NEW ORLEANS –   The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) launched its relocation assistance program in August 2007 to help with moving and transportation costs for families who wanted to return to Louisiana or move into more permanent housing. To date, this program has helped 658 families, another 178 will soon move and tens of thousands more are eligible.

Over 1.2 million households were forced from their homes following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. With recovery well underway in Louisiana, many of those households are ready to come home. After the storms, many applicants rented apartments, placed their children in schools, and found jobs in their new temporary homes as they waited to return.

The program will reimburse eligible applicants for relocation expenses up to $4,000 that were incurred between August 29, 2005 and February 29, 2008. Relocation expenses may not exceed the FEMA Individuals and Households Program (IHP) cap of $26,200, and the applicant must not have received funds from any other state, federal or voluntary agency subsidized travel home program.

If an applicant is returning to Louisiana, he or she must relocate to housing that is not provided by FEMA and is not a hotel or motel. For those families that are already living in Louisiana in FEMA travel trailers or mobile homes, FEMA will pay moving expenses to a FEMA-funded rental resource anywhere in the continental United States.

To be eligible for the program, the applicant must have been displaced from their primary residence in a disaster-declared area as a result of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and have incurred or will incur relocation travel expenses within the defined period.

Relocation Assistance will be limited to travel costs including airfare, train, bus and/or a rental vehicle. Furniture transportation expenses also are eligible, including commercially rented equipment for hauling and commercially purchased moving materials or moving services. Evidence of expenses, such as receipts, must be provided for reimbursement. Mileage, gas and other travel-related expenses such as food, incurred while using a privately owned vehicle are not eligible costs. Moving costs for recreational or large luxury items such as boats or recreational vehicles are not eligible expenses under this program either.

For more information on FEMA’s Relocation Assistance program or to request reimbursement of relocation expenses, call 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) (TTY: 1-800-462-7585). To prevent duplication of benefits, an applicant is only eligible to receive relocation assistance under either Hurricane Katrina (DR-1603-LA) or Hurricane Rita (DR-1607-LA), not both.

FEMA coordinates the federal government’s role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.