Sarasota County has received $201.5 million from the federal government for Hurricane Ian Disaster Recovery.
The grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will be used for repairing and rebuilding homes, fixing damaged infrastructure and assisting business owners affected by the hurricane.
A newly created Sarasota County Program, Resilient SRQ, will be charged with deciding how the money will be spent to support long-term recovery efforts from Hurricane Ian.
County officials say the disbursement of funds is still in the planning stages and there will be several opportunities for individuals and organizations to provide input on the process.
WUSF's Cathy Carter spoke with Steve Hyatt from Sarasota County's Office of Financial Management about the newly created program which will oversee the grant.
Steve, tell us why winning this award is so important for Sarasota County.
So, some people received FEMA assistance, but it just wasn't enough to actually make them whole, which is what happens, there's caps on the level of assistance that can be granted. And unfortunately, we're finding through some of the comments through our surveys and our public meetings that the insurance companies for whatever reason, had not made them whole. Possibly there wasn't enough insurance coverage in the home for the damages. All those things factor into the level of assistance that's actually granted to a homeowner. So, what this program and this funding source is designed to do is to come in at the back end here after other funding sources have or have not filled those gaps, and we're going to try to use this funding to fill any of those remaining unmet needs.
There is a draft of the public action plan and it shows some of the options for the funding, including various housing programs. Tell us about one of them, the voluntary housing buyout plan.
They're taking a look at those homes that have repetitive flood-loss related damages. So, through this voluntary buyout program, there's an opportunity here with this funding, where we can reach out to these properties so that nobody lives in those hazardous areas going forward and we could purchase the property, make the homeowner whole, or at least give them the financing to move out of that area to another safer area. This is a unique opportunity where we can hopefully get not just one home, but maybe a collection of homes out of these areas. And then we can convert those properties to open space so that it's no longer being developed there. We're trying to make communities more resilient, instead of just putting things back to what they were.
The County has begun public meetings and conducted surveys, what are some of the needs that have come up as most prevalent and what programs could be geared towards them?
Homeowners are still in the process of repairing their homes. In some cases, they're essentially unrepairable and may need to be completely replaced. So, we have $40 million dollars at least proposed thus far in our draft action plan for such a program. Beyond that, we recognize that there's been some time that has passed from Hurricane Ian and homeowners and those communities have simply scraped together any sources of financing to put their home back together through private loans through credit cards, dipping into savings, and they've put that towards the repairs. There's going to be a program entitled the homeowner reimbursement program. And they can at least recoup some of the funding, if not all of it, and replenish those savings or pay off those loans that they've had to take, just to make their home habitable and safe again.
In these meetings and with the surveys, people have given feedback on what their lives have been like in the almost a year since Hurricane Ian. A lot of people are still struggling. Tell us about some of the stories you’ve heard.
So, some of the stories we’ve heard are that people's neighborhoods have basically morphed into ghost towns because people on their street were not able to repair their homes, they've had to abandon them. There are not enough contractors. We’ve heard from people that say their homes are still full of mold. Those individuals have told us stories about having to essentially live in their car in the driveway just because it was so unsafe in their home. It's very important to understand that and for the community to understand that. We're hoping this program can help those people.
The public can provide feedback online and during one of the Resilient SRQ public meetings. The next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 9, at Robert L. Anderson Administration Center, Commission Chamber, 4000 South Tamiami Trail, Venice.
