FEMA has activated Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA) for eligible households with a disaster-damaged home in Lincoln County, Otero County and the Mescalero Apache Reservation.

Residents in these impacted areas who have applied for disaster assistance may be eligible to stay temporarily in a hotel or motel paid for by FEMA. Applicants do not need to request this assistance but must apply to FEMA to determine their eligibility. FEMA will notify them of their eligibility through an automated phone call, text message, and/or email, depending upon the method of communication they selected at the time of application for disaster assistance.

Applicants may be eligible if they cannot return to their disaster-damaged home and their housing needs cannot be met by insurance, shelters or rental assistance provided by FEMA or another agency.

Under the TSA program, FEMA pays the cost of room, taxes and non-refundable pet fees directly to participating hotels and motels. Pet fees will only be paid up to the approved limit of assistance for individual rooms. Residents are responsible for all other costs, including laundry, restaurant/room service, parking, telephone, or movie rental. 

TSA is available for eligible residents at participating properties in the State of New Mexico and El Paso County in the State of Texas. FEMA will conduct regular reviews of registrants’ eligibility for continued TSA. When their eligibility ends, residents will be given seven days’ notice by FEMA prior to their checkout date. Registrants who meet the conditions of continued eligibility may remain in TSA through the next eligibility period.

Applicants must find a hotel by visiting femaemergencyhotels.com/ and entering their FEMA registration number. 

TSA participants may also be eligible for other FEMA financial help, including Displacement Assistance, Rental Assistance, Home Repair Assistance and other aspects of the Individual Assistance program.

To be eligible for any FEMA Individual Assistance program, you must apply to FEMA. There are four ways to apply:

• Go online to disasterassistance.gov/. 
• Download the FEMA App for mobile devices at fema.gov/about/news-multimedia/mobile-products. 
• Call the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362 between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. Help is available in most languages. If you use a relay service, such as video relay (VRS), captioned telephone or other service, give FEMA your number for that service.
• Visit a Disaster Recovery Center near you. For location and hours, go online to fema.gov/drc.

For an accessible video on how to apply for assistance, visit youtube.com/watch= WZGpWI2RCNw.