Florida Homeowners: Possible Federal Funding for Hardening Your Property from Hurricane Damage

The Florida Department of Commerce (Florida Commerce) has announced the opening of the 30-day public comment period to seek public input on Florida’s Draft State Action Plan to access and operationalize $910 million in funding.1 This federally allocated funding was for disaster recovery and mitigation following Hurricane Ian.

Federal Funding will be available, and agencies are currently determining how to allocate these funds. If you own property in any of the areas indicated, you can be part of the process in detailing how this is spent. Depending on your location, the funds will be administered by either the State of Florida or HUD:

Eligible Counties

HUD identified four Florida counties (Lee, Orange, Sarasota and Volusia) who will receive direct funding allocations separate from the amount allocated to the State of Florida. These four counties will be responsible for designing their own programs to address their communities’ unmet needs, as well as administering any funds to run those programs. Florida Commerce is committed to working with all counties to swiftly administer long-term disaster recovery funds. For Floridians in direct-allocation counties who are interested in Hurricane Ian assistance, please contact your county directly; their websites are below:

Another 20 counties that have been identified as Most Impacted and Distressed (MID) areas are eligible for Hurricane Ian CDBG-DR programs from the State of Florida. In the aftermath of the storm, HUD identified 14 MID counties (Brevard, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Hardee, Highlands, Hillsborough, Manatee, Monroe, Osceola, Pinellas, Polk, Seminole, and zip code 32177 [Putnam County]), and the remaining 6 counties have been identified by the State of Florida as being State MID counties (Flagler, Glades, Hendry, Lake, Okeechobee, St. Johns). These counties will be serviced by the State of Florida through Florida Commerce and Rebuild Florida.

This map shows the HUD and State-identified MID counties for Hurricane Ian receiving assistance through Rebuild Florida. This map also contains the four entitlement counties.2 

These programs can not only give you an opportunity to harden your property but may even result in lower insurance rates. If you are included in the regions indicated, I strongly recommend reaching out through the website above to reach the appropriate administering authority to see about your eligibility and opportunity to give input regarding the process.

1 The Draft Hurricane Ian State Action Plan for Disaster Recovery is currently available for Public Comment from July 13, 2023 until August 12, 2023 5:00 EDT. Public Comments may be submitted July 13, 2023 until August 12, 2023 5:00 EDT via postal mail or email to: 

Attention: Rebuild Florida Constituent Management Services

Florida Department of Commerce

Office of Long-Term Resiliency

107 East Madison Street

The Caldwell Building, MSC 420

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2100

HurricaneIan@RebuildFlorida.gov

2 http://floridajobs.org/community-planning-and-development/assistance-for-governments-and-organizations/disaster-recovery-initiative/hurricane-ian