Mississippi has launched a statewide grant lottery to help homeowners build storm shelters and safe rooms, but rural residents say the program may be out of reach for those who need it most.
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency says the initiative – funded through FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program – offers up to $3,500 to cover 75% of the cost of constructing a FEMA-approved safe room. There are 38 available grants per county. The goal is to improve statewide storm preparedness and reduce weather-related deaths.
“We’ve never before been able to offer this for all 82 counties in our state,” said Scott Simmons, MEMA’s director of external affairs and chief communications officer. “We’re trying to spread it from the south to the north, to the central east or west.”
Rural costs, access limit grant impact
MEMA data shows 15% to 20% of the population live in mobile homes, and almost 25% live in manufactured homes – both of which, Simmons said, are vulnerable to storm damage.
Many of those homes are in rural areas, where Greene County Emergency Management Director Trent Robertson said storm shelters could be lifesaving – if families can afford to build them.
“These homes have some age on (them) – certainly they’re more susceptible to strong wind than a strong, modern built structure that may have stronger framing to it,” he said.
Despite the need, Robertson said upfront costs could make participation difficult for many families.
“Coming up with that kind of money, then waiting to be reimbursed could be problematic for some people,” he said.
The grant requires winners to use a FEMA-approved Mississippi contractor, which Roberton said might be another challenge in more rural areas.
He pointed to a similar program launched in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to help coastal counties build storm shelters and other recovery infrastructure. Robertson said more rural counties were unable to take part because they couldn’t afford the match required at the time.
“We would have had to pay 25% of the cost of them, which was still several million dollars, and our county is a rural county,” he said. “We don’t have a whole lot of industry here, so that was just not feasible at the time for the county to be able to do that.”
Longtime Poplarville resident Carol Williams said the idea behind the grant is good, but it inadvertently excludes families in small towns.
“The ones that could afford it – $3,500 – probably aren’t going to install one, and the ones that need it the most can’t afford it,” she said.
Williams said investing in community shelters could make more sense in smaller towns.
“You could take the same amount that they have and have a structurally sound (building) with cots and pillows and maybe bottled water,” she said.
Robertson said, while funding may be a challenge for some, he encourages anyone who can afford it to take full advantage of the program.
How storm shelter lottery works
The application window is open through Nov. 30, and all entries submitted through MEMA’s website will be entered into a statewide lottery drawing. Selected applicants will receive an email invitation to complete the second step of the process.
Winners must obtain official approval before construction begins. Safe rooms or storm shelters must be installed within 90 days of approval and built by a licensed Mississippi contractor using FEMA-compliant designs.
“They have to be a FEMA-approved shelter,” Simmons said. “They have to receive the grant and then go build it. You can’t get reimbursed for something you’ve already built.”
To qualify for reimbursement, shelters must meet FEMA P-320 (2024) and ICC-500 (2023) standards. Plans must be signed and sealed by a registered design professional unless the unit is prefabricated.
Other requirements include:
- The safe room must be within 150 feet of an exterior door of the home.
- It must support a maximum of 16 people.
- It must clearly display a wind-speed rating of 250 mph.
Builders must keep itemized invoices, proof of payment, and submit a W-9 form and notarized contractor certification to receive reimbursement.
There will be a second statewide lottery if each individual county does not utilize all its funding. People who did not receive the grant after their first application will be eligible to apply again.
This report was produced by the Roy Howard Community Journalism Centerat the University of Southern Mississippi.