Florida will be getting $616 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as the Sunshine State recovers from last year’s hurricanes.
U.S. HUD Sec. Ben Carson and Gov. Rick Scott announced on Thursday that the money will go from HUD’s Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) to help Floridians recover from Hurricanes Irma and Maria.
Most of the funds--more than 80 percent of them--are going to the counties and ZIP codes hit hardest. HUD determined that Brevard, Broward, Collier, Duval, Lee, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Orange, Polk and Volusia counties were hit hardest.
“This funding is part of the Trump administration’s continued commitment to helping the residents of Florida impacted by Irma to recover and rebuild their homes and their lives,” said Carson. “As we move along the road to recovery, HUD will be right by Florida’s side to help in any way we can to make the state whole again.”
“It’s great news that we were able to secure critical funding from HUD that will directly benefit the families who were most affected by last year’s storms,” Scott said. “This $616 million will enable communities to build new affordable housing and to replace homes lost in the wake of last year’s hurricane season. Through this program, we can continue to move forward with long-term affordable housing solutions for displaced families as well as provide grants to businesses who were impacted by the storm. We won’t stop working until all of Florida’s communities have fully recovered.”
Housing repairs will take up $273.3 million while $100 million will go into a Workforce Affordable Rental New Construction Program as DEO and the Florida Housing Finance Corporation work together across the state. While $20 million is going into land acquisition, the same amount is going into workforce training. Voluntary home buyouts will get $75 million while $60 million is for eligible business owners impacted by Hurricane Irma.
