Federal funding still available for hurricane recovery in Pinellas County

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Pinellas County officials say there is still hurricane recovery funding available from the $813 million it received through a community block grant last fall.

The federal funding awarded to Pinellas County is for homeowners and residents recovering from Hurricane Idalia in 2023, and Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024.

The grant funding available to residents is through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); therefore, the county has to follow guidelines set by HUD on who will qualify. The programs are generally income-based and accept households that make up to 120% of the area’s median household income.

While each county or city that received funding has slightly different ways of distribution, Pinellas County created five programs that it’s calling “People First Hurricane Recovery Programs.”

The five programs focus on homeowner rehabilitation/reconstruction, homeowner reimbursement, support for landlords, homebuyer assistance and disaster-relief reimbursement that assists with things like rent or utilities.

Pinellas Recovers program manager Erica Henry said her organization has received about 6,600 applications so far, but is hoping for more.

“We’re in the process of going through them and evaluating for eligibly,” she said. “HUD allows us six years to fully expend the $813 million, so we are very motivated to spend that money very quickly and get it out into the community and where it needs to be.”

In order to raise more awareness about the available funding and to help residents through the process, the county hosted a community pop-up event in Gulfport last week. Henry said they netted around 40 new applications in the last week alone, so they plan to expand to more communities in the coming weeks.

“The citizens that we’ve talked to, and the information that we’ve gathered and the applications we’ve submitted, show this outreach is working,” she said. “It’s something we want to do throughout the county to get the word out and get applications in and get people put back together.”

The county has two full-time help centers that are open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 2600 McCormick Dr., Suite 100 in Clearwater, and 5000 Park St. N., Suite 4 in St. Pete.