Individual Assistance Grants From FEMA

7/15/2021 (Permalink)

Protecting your home in advance will prevent serious and expensive storm damage in the future.

After a major natural disaster affects your Salt Lake City, Utah, home, FEMA, or the Federal Emergency Management Agency, may be one of the first sources of help. You can seek this assistance as an individual, and one of your first steps should be registering with the agency as soon as possible after damage to your home. You'll need to have specific information and paperwork available:

• Address of your damaged property
• Current contact information
• Insurance information
• Social security number
• Banking information
• Annual household income

What To Expect From Grants

Whether your property has been affected by wildfires or flooding, the costs of recovery, including the work completed by property repair and reconstruction professionals, can be overwhelming. This assistance is particularly helpful for people without insurance or with gaps in their insurance. The grants may cover:

• Home repairs
• Temporary shelter
• Medical and dental expenses
• Childcare costs
• Funeral expenses
• Replacement of personal property

After registering, a FEMA representative will call to schedule an inspection before approving the assistance. It's important to note that scam artists may show up claiming to be official inspectors, so ask for an identification card. Do not provide your credit card or any bank account information because there isn't a charge for these inspections.

Information From Insurance Providers

If you haven't yet experienced a major disaster, it isn't too soon to learn as much as possible about surviving and recovering. Ask your insurance provider about the steps you can take to protect your home against damage from an earthquake, flood, wildfire, or landslide. The more you do beforehand to prevent damage, the better off you'll be.

An Offer of Help

It isn't always possible to emerge unscathed, however, so research the ways that the FEMA Individual Assistance Program could help you. After all, the experience of a natural disaster is scary enough without knowing where you'll be sleeping at night; it's comforting to have many sources of assistance available.