Many Florida residents are still feeling the impact of hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton. The latter two delivered a devastating back-to-back blow to the Tampa Bay region last year, exacerbating damages and making recovery more difficult.
On Jan. 7, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that the state will receive upwards of $925 million toward long-term storm recovery.
Separately, 10 counties were also granted funds, with Pinellas County receiving the highest amount of $813.8 million.
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St. Petersburg was the only city in Florida to get a chunk of the money. It was awarded $159.9 million.
The federal grants are part of HUD's Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program.
Assistant County Administrator Matthew Spoor said that Pinellas receives an annual allotment of CDBG funding.
"We have staff that manages those programs, everything from housing to assisting with low- to moderate-income affordable housing units," he said. "This is a different form of CDBG funding."
The $813.8 million grant is earmarked for disaster recovery, which means it'll go toward building up prolonged hurricane resilience.
Spoor added that the money is supposed to address residents' unmet needs.
"The clock started on Jan. 21, so within the next 90 days, we need to create an action plan and talk to all of our partners and residents to see what those needs are," he said.
Once HUD approves the action plan, there will be multiple public hearings where people can tell policy-makers what they need.
"If 90% of the county is business as usual, it's those 10% that we need to talk to," Spoor said. " 'What do you need to continue your recovery efforts?' We really need to hear from those people."
During the County Commission meeting on Jan. 28, disaster recovery consultant specialists will be selected who will help guide the creation of the action plan.
"I'm sure that between now and the end of spending the funds, there will be some agenda item on almost every meeting that talks about this in some way," Spoor said.
St. Petersburg's director of government affairs, David Thompson, also stressed the importance of public participation.
“We’re absolutely going to be open and transparent through the process," he said. "It’s a lot of money, and community feedback is going to be really, really important.”
Thompson said that a city team is holding staff-level meetings and engaging with HUD administrators.
"I will certainly caution folks. This isn't going to be an overnight process," he clarified.
Thompson and Spoor said the funds won't be fully distributed for five to six years.
Pinellas officials are working on addressing people's immediate needs by creating additional housing and rehabilitation assistance programs. Spoor, who also oversees legislative affairs and strategic initiatives, said this can only be done with reimbursement from the federal government.
Meantime, the city and county will soon have websites dedicated to the CDBG-DR grant action plans. Spoor and Thompson strongly urge residents to keep an eye out for that and to attend public hearings to express their needs.
