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Rural county officials describe housing, communication and coordination failures after Hurricane Helene
Summary
Transylvania County (N.C.) officials told the House subcommittee that FEMA’s temporary housing assistance and communication failures left many residents without practical housing options and prolonged recovery in mountainous, rural areas.
Transylvania County officials told a congressional subcommittee that delays, contradictory guidance and rigid program rules limited FEMA’s ability to help residents recover after Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina.
County Manager Miss Slaughter described nine days of local response before significant FEMA presence and cited problems with FEMA temporary shelter assistance (TSA) and program rigidity. “The TSA vouchers may as well have been monopoly money,” she told the panel, describing hotel options two hours away that were impractical for residents in her mountainous county.
Why it matters: rural terrain, limited rental markets and narrow…
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