The City of Goldsboro was notified by Manuel Portela, FEMA Intergovernmental Affairs Specialist – External Affairs, that Wayne County’s Disaster Recovery Center will likely close in two weeks* and that the deadline for registering for FEMA disaster relief is Jan. 9, 2017. Mr. Portela strongly encourages everyone who has not filed yet to contact him immediately at 225-916-0094 or Manuel.Portela@fema.dhs.gov.
If you cannot go to the Disaster Recovery Center (W.A. Foster Recreation Center, 1012 S. John St., Room 110.2, Goldsboro, open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturdays), you can register online at DisasterAssistance.gov, download the FEMA app, or call 800-621-3362 for voice, 711 and Video Relay Service. If you are deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech disability and use a TTY, call 800-462-7585. The service is available from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Multilingual operators are available.
FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance program, which provides hotel accommodations for survivors unable to live in damaged property, is scheduled to end Jan. 7, 2017. NCHousingSearch.org helps people displaced by Hurricane Matthew locate available, affordable rental housing. Call Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., at 877-428-8844. The FEMA Housing Portal (https://asd.fema.gov/inter/hportal/home.htm) is another housing resource.
If you received a low-interest disaster loan application from the U.S. Small Business Administration, complete it before the Jan. 9, 2017, deadline to keep the federal assistance process moving. You do not have to accept a loan. If you do not qualify for the loan, you may be eligible for FEMA grant money but you have to have applied for the loan and been denied for the process to move back to FEMA.
*According to the NC Department of Public Safety, the Wayne County center will close at 6 p.m. on Jan. 6. The goal is to close all DRCs by Feb. 3.