FEMA includes grants for temporary housing, home repairs in Texas’ emergency aid

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — FEMA announced federal emergency aid has been made available to the state of Texas to help in recovery efforts in areas affected by this week’s severe winter storm.

Assistance will include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured losses, and other programs to help residents and business owners recover from the catastrophic storm.

It’s for residents in 77 counties across the state including Harris, Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston and Waller county.

Residents can also start applying for assistance by registering online at the Disaster Assistance website, or by calling 1-800-621-3362.

Federal funding has also been made available to certain private nonprofit organizations for emergency protective measures.

Houston residents should visit the Houston Emergency website for more updates.
This weekend, there were free water and food distributions across the city and surrounding areas to help those impacted by the storm.

Jessica Villagomez, the co-owner of Boom Box Taco, said the business was hit hard by the winter storm, and they are still without water. With help from community partners, they were able to feed 750 hungry families on Saturday.
While they try to get their business back on track they are looking for more ways to help those who have lost so much.

“Right now, a lot of people are going to not only deal with the fact that COVID had already affected them, but now they have to deal with the fact that their house is messed up because of the water damage,” said Villagomez. “There’s people that have unfortunately died.”

The Houston Food Bank is also hosting a mass food distribution at NRG stadium on Sunday.

To apply for FEMA Emergency Aid, you must live in the following 77 counties: Angelina, Aransas, Bastrop, Bee, Bell, Bexar, Blanco, Brazoria, Brazos, Brown, Burleson, Caldwell, Calhoun, Cameron, Chambers, Collin, Comal, Comanche, Cooke, Coryell, Dallas, Denton, DeWitt, Ellis, Falls, Fort Bend, Galveston, Gillespie, Grimes, Guadalupe, Hardin, Harris, Hays, Henderson, Hidalgo, Hood, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Kaufman, Kendall, Lavaca, Liberty, Madison, Matagorda, Maverick, McLennan, Montague, Montgomery, Nacogdoches, Nueces, Orange, Palo Pinto, Panola, Parker, Polk, Rockwall, Sabine, San Jacinto, San Patricio, Scurry, Shelby, Smith, Stephens, Tarrant, Travis, Tyler, Upshur, Van Zandt, Victoria, Walker, Waller, Wharton, Wichita, Williamson, Wilson and Wise counties.