Many homes around Nichols have been flooded out twice by Hurricane Matthew and Florence, and residents are looking for ways to sell their properties.
Homeowners have heard of a federal buyout but according to FEMA that program does not exist.
“The main thing to remember is that there’s no FEMA or federal buyout program for people’s property. That doesn’t exist, that’s a rumor. There is a grant prorgam that’s available for local agencies or local governments to apply for funding if they wanted to do any type of property acquistions following a disaster,” said Derrec Becker, chief of public information for the South Carolina emergency managment division.
Residents are left to decide whether to return home and rebuild or participate in an acquisition program.
“There’s a terminology of a FEMA buyout and that’s somewhat of a misnomer. There’s a FEMA grant that can be applied for to acquistion homes, and that’s to move them or tear them down,” said Sandee Rogers, town manager for Nichols.
The acquisition is a (HMP) Hazard Mitigation Program funded by FEMA, but Rogers said that process can take up to 10 years.
“It’s not a payout that they get. In the begining after all the process is done and property is demolished or moved them then the funds are reimbursable up to 75% to the homeowner, but not a gurantee 75% it depends on how the process works,” said Rogers.
The remaining 25% would be the homeowner’s responsibility. “The town of Nichols does not have the funding at this point, obviously after two floods to front this it would be a difficult process to make it happen. that’s why we’ve been very careful to pick and choose what’s best for the community,” said Rogers.
Homeowners who decide to participate in the acquisition program, need to meet certain requirements and contact their local government.
“We are working with the town of Nichols on solutions. There are different issues as far as a long term recovery process goes. Unfortunately in a disaster recovery there are no quick, simple, easy solutions,” said Becker.
For more information, contact FEMA at 1-800-621-FEMA or click here.
