Temporary Housing on Your Lot After the Indiana and Ohio Storms

FEMA declared a major disaster for Indiana on August 25, 2026, and for Ohio on October 2, 2026, after the storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, and flooding that began August 10 and 11. If your home is not livable while it is repaired, your homeowners policy may pay for somewhere to stay. 1st Choice Living has placed furnished travel trailers on homeowners’ own property, nationwide, since 2004. We check the local rule for your address first, bill the carrier directly under ALE where the claim covers it, and give you one named contact from the first call to pickup.

FEMA help and the deadlines to apply

Households in the Individual Assistance counties apply for FEMA help at DisasterAssistance.gov or 1-800-621-3362. FEMA set October 25, 2026 as the deadline to apply in Indiana, and ohio EMA gives December 1, 2026 as the deadline to apply in Ohio. FEMA’s own figures on housing help so far:

• Indiana. As of October 17, 2026, FEMA reports $79,419,551.22 in Housing Assistance approved for DR-4933-IN, and 34,943 Individual Assistance applications approved. Source
• Ohio. As of October 17, 2026, FEMA reports $3,671,121.53 in Housing Assistance approved for DR-4945-OH, and 599 Individual Assistance applications approved. Source

FEMA help and your insurance claim are separate. FEMA decides what its own assistance covers; your Additional Living Expenses run through your own carrier. 1st Choice Living is independent of FEMA and of every insurer.

Safety first

Housing can wait until everyone is safe. Go back to a property only when local officials say it is safe, and keep clear of downed lines and flood water. Your county emergency management agency has the word on roads, debris, and assistance events; each area page below links the agencies for its counties. When it is safe, photograph everything before anything is cleaned up or thrown out. For a record of a roof you should not climb on, LossMap documents storm damage by drone.

Open the claim and ask about Additional Living Expenses

Additional Living Expenses, or ALE, sometimes called loss of use, pays for somewhere to live while the house is not livable. Ask your carrier whether your policy includes it and what the limit is. That answer decides how your housing gets paid for. Here is how each state’s insurance regulator explains it:

• Indiana. The Indiana Department of Insurance lists additional living expenses, “in case damage makes your home temporarily unlivable,” among the coverages in a homeowners policy, and says that if a peril your homeowners policy covers forces you to move temporarily into a hotel or motel, your insurance may pay reasonable additional living expenses.
• Ohio. The Ohio Department of Insurance says insurance policies usually pay for reasonable after-the-fact expenses, including additional living expenses: “room and board (e.g., stay at a hotel or motel) while you are unable to use your house.” If you need temporary housing, it says to check your policy for loss of use coverage, notes that many policies cover such expenses up to a stated amount, and says to keep receipts for emergency expenses such as temporary housing. Its severe weather toolkit says reasonable after-the-fact expenses, additional living expenses among them, are generally covered up to set time frames and amounts.

Your own carrier’s policy form sets the time and dollar limits. We have quoted them, with the source, on loss of use coverage by insurance carrier, including Erie, which lists homeowners coverage in Indiana and Ohio, State Farm, Allstate, and Nationwide.

Flood is different. National Flood Insurance Program policies do not provide additional living expense coverage. If your home also had damage your homeowners policy covers, such as wind, ask your adjuster how ALE applies. This is general information, not legal or coverage advice. Your policy and your adjuster decide what is covered.

Hotel, rental, or a trailer on your own lot

There are three real options, and the right answer depends on your family, your property, the local rule, and how the repairs are likely to go.

• Hotel. The easiest first night, and often where the carrier puts you at the start. Rooms are small, there is no kitchen, and restaurant meals add up against your ALE limit.
• Rental house or apartment. More room and a kitchen. A lease may not match the repair schedule, and the rental may be farther from your neighborhood, your kids’ school, and your job than you want to be.
• A travel trailer on your own property. A furnished unit delivered, leveled, and connected on your own lot. You stay next to the repairs, so you are there when the adjuster and the contractor show up. It needs room on the lot and a local rule that allows a temporary RV during repairs, which many Indiana and Ohio codes do not, so we check first. If it is not the right fit for your property, we will tell you.

Arranging your own temporary housing

Some carriers set up the housing; others leave it to you and reimburse it under ALE. If it is on you, our guide to arranging your own temporary housing on an insurance claim covers the questions to ask your adjuster, the receipts to keep, and how a trailer on your lot is billed to the carrier.

If you do not have ALE, Indiana has state housing help outside insurance:

• State Disaster Relief Fund. Indiana’s State Disaster Relief Fund rule limits its temporary housing category to vouchers or reimbursement for short-term lodging such as hotels and motels. Source
• Hotel voucher. The Indiana Department of Homeland Security says IHCDA’s August 2026 temporary housing help covers a hotel stay of up to 60 days or rental assistance, and that the last day to apply for IHCDA’s hotel voucher through Indiana 211 is Monday, October 19, 2026. Source

How a trailer on your lot works with your ALE

• Local rules for your address checked before delivery.
• A furnished travel trailer with a kitchen, a bathroom, real beds, and heat and air, delivered, leveled, and set up on your property.
• Utilities connected by licensed, insured contractors from our preferred vendor network, planned around what is actually working at the property.
• Site conditions documented at setup and again at takedown.
• Direct billing to your carrier under ALE where the claim covers it, tracked against your ALE limit.
• One named contact from the first call to the day the unit leaves.

The full walkthrough is on our on-site RV housing page, and our after a storm guide covers roof claims and the questions to ask your adjuster.

Already working with a temporary housing company?

Many carriers send ALE housing through a temporary housing company. We work with any temporary housing company. If one is handling your housing, ask them to place you with 1st Choice Living for a trailer on your own lot. They send us the placement, we deliver, set up, and service the trailer, and the billing runs through them or straight to your carrier, whichever way their program works. Housing companies can see how we work as their on-site vendor.

Local rules by state

Indiana. We did not find an Indiana statute or state rule that allows or limits living in an RV or travel trailer on the lot of a home that is not livable after a disaster, so the city, town, or county zoning code decides. Of the codes we read, most bar living in a parked RV on a residential lot. A few allow short stays, and a few have a written path during repairs, such as Delphi, unincorporated Pulaski County, and unincorporated Dearborn County. Several counties allow a temporary mobile home, not a travel trailer.

Ohio. We did not find an Ohio statute or state building rule that allows living in an RV or travel trailer on the lot of a home that is not livable after a disaster. Ohio law lets a township, and a county with rural zoning, prohibit travel trailers from any residential district, so the local zoning resolution decides.

“Prohibit from any residential district or zone, travel trailers, park trailers, and mobile homes, as these terms are defined in section 4501.01 of the Revised Code” Ohio Revised Code 519.212(B)(2) (township zoning) Ohio Revised Code 303.212(B)(2) (county rural zoning)

In both states, a trailer hooked to a home’s septic system needs the county health department’s word first. Each area page names the state septic rule and the offices to call.

Storm pages by area

Each area page quotes the local code on living in an RV on your lot for every city, town, township, and county we checked, with the official source, or says plainly where we did not find one. It also lists the permit offices, county emergency management, power utilities, and dated recovery lines.

• Indiana: Northwest Indiana (Lake, Porter, and LaPorte counties), Indianapolis and central Indiana (Marion, Hamilton, Hancock, Madison, and Morgan counties), East central Indiana (Delaware, Henry, Randolph, Wayne, Fayette, Union, and Rush counties), Southeast Indiana (Dearborn, Franklin, and Decatur counties), North central Indiana (Cass, Carroll, Pulaski, and Tipton counties)
• Ohio: Cincinnati, Hamilton County, and Clermont County (Hamilton and Clermont counties), Columbus, Franklin County, and Licking County (Franklin and Licking counties), Zanesville and southeast Ohio (Muskingum, Perry, and Morgan counties)

Pike and Putnam counties, Indiana, are on FEMA’s Individual Assistance list but do not have an area page. There, check with the city, town, or county planning office before a trailer is placed; we confirm the rule for your address before delivery.

For adjusters and housing companies

If you are handling files from the August storms, send the placement the way you would any other: the property address, the household size, the claim number, the ALE limit, and where to send invoices. We check the local rule, confirm the site can take a unit, and schedule delivery with the family. Start at for adjusters and carriers or for housing companies. Independent adjusters deployed on these claims: see for independent adjusters.

More help after the storms

• Travel trailers for families and crews after the Indiana and Ohio storms from Temporary RV Living, including the local rules on crew trailers at a job site.
• Drone documentation after the Indiana and Ohio storms from LossMap, to record roof and property damage before cleanup.
• Housewares for temporary housing after the storms from Temporary Housewares.

Frequently asked questions