Residents of hurricane-ravaged western North Carolina are being forced out of federally funded hotel rooms, leaving some families panicked and unsure where they will live.
Starting Friday, more than 1,200 Hurricane Helene victims whose homes were uninhabitable are no longer eligible for Federal Emergency Management Agency money to pay for hotel accommodations.
FEMA faced criticism in mid-January — including from incoming Trump administration officials — when it similarly stopped paying the hotel bills of roughly 2,000 households in the area.
Cameron Hamilton, who is now FEMA’s acting administrator, shared a Fox News story at the time about the move on X with the comment, “What the hell is going on with FEMA?!” Two weeks later, shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump traveled to western North Carolina, assailed FEMA’s response to Helene and suggested abolishing the agency.
