Continued Temporary Housing Assistance

Overview with amendment changes March 2024.

FEMA has updated parts of the Individual Assistance program to reduce the amount of documentation they required from disaster survivors asking for additional time with their temporary housing needs. This is and should be coming to an end soon and most should be well on their way to either FEMA Transitional Housing Assistance (18 months with extensions) or HUD CDBG-DR Rental Assistance (22 months).

Continued Temporary Housing Assistance is additional grant support for rents and utilities if you can not return to your home or your home is not safe or habitable.

Eligibility Continued Temporary Housing Assistance:

• If you received FEMA Rental Assistance and can provide proof that you used the grant money to pay for your temporary housing needs.

• You cannot live in your home because it is either unsafe, uninhabitable or destroyed.

• You may have exhausted all available funds and can not continue to pay for temporary housing and are not receiving any grants or assistance from other agencies or groups.

• You have transitioned from temporary housing and can provide a scheduled action plan of your efforts to establish permanent housing or complete repairs to your damaged home for occupancy.

How long and how much rental assistance can I expect to receive from the FEMA Continued Temporary Housing Assistance program?

The program is in increments of 90 days and is the actually monthly costs of rent and utilities or the Fair Market Rents value published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for your metro area. FEMA pays whichever amount is less so you must budget accordingly.

To calculate your HUD FMR visit this link: FY2024 Advisory Small Area FMR Lookup System

You will have to renew your application every 3 months for up to 18 months of assistance. If you are still rebuilding you would then contact your states HUD CDBG-DR managers for continued assistance of up to 22 months to include mortgage assistance if eligible.

To apply for your first round of Continued Temporary Housing Assistance:

Complete the Form Application for Continued Temporary Housing form linked here for version OMB Control No. 1660-0061 Expiration Date: 05/31/2026 and return it to FEMA with the following supporting documents:

• A copy of your current lease or rental agreement, including the location of the rental unit, amount of rent, length of lease, number of occupants, and signatures of the landlord and tenant.
  (Editors Note: If possible, make your lease match your Rental Assistance period, typically 3 months. State managers often deny assistance if you sign a lease longer than the grant support and can not provide proof you can make payments without assistance.)

• Documents showing your prior Rental Assistance was used for temporary housing (rent and utility receipts).

• Documents showing current income for all household members 18 years and older.
  (Editors Note: You should show taxable income and demonstrate you have a plan for more permanent housing. If your household lists zero income, state managers may perceive a risk and not provide assistance. This is a form of transitional housing, and you must focus on securing long-term permanent housing).

• Documents showing current housing costs for your pre-disaster home if you are still responsible for those costs (e.g., mortgage, insurance, utilities). (Editors Note: If you are still paying a mortgage, home insurance, and utilities, you have an increase in overhead and may be able to declare a financial hardship if these costs exceed 30% of your total household income. This has also been used to deny assistance if the grant funds are at risk of paying other expenses. Be sure to ask about mortgage assistance if you are unable to live in your home and cannot make both rent and mortgage payments. Also, understand that this is based on the "lesser" amounts, so if you can pay rent and your mortgage is less than the rent, FEMA or HUD may pay your mortgage instead of your rent, but they will not pay for both rent and mortgage).

Part Two: Requesting Additional Assistance

Resource References: 

• Continued Temporary Housing form linked here for version OMB Control No. 1660-0061 Expiration Date: 05/31/2026
• FY2024 Advisory Small Area FMR Lookup System
• Continued Temporary Housing Assistance Release Date: November 13, 2023