Photo: Organizers with the Helene Survivors Committee circulate a petition demanding an extension for emergency housing

Today, Donald Trump is visiting North Carolina and then Los Angeles in a cynical attempt to take political advantage of recent disasters.

He plans on baselessly blaming immigrants for the lack of support for survivors, and to pass the buck to state politicians to avoid federal responsibility. But the real problem is that disaster relief is outrageously underfunded, and political elites from the federal to the local level consistently put the needs of profit over people.

In Asheville, N.C., the Helene Survivors Committee has gone door to door in dozens of hotels where survivors are staying on FEMA vouchers. They say now thousands are facing eviction into the brutal cold and that FEMA is misleading the public about how dire the situation remains

In Los Angeles and western North Carolina, survivors are refusing to be used for photo ups by either Republicans or Democrats while their demands go unaddressed. The ANSWER Coalition is in solidarity with these efforts and is circulating below a statement and petition put out by the Helene Survivors Committee. Please take a moment to sign on:

Send a letter to FEMA: Don't abandon Helene Survivors

News release from Helene Survivors Committee on Trump's visit

On Friday, January 24th, Donald Trump will visit Western North Carolina for the first trip of his administration. The Helene Survivors Committee (HSC) had already been organizing a protest in Asheville at Pack Square on Friday at 2:00 PM to demand an extension of the Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA) program and full federal relief for Western North Carolinians impacted by Helene.

From Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy to the wildfires in California, we have seen both Republican and Democratic administrations abandon the survivors of natural disasters. “Friday we’re going to protest that FEMA might have said they did TSA extensions until May, but we have not met one person who received that extension yet,” said Maryjo Tucker, an organizer with the Helene Survivors Committee. “I heard the recently elected Trump will be in town. It’s sad how he sees us as political pawns and a photo op, instead of as human beings.”

We also refuse to be set against undocumented immigrants and to be used like a prop for Trump’s scapegoating campaign, as he tries to falsely pass off FEMA’s negligence as a matter of the agency’s resources being diverted to other federal programs.

We are demanding full federal relief, for all Helene survivors, including:

1. Extending TSA vouchers, allowing displaced residents to stay in hotels until each resident has the ability to obtain secure housing.

2. Using funds to repair and build permanent housing for all residents who have lost their homes.

3. Providing sufficient shelter, food, and heat for any resident who has already been made homeless.

These are modest demands. Because of public pressure and HSC outreach and protests, FEMA has already made extensions to the program, trying to avoid the bad publicity of putting survivors in the winter cold. But they’ve misled the media into believing that all individuals facing homelessness are being taken care of and have received extensions. That’s not true.

According to FEMA’s own data, the agency has terminated at least 1,600 households from TSA because FEMA was unable to contact them digitally. FEMA knew which hotels these households were staying in, and could have knocked on their doors. It is unconscionable that FEMA would evict these families during a freezing winter, rather than to use the agency’s vast resources to reach them. The HSC will continue organizing around the TSA program and all other issues impacting Helene survivors.

When: Friday, January 24th at 2PM
Where: Pasadena City Hall

In response to Trump’s visit to LA, on Friday at Pasadena City Hall a coalition of community organizations and people directly impacted by the fires will hold a press conference to outline demands on the federal government and call for immediate action! Speakers will include victims who lost their homes and long time leaders in labor, housing, immigrants rights and more.

Organizers of the press conference have issued the following list of demands: 

1. Free and suitable housing: open up vacant hotels and residences to fire victims!
2. Cancel rents and mortgages: stop all payments for residents in evacuation zones!
3. Stop the price gouging: protect LA renters from soaring rents!
4. Full compensation now: guaranteed by the federal government and a surcharge tax on Exxon/Mobil, Chevron, and other energy companies, for a fund to compensate victims!
5. Fight the fire, not the people: stop the criminalization of Angelenos!
6. Resist disaster capitalism: rebuild LA by putting people over profits, not through greedy corporate redevelopment!