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The Individuals and Households Program (IHP) provides financial assistance and direct services to eligible individuals and households who have uninsured or underinsured necessary expenses and serious needs.
Disaster assistance is not a substitute for insurance and cannot compensate for all losses caused by a disaster. It is intended to meet the survivor’s basic needs and supplement disaster recovery efforts.
These general conditions must be met for an applicant to be eligible to receive assistance:
The applicant must be a citizen, non-citizen national, or qualified non-citizen.
IHP must be able to verify the applicant's identity.
The applicant’s insurance, or other forms of disaster assistance received, cannot meet their disaster-caused needs.
The applicant’s necessary expenses and serious needs are directly caused by a declared disaster.
Individuals and Households Program Housing Assistance Provision
IHP determines the appropriate types of Housing Assistance for which an individual or household may be eligible based on disaster-caused losses, access to life-sustaining services, cost-effectiveness, and other factors. Individuals and households may receive more than one type of Housing Assistance, including a combination of financial assistance and direct services. Applicants must be able to establish they occupied the disaster-damaged home as their primary residence to be considered for Housing Assistance and must be able to establish they owned their disaster-damaged primary residence to be considered for Home Repair Assistance, Replacement Assistance, or Permanent Housing Construction.
Funds awarded for Home Repair and Home Replacement Assistance count toward the maximum amount of financial assistance an applicant may receive for Housing Assistance, which is an annually adjusted amount based on the U.S. Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index. Funds awarded for Rental Assistance, Lodging Expense Reimbursement, and Home Repair Assistance for specific accessibility-related repairs defined within the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) are not subject to this limit.
FHA provides funds paid directly to eligible individuals and households and may include the following types of assistance:
Lodging Expense Reimbursement: Money to reimburse for hotels, motels, or other short-term lodging if you are temporarily displaced by the disaster.
Rental Assistance: Money to rent alternate housing accommodations if you are displaced from your home because of the disaster.
Home Repair/Replacement Assistance: If you are a homeowner and lived in the home at the time of the disaster, money to repair your disaster-damaged primary residence, utilities, and residential infrastructure, or to help replace your primary residence when the residence is destroyed. If you were affected by a disaster declared, the money can also help with fixing areas of your home damaged by the disaster even if there was a pre-existing condition in that part of the home.
Accessibility Needs: Money to help applicants with a disability with specific repairs that make their home accessible (such as an exterior ramp, grab bars, and paved path to the home entrance). Repairs can be made when these items are damaged. Improvements can be made when those features were not present prior to the disaster and are needed due to a pre-existing disability or a disability caused by the disaster.
Privately-owned Roads, Bridges, and Docks: Money for applicants whose only access to their home has been damaged by the disaster.
DHA may provide Direct Housing Assistance when eligible applicants are unable to use Rental Assistance due to a lack of available housing resources. Direct Housing Assistance is not subject to a financial maximum award limit. Types of Direct Housing Assistance may include:
Multi-Family Lease and Repair: Allows DHA to enter into lease agreements with owners of multi-family rental properties located within or near declared areas to make repairs or improvements that provide temporary housing to eligible applicants.
Transportable Temporary Housing Units: A readily fabricated dwelling (i.e., a Recreation Vehicle or a Manufactured Housing Unit) purchased or leased by DHA and provided to eligible applicants for use as temporary housing for a limited period of time.
Direct Lease: Existing ready-for-occupancy residential property leased for eligible applicants and, if necessary, modified or improved to provide a reasonable accommodation for an eligible applicant with a disability, for use as temporary housing.
Permanent Housing Construction: Home repair and/or construction services provided in insular areas outside the continental United States and in other locations where no alternative housing resources are available, and where types of housing assistance DHA normally provides, such as Rental Assistance or other forms of direct assistance, are unavailable, infeasible, or not cost-effective.
