{"id":121111,"date":"2026-01-16T21:39:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/121111\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T21:39:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:39:06","slug":"st-pete-storm-recovery-checks-still-months-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/121111\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Pete storm recovery checks still months away"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hurricane victims throughout Pinellas County began receiving disaster relief checks before Christmas. St. Petersburg\u2019s $160 million program has encountered yet another federal hurdle.<\/p>\n

A historically long government shutdown delayed plans to open Sunrise St. Pete<\/a> applications in November. While that has since occurred, residents still reeling from the 2024 hurricane season face an extended wait to receive financial assistance.<\/p>\n

Amy Foster, housing and neighborhood services administrator, told a city council committee Thursday that St. Petersburg is likely two to three months away from providing any funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). That could also be a best-case scenario.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe received word, multiple times, that our grant agreement was imminent,\u201d Foster said. \u201cAnd then last week, our HUD rep let us know that they are changing our grant agreement. We don\u2019t know what that means.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best word we got from them was that they were changing some things to make it more readable, but also to incorporate more executive orders into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

St. Petersburg has done its part. City council members approved the initial, meticulously created $61 million residential recovery<\/a> program in early October, a year after Hurricanes Helene and Milton decimated the area.<\/p>\n

Foster said Oct. 2 that the shutdown wouldn\u2019t impede officials from opening Sunrise St. Pete applications the following month. She was less certain the following week.<\/p>\n

The 43-day federal impasse \u201cabsolutely\u201d impeded the city from opening applications, Foster told the Catalyst at a Nov. 20 event<\/a>. \u201cPeople have been waiting a long time for recovery \u2013 the sooner we can get these dollars into people\u2019s hands, the better,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve (HUD) had our grant agreement since October.\u201d<\/p>\n

City officials thought federal funding was on the way three months ago. Mayor Ken Welch\u2019s administration hired program-specific staff, opened a call center and established two intake facilities. \u201cEven though we\u2019re not being reimbursed for that,\u201d Foster said at the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made the decision that it made sense to get resources to our community sooner rather than later, knowing we had funding coming,\u201d she explained Thursday. \u201cWe kept working diligently and opened the program, even without a grant agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Applications opened Dec. 15 and underscore the ongoing need for disaster assistance in St. Petersburg. Over 1,450 people applied by Jan. 7.<\/p>\n

The city received 426 applications for up to $375,000 in reconstruction and elevation funding. Officials expected to help 98 households rebuild storm-damaged homes.<\/p>\n

They also planned to provide up to $50,000 for 288 households that had previously completed storm repairs, and $15,000 in relief reimbursements for 784. Residents submitted 167 and 859 of those applications, respectively, in three weeks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A heat map that highlights where residents have applied for home rebuilding assistance. Image: City documents.<\/p>\n

Foster said administrators and city lobbyists \u201chave been diligently sharing our numbers, weekly, with our elected officials to let them know how many people really need recovery assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

She does not expect HUD to amend the county\u2019s agreement. Councilmember Brandi Gabbard called that \u201cinteresting,\u201d and asked if there were \u201cany discernible differences\u201d in what the two governments provided. \u201cNot that I\u2019m aware of,\u201d Foster replied.<\/p>\n

County Commissioner Brian Scott, then chairperson, hand-delivered<\/a> the first People First Hurricane Recovery Program check to a Seminole family Dec. 22. Over 3,700 Pinellas residents who live outside St. Petersburg applied to the $813 million initiative between then and Oct. 20.<\/p>\n

Fort Lauderdale is the only other Florida city selected by HUD to receive disaster relief community block grants. \u201cI think anyone who didn\u2019t have an executed agreement is getting the amendments,\u201d Foster said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know who else is in that situation,\u201d she added. \u201cBut post shutdown, they\u2019ve decided to make some changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foster encouraged council members to advocate for a quick release of relief funding. She said administrators were shocked at the number of people who have yet to repair or rebuild storm-damaged homes, which is a \u201cpowerful case for support.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just really wanted to underscore how many people we have that are hurting,\u201d Foster said. \u201cThis assistance coming urgently is important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilmember Richie Floyd noted that many applicants likely assume they will soon receive a response on awards. Aubrey Phillips, strategic initiatives and grants director, said an estimated timeline for checks is the \u201cmain question that we don\u2019t have an answer to for folks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phillips said case managers are providing regular updates. \u201cBut we don\u2019t have an answer. We would love one, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Floyd asked if Foster was hopeful that residents would receive funding relatively quickly following an executed grant agreement. \u201cAbsolutely,\u201d she replied. \u201cThat was our goal when we opened applications in December.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foster also praised city staff for their efforts. Particularly, street teams, who are going into homes and helping residents secure wraparound services, including legal aid and mental health care.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really want you to know that your vulnerable residents have this one-on-one support from the case managers that I never anticipated would be as good as it is,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hurricane victims throughout Pinellas County began receiving disaster relief checks before Christmas. St. Petersburg\u2019s $160 million program has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-121111","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-st-pete","9":"tag-st-pete-headlines","10":"tag-st-pete-news","11":"tag-st-petersburg","12":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","13":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}