JOPLIN, MO.--- Darlene Harper is living in a temporary housing unit.
"That has enabled us to get a lot of bills paid off, get us to a point where we're more stable," says Darlene Harper, FEMA Resident.
Harper and her husband will have to pay rent every month. The first payment is due January 1st.
"We're still stretched kind of tight, and we're just hoping that they can give us an amount that we can afford," says Harper.
She visited with local organizations today to appeal for lower rent.
"Economic Security Corporation, Empire Electric, and Missouri Housing Development Commission decided to put this together so we could get everybody's appeals together," says Heather Bradley Geary, Missouri Housing Development Commission.
Representatives with these groups helped the FEMA residents sort through paperwork.
"If they don't have the ability to get all the paperwork they need like their rent from 2011 before the tornado, their electric, gas, and their water. We're here to help them get that," says Kellee Shepherd, Human Services Campus Director.
There are 67 mobile units remaining in the area across from the Joplin Airport. A 3 bedroom unit will cost $757 a month, and a 2 bedroom will cost $595 a month.
"They could have told us, you have to leave, and I don't mind them asking for the rent one bit. I feel like they're entitled to it," says Harper.
Harper's family is also paying for the property where their home is being built.
"This is going to kind of be our extra rent, but hopefully we'll be in our house by the end of January," says Harper.
All she can do is hope to get a rent reduction.
"We'll take advantage of it and see what happens. You know we're really good about drop and punt."
The deadline to make an appeal is December 10th, and people will be notified by the end of the month if they get a lower rent rate.They will have to pay the full monthly rent if they don't get approved for an appeal.
