{"id":356936,"date":"2026-07-30T00:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T00:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/356936\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T00:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T00:08:09","slug":"elevate-florida-applicants-still-waiting-for-answers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/356936\/","title":{"rendered":"Elevate Florida applicants still waiting for answers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 Some Florida homeowners approved for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.floridadisaster.org\/dem\/mitigation\/elevate-Florida\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Elevate Florida<\/a> are still waiting for answers and funding, even as FEMA recently gave an update saying it provided about $24 million for projects across the state. Still, nearly two years since hurricanes Helene and Milton, many homeowners say they have yet to see movement.<\/p>\n<p>St. Petersburg homeowner Amy Brooks says she never expected surviving a hurricane would be easier than the recovery. The 36-year-old has moved multiple times since the 2024 storms damaged her Riviera Bay home.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have moved a total of ten times. And that\u2019s not an exaggeration. Ten is the number,\u201d said Brooks.<\/p>\n<p>From long and short-term stays in hotels and apartments, more than one-hour from her job and home, this time Brooks has moved back home. She\u2019s not inside yet, but in an RV in her driveway.<\/p>\n<p>While the Elevate Florida Program is beginning to show some progress, Brooks says her status as \u201cpending\u201d has remained the same for a year, and she is the only thing on the move.<\/p>\n<p>The homeowner is ready to elevate her home and says she wants answers.<\/p>\n<p>Elevate Florida has not replied to her inquiries or Spectrum News\u2019 requests for comment, but the program does use federal funds.<\/p>\n<p>FEMA responded, saying in part:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince the 2024 hurricane season, FEMA has invested $679.31 million in Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds to help pay for a variety of cost-effective projects designed to protect lives and property. To date, FEMA has provided nearly $24 million to the Florida Division of Emergency Management for the Elevate Florida program statewide.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elevate Florida\u2019s website addresses timing, posting:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStarting June 2025, federal requirements included additional review steps for grants and funding approvals. These changes extended timelines for award decisions nationwide, including for Florida Property Owners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a timeline Brooks addresses in letters she continues sending local, state and federal officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese aren\u2019t just files on someone\u2019s desk,\u201d Brooks read from her letter. \u201cThey are people\u2019s homes, people\u2019s futures, people\u2019s mental health, people\u2019s livelihoods.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brooks says many of those letters have gone unanswered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve heard back from a few, but usually they just push it back on to FEMA or Elevate Florida and we\u2019re just doing this finger-pointing thing,\u201d said Brooks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And as she continues searching for answers, Brooks says she\u2019s stuck in survival mode.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt needs to end. I\u2019m ready to get in a home and live my life again, not just survive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 Some Florida homeowners approved for Elevate Florida are still waiting for answers and funding,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,3125,1802,1187,115,139,596,135,835],"class_list":["post-356936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-hurricane-helene","tag-hurricane-milton","tag-melissa-eichman","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-pinellas-county","tag-tampa","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356936","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=356936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}