How much temporary housing has FEMA provided to NC-based Helene victims?

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is facing criticism for its rollout of temporary housing in western North Carolina, where Hurricane Helene displaced thousands of residents when its remnants hit the state in late September.

"Officials at FEMA have just posted a new video touring brand (new) housing units they say are available" to western North Carolina residents, posted Matt Van Swol, an Asheville-based X user with a following of nearly 52,000 people.

The Nov. 20 post continued: "What they fail to mention in the video is that in the two months [since Helene] ... only FOUR UNITS have been delivered. You read that right. Four."

More than 11,000 X users shared the post and more than 900,000 accounts viewed it, the social media company’s metrics show.

We looked into Van Swol’s claim and found that although his figure is inaccurate, he has a point that FEMA has delivered a low number of mobile homes or travel trailers to disaster victims as part of its Direct Temporary Housing Assistance program compared with the number of households in line to receive them.

FEMA told PolitiFact in an email that more than 500 households have been identified for its direct housing program. By the date Van Swol posted his claim, FEMA had opened temporary housing units to 13 families in western North Carolina, the agency told PolitiFact in an email.

Those mobile home units and travel trailers are in Buncombe, Henderson, Haywood, McDowell and Henderson counties.

When we asked Van Swol where he got his figure, he cited a Nov. 20 article by the Asheville Citizen-Times. Buncombe County officials said in a press briefing that four FEMA housing units had been placed on private sites but that more housing would be needed, the Citizen-Times reported.

The Buncombe officials were not referring to the total number of temporary housing units FEMA had installed. Officials were referring to the number of units placed on private property in Buncombe, county Communications Director Lillian Govus said.

FEMA has faced scrutiny from North Carolinians who believe the agency’s response has been too slow.

FEMA said it began admitting families into its direct housing program Nov. 1. As of Dec. 9, 536 households had been approved for direct housing and 55 households are now using 58 housing units, the agency told PolitiFact.

The agency had hoped to provide more than 100 temporary housing units to Helene victims by Thanksgiving but later issued an apology after coming up more than 50 units short by that date, according to a Dec. 4 report by WBTV in Charlotte. In an email, the agency told PolitiFact that the number a spokesperson provided to WBTV "was a projection for internal operational purposes and many factors have to be considered before the placement" of FEMA’s temporary housing units.

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Before that, FEMA officials were asked in a Nov. 22 press briefing why the agency didn’t launch its direct housing program in western North Carolina until more than a month after Helene hit.

FEMA officials said the agency provides multiple types of housing assistance and that the direct housing program isn’t intended as a first option. The agency’s financial assistance programs are the fastest, most flexible option available to victims, FEMA officials say.

The agency approved a rental assistance program that provides 200% of the fair market rent in western North Carolina. If the fair market rent is $1,000 in an area, FEMA pays up to $2,000 each month. FEMA also pays for victims to use hotels and motels. As of Nov. 25, FEMA said more than 4,950 families were checked into hotels through that program.

Some victims aren’t using the agency’s housing options at all. More than 1,000 victims have  forgone FEMA’s options, Julia Moline, a FEMA administrator, said in the Nov. 22 briefing.

"It could be that they've already found their own housing unit, they've been able to take advantage of financial assistance, they've chosen to stay in their damaged home, they've chosen to stay with family or friends, or they've moved out of state," Moline said.

Direct housing is intended for people whose needs are unmet by FEMA’s financial assistance programs. Thus, direct housing is tailored to meet survivors’ individual needs and site-specific considerations, Moline said.

"So, it can take a significant amount of time to implement," Moline said. "It takes time to assess sites, to transport, permit, install and inspect these homes. We're working as quickly as we can with state and local governments to identify suitable housing sites."

Mountainous areas such as western North Carolina can complicate temporary home setups, FEMA officials said. High winds make hauling manufactured homes difficult and wetness can make installing them dangerous, they said.

FEMA officials also want to ensure they’re not "creating additional risks for survivors by placing units in hazardous floodplains or in areas where there's a really high landslide risk," Moline said. 

Also on Nov. 22, Republican U.S. Sens. Ted Budd and Thom Tillis of North Carolina published a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to waive FEMA regulations that prevent putting temporary housing units in flood zones. 

The social media post said FEMA had delivered "only four" temporary housing units to Helene victims in North Carolina as of Nov. 20.

The claim’s source was a newspaper article that referred only to Buncombe County — not all of western North Carolina. FEMA said that by Nov. 20, 13 families were living in temporary housing units. 

The post is partially accurate: the number of FEMA housing units in-use Nov. 20 was low. However, the post got the exact details of the program wrong. 

That’s why we rate this claim Half True.