Just like many states North Carolina is getting a winter storm tomorrow and that happens to be the day FEMA is kicking 3,500 people out of their hotel rooms in Western North Carolina.

According to ABC 13 News, FEMA is funding 5,600 households in hotel rooms. The reason why they are evicting 3,500 families are because their homes have now passed inspection, or they refused a FEMA inspection, or FEMA just can’t get in contact with them.

Assuming FEMA’s inspection standards are good, this sounds reasonable to me except for the fact that this winter storm hits on eviction day. The temperatures in Western North are going to be 20 degrees or below tomorrow night. I would expect this to be a mitigating factor and would hope FEMA would extend the hotel stays for another few days or a week while the storm passes through and conditions improve.

Here’s the news:

As of Friday, Jan. 10, around 3,500 households in North Carolina are set to lose their Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA) from FEMA as winter weather storms in.

FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance program has provided hotel rooms to thousands of Hurricane Helene survivors in Western North Carolina.

On Jan. 3, FEMA began notifying families that were checked into hotel or motel rooms who are no longer eligible for the program.

This was due to any of the following reasons:

• An inspection found their home is now habitable
• They declined an inspection
• FEMA has been unable to contact the applicant to update their housing needs, despite multiple attempts

As of Jan. 6, more than 5,600 households were staying in hotel or motel rooms paid by FEMA. As many as 2,100 families meet the requirements for the program and will continue to stay in hotels provided by the agency.