VENICE, Fla. (WFLA) — FEMA specialists are available to meet one-on-one with residents in southern Sarasota County this week. An intake center opened up Monday morning at the Venice Community Center.

This pop up location opening comes on the same day FEMA announced an extension to its application deadline. Storm victims impacted by Hurricane Helene or Hurricane Milton will now have until January 7 to submit their applications. SBA also extended its deadline to the same day.

“We are just trying to provide in-person assistance to people and a bit closer than some of our other options have been. A lot of elderly people specifically, sometimes have issues uploading stuff or maybe you just want someone to walk you through the process in person, so we are just here to make sure that is an option for everyone,” said FEMA Disaster Survivor Assistant Specialist Lucas Kohler.

Kohler said residents in Venice seem to be running into two main issues.

“The two biggest things which we are seeing which are holding up people‘s cases is, if you were living in a mobile home community, a lot of times, ownership isn’t automatically going through. So making sure you have those deeds and talking to your insurance and making sure you have a letter of non-coverage or what they will cover, if anything. We need those two things before FEMA has the greenlight to go ahead and give you those funds,” said Kohler.

In addition to FEMA representatives, the Small Business Administration will have two representatives on site to help individuals or small business owners interested in low-interest loan applications.

The intake center at the Venice Community Center will be open to storm victims through Wednesday, November 27. The site is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Venice Community Center is located at 326 Nokomis Ave. S. on Venice island.