Moreover responding to the destruction attributable to Hurricane Helene, emergency employees are battling on-line misinformation that might dissuade survivors from accepting catastrophe reduction.
Some false claims have targeted on the Federal Emergency Administration Company’s $750 funds for important provides.
“BREAKING: Hurricane victims are actually realizing that the $750 from FEMA that Kamala Harris is providing them is definitely a mortgage, not actual reduction,” Philip Anderson wrote on X Oct. 4. “And that in the event that they don’t pay it again the feds can seize their property. These individuals don’t even have property anymore due to the hurricane.”
Anderson, of Smith County, Texas, pleaded not responsible to prices stemming from his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, on the U.S. Capitol. His X deal with is @VoteHarrisOut.
(Screenshot from X)
This narrative additionally unfold on TikTok. In one video that drew nearly 400,000 views as of Oct. 6, an unidentified man described as a “FEMA inspector” issued what he described as a “dire warning.”
“There’s a contract, firstly when the inspector will get there earlier than he begins inspecting,” he mentioned. “In that contract, if you don’t pay the cash again — it’s a mortgage. A mortgage. And even when it’s only a greenback or $750, in case you don’t pay it again, they’ve the fitting to grab your entire property.”
On Oct. 5, somebody shared that TikTok on X, writing: “Stunning… a rip-off, $750 is a lure.” It had acquired greater than 79,000 views as of Oct. 6.
These claims are baseless: FEMA’s help fee for important provides just isn’t a mortgage, and FEMA doesn’t seize property.
“Our primary purpose is for survivors to get the help that they deserve, that they want to allow them to get better,” FEMA Press Secretary Daniel Llargues informed PolitiFact. “All of this noise and misinformation could stop some individuals from coming to us for help.”
FEMA’s $750 “Critical Wants Help” fee just isn’t a mortgage that should be repaid
FEMA’s “Critical Wants Help” provides a one-time $750-per-household fee to catastrophe survivors who apply in the course of the first 30 days after a catastrophe declaration. It’s meant to assist cowl “important gadgets” and emergency provides, together with, “water, meals, first support, breast-feeding provides, toddler system, diapers, private hygiene gadgets, or gas for transportation.”
On Oct. 5, Jaclyn Rothenberg, FEMA’s public affairs and planning director, responded on to claims that this help is a mortgage that should be repaid.
“This isn’t true,” she wrote in response to the Oct. 4 X put up. “We don’t ask for this a reimbursement.”
This isn’t true. We don’t ask for this a reimbursement. https://t.co/P4D9edAD8g
— Jaclyn Rothenberg (@FEMAspox) October 5, 2024
FEMA additionally addressed these falsehoods on a “Fable vs. Reality: Catastrophe Help” web site.
“Fable: FEMA grant cash is a mortgage that I might want to pay again,” it learn. “Reality: FEMA catastrophe help are grants which don’t should be repaid.”
Critical Wants Help is offered to catastrophe survivors who’re U.S. residents and certified noncitizens. For individuals to qualify, their main house should be within the disaster-stricken space. These individuals additionally should apply for the help whereas it’s accessible. And FEMA should be capable of affirm the candidates’ identities and evaluation supporting paperwork to substantiate harm to the candidates’ properties.
Critical Wants Help is “an preliminary fee individuals could obtain” whereas they await the different types of help they may qualify for, in keeping with FEMA’s web site.
“As individuals’s purposes proceed to be reviewed, they could nonetheless obtain further types of help for different wants comparable to help for non permanent housing, private property and residential restore prices,” the location mentioned.
Usually, FEMA says its grants do not need to be paid again.
There are exceptions. For instance, if somebody has insurance coverage that covers non permanent housing prices however asks FEMA to advance cash to assist with these prices whereas the insurance coverage cash is delayed, then “you will have to pay that cash again to FEMA after you obtain your insurance coverage settlement,” FEMA mentioned.
Individuals can apply for help on-line by visiting disasterassistance.gov, by calling 800-621-3362 or by downloading FEMA’s app.
FEMA doesn’t seize private property
On its “Rumor Response” web page, FEMA rebutted claims that individuals who apply for FEMA help danger having their property seized or confiscated.
“FEMA can’t seize your property or land,” the company wrote. “Making use of for catastrophe help doesn’t grant FEMA or the federal authorities authority or possession of your property or land.”
Making use of for catastrophe help means a FEMA inspector is perhaps despatched to confirm and assess harm to a residence, which is one issue reviewed to find out eligibility for various kinds of catastrophe reduction, the web site mentioned.
The web page concluded: “If the outcomes of the inspection deem your own home uninhabitable, that info is just used to find out the quantity of FEMA help chances are you’ll obtain to make your own home secure, sanitary and purposeful.”
This falsehood has circulated throughout earlier disasters, together with after the damaging and lethal 2023 wildfires in Maui, Hawaii.
Llargues of FEMA described the method somebody may expertise when making use of for catastrophe reduction.
“You apply for help, and also you inform me that you’ve got 5 toes of water in your own home,” he mentioned. “We’re going to be sending an inspector on the market.” That inspector is perhaps a FEMA worker or a contractor. Both method, the inspector will not cost for something and there’s “no contract,” Llargues mentioned.
“They are going to come out to your own home, they’ll take images, do the inspections, have a look at the home from the surface, inside, and doc every thing,” and report it again to FEMA, he mentioned. “Primarily based on what (the inspector) noticed and their findings, we’ll provide you with some form of eligibility.”
Though it’s attainable you would be discovered ineligible for help — a choice you can enchantment — “there’s no FEMA taking on land, or property or homes,” Llargues mentioned. “That’s false.”
FEMA inspired individuals to do their half to cease spreading false info by discovering “trusted sources of data” and sharing info from these sources and discouraging “others from sharing info from unverified sources.”
Our ruling
An X put up mentioned “The $750 from FEMA that Kamala Harris is providing them is definitely a mortgage, not actual reduction. And that in the event that they don’t pay it again the feds can seize their property.”
FEMA’s $750 one-time help funds for important provides aren’t loans that should be repaid, in keeping with the company and its spokespeople. The company additionally doesn’t seize individuals’s property.
Emergency officers warn these baseless claims serve solely to confuse the supply of support to disaster-affected individuals. We price these claims Pants on Hearth!
RELATED: Kamala Harris didn’t say solely $750 was accessible to Hurricane Helene victims. Video omits different support
