hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. To locate an open center, call the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362, use the ReadyNC and FEMA mobile apps or go online to FEMA.gov/DRC or readync.org.

Homeowners, renters and business owners who suffered losses or damages caused by Matthew should call 1-800-621-3362 to register for assistance or go online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov and register by downloading FEMA’s mobile app, according to a news release. For those who use 711 or Video Relay Service, the number is also 1-800-621-3362. For people using TTY, the number is 1-800-462-7585. These toll-free numbers operate from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. (local time) seven days a week until further notice. Operators are ready to assist people in multiple languages.