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DADE CITY, Fla. — Pasco County is preparing to roll out a major relief program funded by a $585 million federal Community Development Block Grant, which was awarded following last year’s hurricane season.
More than half of that funding will go directly to homeowners who have been unable to make essential storm-related repairs.
For residents like Christopher Rosakranse, the assistance cannot come soon enough. Hurricanes Helene and Milton tore through his property, downing 15 trees, damaging fences, and flooding his yard.
“The water got so high,” he recalled. “One tree landed on our little mother-in-law suite, and the flooding pulled up our septic a bit.”
Rosakranse had purchased the home just two months before the storms hit and was left with thousands of dollars in damage. To make matters worse, he says he was unable to secure help from FEMA.
“I kept getting the runaround,” he said. “It was really hard to get through that system.”
Pasco County officials say homeowners like Rosakranse are exactly who the county hopes to help through its new Better Future Housing Program.
“We are trying to explain the opportunity to the public — how we can help them, how they can get involved,” said Chuck Lane, the county’s director of Disaster Recovery Resources. Lane and his team are hosting informational meetings this week to outline eligibility requirements and the types of expenses the program can cover.
“We really saw devastation county-wide,” Lane said. “We are still seeing a lot of people who are displaced, and those are the people we are going to try to prioritize and get help to more quickly.”
The Better Future Individual Housing Program is a program designed for residents of Pasco County. It is scheduled to open for applications in December. Qualified homeowners may receive funding for repairs that have already been completed, repairs that are still needed, or other storm-related expenses.
For details on this week’s public meetings or the application process, go right visit here.
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Jason Lanning
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