Homeowners can still apply for funding for Ian relief

Help for Hurricane Ian victims in Volusia County continues through the county’s Transform386 Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery Program, although some features are coming to an end.

The county was awarded $328.9 million in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds (CDBG-DR) in 2023 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), its share of $910.6 million awarded to Florida to mitigate the damage for residents in the most impacted areas. The HUD funding necessitated the need for a program to administer the funds, resulting in the creation of Transform386, which also manages the recently awarded CDBG-DR funding for Hurricane Milton.

Florida has already surpassed the $5 billion in federal grants, flood insurance payments and disaster loans due to Hurricane Ian, according to FEMA.

The CDGB-DR funding is used for housing, disaster relief, long-term recovery, infrastructure restoration and economic revitalization after a presidentially declared disaster for primarily low- to moderate- income residents, paying the gap between what a resident has received from insurance, FEMA or other payouts.

“Those funds have to be expended first [by the applicant],” Transform386 Director Dona Butler told Hometown News. “HUD money is the last money in; we’re the last payer.”

The Rental Repair Program and Job Training Program will be discontinued, she said. Applications were closed in October for the Rental Repair Program.

“We will then transfer those funds to Mitigation and Infrastructure,” she said, adding $18 million has already been moved to Mitigation and Infrastructure with about $32 million lined up.

For the fourth quarter, Transform386 reported receiving 132 applications for the Homeowner Single Family category bringing the annual total number of applications for 2024 to more than 1,450 with 642 remaining active as of Dec. 31. In addition, there were 58 contract signings, 10 reimbursements, eight completed projects and 48 projects moved to construction. The program is still open to affected homeowners.

Eighteen Infrastructure and Mitigation projects are approaching the environmental review and procurement phase, with the Volusia Coun- ty Council approving $60,765,603 in CDBG-DR funds to pay for them. The projects are in seven municipalities as well as unincorporated Volusia. Twenty-eight stormwater studies for 10 municipalities and the county also were approved.

The Multifamily New Construction Program received four developer applications that will move forward for the County Council to consider. Two of the projects are multifamily housing facilities and two are focused on assisted senior living, a total of 260 units in all.

The Rental Repair Program is scheduled to be closed, according to the last-quarter report, due to an apparent lack of response. It had received 10 applications, three of which were ineligible, four applicants ended communications with the project coordinator and three applicants withdrew their requests.

A Port Orange couple celebrated the first total home replacement through the Transform386 program on Feb. 3. Leo, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, and Deborah Laliberte’s home was damaged by flooding during Hurricane Ian in 2022, only two years after they moved into it. It was their first home in Florida after relocating from Massa- chusetts.

They applied to Transform386 for aid, which was approved for a complete replacement of their home - the first replacement for the initiative to date.

Transform386 hosted a public celebration to welcome the Laliberte’s to their new home.

Homeowners seeking reimbursement or needing repairs due to damage from Ian can apply for assistance through the Single-Family Home Repair and Replacement Program through Transform386. More information about the program can be found at transform386.org.