Polk County Emergency Management estimates several thousand homes were damaged by Hurricane Irma in Polk County.

Many of those displaced from their homes by storm damage are looking for temporary places to stay. Unfortunately, depending on FEMA, they're reporting they’re not having much luck.

  • Only 7 Polk hotels currently in transitional sheltering assistance program
  • FEMA program pays for evacuees to stay
  • Evacuees at one FEMA-listed hotel asked to leave Sept. 21

As of 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 21, there were only seven hotels in Polk County that were accepting FEMA payments as part of the transitional sheltering assistance program, which pays for evacuees to stay there.

“None of us have anywhere to go, I have no family here,” said displaced resident Lindsay Teal. "All of the people here are refugees from the hurricane. They’re all full.”

That was the sense of desperation at the Westmont Inn in Lakeland. It’s one of the hotels that was listed on the FEMA Evacuee Hotel List online, yet on Thursday afternoon, evacuees learned they had to leave.

The hotel’s owner said FEMA initially approved him for the program, but then told him Thursday morning he wasn’t approved. Worried he would not get reimbursed from FEMA, he said he had to tell 61 rooms full of evacuees they had to leave unless they could pay for their rooms.

Two of those people were Melinda Dixon and her elderly father, who is on oxygen. After a tree fell on their home, FEMA approved her for assistance and told her to look for a room at the Westmont Inn.

She’s now hoping to find something more permanent, such as a trailer or an apartment to move into, but she hasn't had any luck.

“It’s very hard, very hard. Because it’s just me trying to do it," said Melinda. "I can’t do it by myself. He could pass away today, he could pass away tomorrow."

While we were there, the hotel owner got in touch with FEMA, who told him they were looking into his case. He then decided to allow people to stay one more night while FEMA resolved the situation.

It was a similar scenario for Wanda Hicks, who is disabled and was approved for FEMA assistance, after the hurricane caused her neighbor’s tree to fall on her home. After a week of calling hotels in Lakeland, she said she found a room at the Days Inn and Suites.

“I said, 'Do you know how long you can have it for us?' She said, 'You have to call back every morning to find out if it’s available,'" said Hicks. "It’s like we really don’t know from one day to the other if we have somewhere to stay."

FEMA spokesman Bill Lehman said it’s up to the hotels to apply to become a part of its transitional sheltering assistance program. So far, many of the big hotel chains in Polk County have not signed up.