Sarasota seeks ways to hand out $210 million in hurricane recovery cash
By Kerry Sheridan
January 10, 2025 at 5:00 AM EST
The county said it is in the "early planning stages" of figuring how to spend the federal money.
Sarasota County is looking for ways to distribute $210 million in federal money to help people rebuild after four hurricanes wreaked havoc across the region over the last two years.
The cash comes from the federal department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and is part of $12 billion being spent nationwide on a program called Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) in areas declared disaster zones by the president.
Since the money comes from HUD, 70 percent must go toward low to moderate income households.
"It's very exciting news for the community. It's a great deal of funding," said Steve Hyatt, a division manager with Sarasota County government.
He said the goal is to fill in where insurance money falls short, and address broader needs for economic revitalization in the community.
"We can use it for multi-family affordable housing projects, and then most importantly to help impacted homeowners from these 2023-2024 disasters, repair their homes, or in some cases, fully reconstruct them," said Hyatt.
The county could also buy homes that were damaged or destroyed by Hurricanes Idalia, Helene, Milton, or Debby from willing sellers.
Still, the cash is likely to fall far short of the total needed. Hyatt said the county received about $200 million in federal money for a similar purpose after Hurricane Ian in 2022, even though an analysis found as much as $800 million in unmet needs.
After Ian, the county commission "dedicated about $55 million worth of that allocation to benefiting homeowners, and what that entails is funding set aside to reimburse homeowners for repairs to their homes," said Hyatt.
"Then there's 40 million of that amount set aside for rehabilitation and reconstruction activities, which is performed by Sarasota County contractors," he added.
The rollout takes time, however. According to Hyatt, the county is preparing to issue checks of up to $50,000 to homeowners for reimbursement of their Ian-related repairs "in the next few weeks."
For the latest injection of federal money, leaders will assess local needs over the next few months, and then send a proposal to HUD on how they plan to spend the money.
"With this allocation, we have some plans in place to get out to the community, start engaging with our community members and getting that input," said Hyatt.
To get updates and find out more from Sarasota County, click here.
The cash comes from the federal department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and is part of $12 billion being spent nationwide on a program called Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) in areas declared disaster zones by the president.
Since the money comes from HUD, 70 percent must go toward low to moderate income households.
"It's very exciting news for the community. It's a great deal of funding," said Steve Hyatt, a division manager with Sarasota County government.
He said the goal is to fill in where insurance money falls short, and address broader needs for economic revitalization in the community.
"We can use it for multi-family affordable housing projects, and then most importantly to help impacted homeowners from these 2023-2024 disasters, repair their homes, or in some cases, fully reconstruct them," said Hyatt.
The county could also buy homes that were damaged or destroyed by Hurricanes Idalia, Helene, Milton, or Debby from willing sellers.
Still, the cash is likely to fall far short of the total needed. Hyatt said the county received about $200 million in federal money for a similar purpose after Hurricane Ian in 2022, even though an analysis found as much as $800 million in unmet needs.
After Ian, the county commission "dedicated about $55 million worth of that allocation to benefiting homeowners, and what that entails is funding set aside to reimburse homeowners for repairs to their homes," said Hyatt.
"Then there's 40 million of that amount set aside for rehabilitation and reconstruction activities, which is performed by Sarasota County contractors," he added.
The rollout takes time, however. According to Hyatt, the county is preparing to issue checks of up to $50,000 to homeowners for reimbursement of their Ian-related repairs "in the next few weeks."
For the latest injection of federal money, leaders will assess local needs over the next few months, and then send a proposal to HUD on how they plan to spend the money.
"With this allocation, we have some plans in place to get out to the community, start engaging with our community members and getting that input," said Hyatt.
To get updates and find out more from Sarasota County, click here.