
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:
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:
-
Extending TSA vouchers, allowing displaced residents to stay in
hotels until each resident has the ability to obtain secure
housing.
-
Using funds to repair and build permanent housing for all residents
who have lost their homes.
-
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:
- Free and suitable housing: open
up vacant hotels and residences to fire victims!
- Cancel rents and mortgages: stop
all payments for residents in evacuation zones!
- Stop the price gouging: protect
LA renters from soaring rents!
- 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!
- Fight the fire, not the people:
stop the criminalization of Angelenos!
- Resist disaster capitalism:
rebuild LA by putting people over profits, not through greedy
corporate redevelopment!
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