For at least one resident displaced by Hurricane Milton, the wait for recovery aid helped put a return home out of reach. St. Petersburg, Florida, said its $173 million in funding is finally arriving after a mapping error blocked residents’ access for nearly two years.
Here’s what to know
The Sunrise St. Pete program’s funding was assigned to Pinellas County rather than St. Petersburg. Tampa Bay 28 reported that a geocoding error caused the misallocation.
Amy Foster, a representative of the City of St. Petersburg, said correcting the error required legislative tools that the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development lacked.
“The reason it’s taken us almost two years is because HUD has never had this experience before, and they didn’t have the legislative tools they needed to correct this issue,” Foster said.
More background
This lack of aid has severely impacted residents like Davida Wheeler, who lost both her home and her cat to Hurricane Milton.
“You never know when you walk out the door of your house that there’s a chance it might not exist anymore,” Wheeler said, according to Tampa Bay 28.
Wheeler said the assistance would have been welcome.
“It wasn’t there, and we can’t rewind the clock. It caused me to leave the city that I lived in for 15 years. It drove me out of my home and away from the friends that I had and my job and everything,” she said.
What’s being done?
St. Petersburg plans to allocate $126 million to housing recovery. The remaining $47 million will support projects to reduce flooding and improve resilience.
City representatives will contact previous Sunrise St. Pete applicants to reassess their requests for assistance following Hurricane Milton.
City of St. Petersburg leaders said the program could reopen to residents once they review all existing applications. That step, however, has not been confirmed.
“I mean, great. I feel like anybody in my position is appreciative for any extra little support that we can get,” Wheeler said, according to Tampa Bay 28.
Where can I learn more?
Other Florida communities have also struggled to secure aid and rebuild after hurricanes.
• A bill giving survivors 90 days to appeal FEMA denials cleared committee.
• In Taylor County, only 10% to 20% of lost homes were rebuilt two years after Helene.
• Hurricane Isaias left 146,000 without power and exposed disparities in hurricane recovery.
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