Tonight will be the last of nine meetings held throughout Hillsborough County to allow residents to provide input in person on how more than $700 million in federal aid should be spent to help the community recover from four hurricanes in the last two years.
Hillsborough County expects to receive $709,324,000 in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The money will help with recovery and mitigation efforts related to Hurricane Idalia in 2023 and Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton in 2024.
The aid will target communities and neighborhoods with the greatest unmet long-term recovery needs. At least 70 percent of the money must benefit low-to-moderate-income populations.
The county’s draft plan lays out how the $709 million will be spent to help residents rebuild their homes and recover financially after the storms, and how infrastructure like roads and stormwater systems will be built and maintained. To gather public input on the plan, the county scheduled a series of five public hearings and four educational meetings, the last of which is on Monday, June 23. Residents are also encouraged to provide input through an online survey, which is open until Monday, July 7. Residents also can provide input through a comment form.
Tonight’s final educational meeting is from 6-8 p.m. at the Victor Crist Community Center, located at 14013 N. 22nd St. in Tampa.
The draft plan proposes a number of programs to address unmet needs in several categories:
- Single and multifamily housing repair and replacement.
- Multifamily housing new construction.
- Housing for special needs populations.
- Housing infrastructure.
- Workforce development.
- Business infrastructure.
- Public services.
- Planning.
After input is considered from the surveys and June’s public comment hearings and education meetings, the resulting plan will go to the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners for consideration on Wednesday, July 16. If approved by the board, the plan will be sent to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. For more information, visit https://hcfl.gov/disasterrecoverygrant.
