Where does Gov't disaster aid go?

[imoldernu]

Apparently many billions of government aid money will be spent for hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
Simple but serious question. Where will that money go?

Will any of the money go to those who suffer losses of property? How will the money be disbursed?

Will any of the money go to those people who are renting, but will lose personal property... cars, household goods etc.

What of the people who will lose jobs, either temporarily or permanently?

The hundred+ thousand of claims that have already been filed... how are the claims adjudicated? ie... for those who have have insurance or for those who suffer losses without having insurance?

Looking for a general explanation or a website that explains this in simple terms.



Here's a general "starter site", but the numbers don't seem to add up.

http://www.npr.org/2017/09/08/549279078/with-harvey-and-now-irma-federal-funds-and-fema-are-put-to-the-test

Links to the government documents on the subject are mostly gobbledy-gook, technical internal regulations... but nothing that spells out where the dollars actually go. Current estimate for Irma alone, is 100 billion Dollars. That works out to about $4892.00 for every man woman and child in Florida.

 

[Sunset]

I'll be a lot of it goes toward gov't employee salaries/overtime/traveling expenses.
Many times organizations count the wage cost of employees even though they would still pay them to sit and do nothing if nothing was going on.

 

[meierlde]

To start with there is the cost of debris removal paid at 90% and the cost of fixing infrastructure for states and local governments at 90% (Major arguements occur over what "fixing" means and if you can include mitigation for future events in the funding. Then there is temporary housing (fema trailers) and low interest sba loans to help pay for rebuilding.

 

[MRG]

Year's ago my parents were flooded in SE Florida. IIRC DF received a check from FEMA(?) for about 12k. I'm not sure if anyone had been to their home.

He gets the damage repaired for ~10k and writes a letter, with invoices and his check for the 2k he didn't use. Haha. The ole man got really ticked off because they wouldn't take it back.

So I'm not sure about the claims or adjudication process at all.

 

[jazz4cash]

I know some contractors (Bus Owner/Operators) that never got paid for services performed in Katrina. They didn't seem too upset about it, though.

 

[CajunGirl]

This (slightly outdated) link from FEMA describes a little bit of what the Federal Disaster Fund offers to individuals: https://www.fema.gov/news-release/2016/01/28/commonly-asked-questions-about-federal-disaster-aid

FEMA doesn't reimburse individuals for costs that would otherwise be covered by insurance they have purchased. If one is filing for reimbursement for damages, a FEMA adjuster is assigned to come out and evaluate the property. When we were mucking out houses last week, we were warned to leave a piece of drywall to prove where the high-water line was in the house, as the FEMA adjuster needed that proof. People who rent can apply for funds for personal property that is damaged, and that's based in part on income level.

After Hurricane Rita, my parents received small sums from FEMA to cover part of their hotel and food costs (since they couldn't go home for several weeks). Some people received more long-term housing assistance, such as a FEMA trailer, paid for with the disaster funds. Houston still has several thousand people in shelters; FEMA will likely end up paying for hotel rooms and/or other housing for them for a year or so.

People who lose their jobs or whose jobs are on hold for a time can file for unemployment. They don't get paid from the federal disaster funds.

This article from Reuters talks a bit about cleanup costs, 90% of which are born by the federal government. The debris is a healthy and safety hazard. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...s-could-reach-staggering-levels-idUSKCN1BM1ZT

A lot of the giant numbers (e.g., $100 billion) also take into account the amount that insurers will be paying. For Harvey, this will include both private insurers that cover windstorm damage (tornadoes and the hurricane-force winds where the storm landed) and, primarily, the National Flood Insurance Program. The Flood program is a federal program which is already out of money, so money for all the claims they have to pay will need to be appropriated by Congress.

Some of the federal funds will likely also be used to buy out homes that have repeatedly flooded.

 

[JoeWras]

Debris removal is big. If you get it to the curb, they'll get rid of it. Probably the most wide-ranging benefit of those in disaster zones.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Year's ago my parents were flooded in SE Florida. IIRC DF received a check from FEMA(?) for about 12k. I'm not sure if anyone had been to their home.

He gets the damage repaired for ~10k and writes a letter, with invoices and his check for the 2k he didn't use. Haha. The ole man got really ticked off because they wouldn't take it back.

So I'm not sure about the claims or adjudication process at all.

Your Dear Father was an honorable man.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

These are the types of bums that usually make out on "aid" money Hurricane Sandy scam tally hits $20M with 150 charged since devastating storm | NJ.com

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

I spent Saturday in Houston, helping muck out a flooded house. It took a dozen of us a full day, to muck one house out and strip the floors and walls down to the studs, halfway to the ceiling. We hauled everything to the curb. The owner was grateful, and told us that even though she didn't have flood insurance, she filed a claim with her insurance company, because the power was out and the damage was worsened because of that. In addition, she anticipates help from FEMA, but there is a $60K cap. In the end, she'll get financial assistance, but I suspect not 100% of her losses. Estimates I've seen are 40,000 homes flooded, of which 80% have no flood insurance. If each home was reimbursed $60k, that would be $1.2 billion from FEMA for homes. That's assuming my math is correct.

 

[aja8888]

I spent Saturday in Houston, helping muck out a flooded house. It took a dozen of us a full day, to muck one house out and strip the floors and walls down to the studs, halfway to the ceiling. We hauled everything to the curb. The owner was grateful, and told us that even though she didn't have flood insurance, she filed a claim with her insurance company, because the power was out and the damage was worsened because of that. In addition, she anticipates help from FEMA, but there is a $60K cap. In the end, she'll get financial assistance, but I suspect not 100% of her losses. Estimates I've seen are 40,000 homes flooded, of which 80% have no flood insurance. If each home was reimbursed $60k, that would be $1.2 billion from FEMA for homes. That's assuming my math is correct.

Thanks for helping out and I'm sure the family is grateful. It will be years before all this damage gets fixed and we are back to normal. We were fortunate that our home is north of town and lust outside Spring Creek where there was a lot of flooding.

 

[Rustic23]

I question the 80% no insurance figure. One report I saw said that there are 1.6 million homes in Houston, and 80% of them do not have flood insurance. That is different from 80% of the flooded homes don't have flood insurance. When you figure all homes in a flood zone with a mortgage are required to have insurance, and that while there were a lot of homes flooded outside of traditional flood zones, the 80% figure seems high.

Still it is a lot or homes!