© 2024 All Rights reserved WUSF
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
WUSF is part of the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network, which provides up-to-the minute weather and news reports during severe weather events on radio, online and on social media for 13 Florida Public Media stations. It’s available on WUSF 89.7 FM, online at WUSFNews.org and through the free Florida Storms app, which provides geotargeted live forecasts, information about evacuation routes and shelters, and live local radio streams.

Hurricane Michael Recovery Loans Help Panhandle Homebuyers

Contractors replace a roof on a Panama City resident's home almost one year after Hurricane Michael devastated the region.
Valerie Crowder - WFSU News
Contractors replace a roof on a Panama City resident's home almost one year after Hurricane Michael devastated the region.

After Hurricane Michael devastated the region, many people fled their storm-damaged homes. Now down-payment assistance loans are helping put people back into neighborhoods in communities that are still recovering.

Mortgage down payment assistance loans are helping put people back in neighborhoods recovering from Hurricane Michael.

“As a native Floridian, I don’t know that there’s ever been or ever going to be a better time to buy a house in North Florida than right now,” said Trey Price, executive director of the Florida Finance Housing Corporation, the organization overseeing the Hurricane Michael Recovery Loan Program. “It’s really an incredible program we’ve got right now.”

The interest-free loans cover $15,000 for a down payment on a house. After five years, the loans are forgiven, meaning borrowers won’t owe any more money. “You’ve got to live in the house full-time,” Price said. “It’s not investment property or beach house.”

The program has been helping move people back into communities that are recovering "just in time for the census," Price said. That matters because hurricane-related population declines reflected in the census could mean less federal funding for those cities and counties. "The down payment assistance program encourages people to stay and be part of the rebuilding effort."

Roughly 500 loans have been originated to homebuyers since the program began, Price said. Within a four-month period last year, the program originated 10 times as many down payment assistance loans - 335 - as the entire year year before the hurricane. By the end of this year, the program is expected to help roughly 1,000 households.

“Folks may already live in housing that’s substandard and damaged by the storm,” Price said. “Then there may be folks who are interested in buying some North Florida real estate and participating in the rebuilding in the Panhandle.”

Within the last six weeks, almost 200 loans have been issued, and most of those were in Bay County, Price said. There are almost 500 loans still available for potential applicants interested in settling in the region.

To qualify, homebuyers must earn 140% of the county’s median household income or less. In Bay County, the household income threshold is $97,160.

Price says interested applicants should reach out to a participating lender. They can find a list of lenders on the housing finance corporation’s website.

Copyright 2020 WFSU. To see more, visit WFSU.

Valerie Crowder is a freelance reporter based in Panama City, Florida. Before moving to Florida, she covered politics and education for Public Radio East in New Bern, North Carolina. While at PRE, she was also a fill-in host during All Things Considered. She got her start in public radio at WAER-FM in Syracuse, New York, where she was a part-time reporter, assistant producer and host. She has a B.A. in newspaper online journalism and political science from Syracuse University. When she’s not reporting the news, she enjoys reading classic fiction and thrillers, hiking with members of the Florida Trail Association and doing yoga.
You Count on Us, We Count on You: Donate to WUSF to support free, accessible journalism for yourself and the community.