‘Help me get back into my home': Hillsborough residents give input on spending $709M in storm recovery funds
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla (WFLA) — Hillsborough County is asking residents to give input on potential spending for storm recovery funds.
The county held the first of nine public meetings on Wednesday night. $709 million of federal funding is available to help with recovery and mitigation efforts related to Hurricanes Idalia, Debby, Helene, and Milton.
The money comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery.
Many hurricane victims are at different stages of recovery. Barbara Yarborough is back in her West Park home after having four feet of water on the inside.
'I walked in the front door and nothing was in the same place,' said Yarborough. 'It was dirty sewer water, that's what bothered me.'
Yarborough couldn't make it to the meeting on Wednesday, but said she had been encouraging her neighbors to go, as she says they've never seen flooding like what they saw last fall.
Evelyn Igbinosun lives in Lake Magdalene and said three feet of water rushed into her house.
'I'm still not in my house,' said Igbinosun. 'If I didn't have a relative, I would be out on the street.'
These women, and other residents, called on Hillsborough County to make some changes.
The county proposes putting $35 million toward administration, $5 million for planning, $360 million for housing, $107 million for infrastructure, $180 million toward the economy, and $12 million for public services.
'We want this to be fair and accessible to all who qualify,' said the moderator of the public hearing.
Residents said they felt $709 million isn't enough money to help.
'$10 million for flood mitigation wouldn't even cover this area,' said one resident.
'These public dollars should prioritize long-term community resilience, not corporate profit,' said another resident.
They also mentioned the backed-up canals and drainage systems they feel make storms even worse.
'Our ditches in the Town and Country area are horrible,' said one woman.
'It rained the other day and I went into a panic. I said 'Oh my gosh, I hope it's not going to rain too much,'' said Yarborough. 'I want them to redo the gutters and that canal there. Stormwater and drainage, after all, that's why we're here. Florida, we're known for that, so we need to take care of it. And I thought our taxes went to take care of things.'
Igbinosun said she doesn't think the county was prepared for these storms and wants them to act now.
'Help me get back into my home. I would love that because my husband is in a nursing home. We use to go and get him and bring him home for the day. We can't even do that anymore,' said Igbinosun. 'Drainage would be the most important thing to me and then helping people like me get back into their homes and function day to day in their own surroundings.'
The county has six years to use these funds. If the plan is approved by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the county can implement the program later this fall.
If you want to send Marilyn Parker a news tip about this story or other newsworthy events, fill out the form below!
Submit a form.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Axios
5 hours ago
- Axios
Pinellas to spend $126M to nourish storm-battered beaches
Pinellas County commissioners on Tuesday pushed forward a $126 million project to shore up the county's critically eroded beaches. Why it matters: Beach nourishment, the process of dredging and piping in sand to widen and elevate a shoreline, is long overdue on Pinellas' storm-battered barrier islands. "That sand is not just there for the tourists. It's not just there for the beauty aspect of it," Commissioner Chris Latvala said. "It's there to protect infrastructure. It's there to protect people in their homes and livelihoods and lives." Driving the news: Commissioners approved 6-0, with Chair Brian Scott absent, New Jersey-based environmental construction firm Weeks Marine to carry out the project, which is slated to begin this year. The majority of the funding will come from tourism development tax revenue. The project area spans Upham Beach, Sunshine Beach on the northern tip of Treasure Island, and a stretch of Sand Key from Clearwater to Redington Beach, excluding Belleair Shore. Catch up quick: The county project bypasses a years-long stalemate with the Army Corps of Engineers, which since the mid-1990s had handled the bulk of the cost and work to nourish Pinellas beaches every five to seven years. Such projects require workers to temporarily access private land owned by Gulf-front property owners through an agreement called an easement. In recent years, the Corps reinterpreted its own rules and began requiring all property owners within a project area to grant public access to some of their land in perpetuity — and they mandated 100% participation. With efforts to sway the Corps so far unsuccessful, and with new urgency prompted by Hurricane Helene's destructive storm surge, county officials decided to move forward with their own project. Instead of the wide-ranging easements required by the Corps, the county asked residents to sign temporary construction easements that don't mandate public access. The latest: The county still lacks dozens of easements, with the vast majority in Indian Rocks Beach, Indian Shores and Redington Shores, public works director Kelli Hammer Levy told commissioners at Tuesday's meeting. Workers will skip or partially nourish those areas, she said. Yes, but: The county is still accepting easements and will continue to "right up to the last moment that we can," Hammer Levy said. What's next: Officials will continue to pressure the Corps for a solution, county administrator Barry Burton told commissioners, noting the county can't afford to nourish the beaches regularly.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Misunderstanding leads to end of Hope Faith grant effort
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Hope Faith Homeless Assistance Campus is giving up on a federal funding source to try to help it build a low-barrier shelter just east of downtown. The group originally wanted the project done in time for the 2026 World Cup, but that's not going to happen now. Hope Faith has always wanted their campus on Admiral Boulevard just west of The Paseo to be a spot where homeless people could stay year-round as opposed to just the winter months. Construction has never started inside their building, though. Hope Faith wanted to add 100 low-barrier beds to its existing facility, but they would not have been in individual rooms. Executive Director Doug Langner thought he was going to get a $4.7 million Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant that's currently in the hands of the city, but HUD wants the money spent on a non-congregate shelter. List of cooling centers in Kansas City 'Ours would have been much more made for volume,' Langner said in an interview with FOX4 Friday. 'We would have made that dignified. That funding source that's actually with the Home ARP [American Rescue Plan] is again probably for renovating like a hotel into like a shelter space, very different type of thing.' Langner says he doesn't know whether he should have known the specific regulations of this federal money. City Housing Director Blaine Proctor says that Hope Faith's goal is to have a congregate shelter. 'We went to HUD several times asking for a waiver to use these funds for congregate shelter, and we were denied every time,' Proctor said in an interview with FOX4 Friday. Proctor added that both the city and Hope Faith recognized that this type of grant was not going to work. 'Disappointed would be a better word,' Proctor said when asked if he was mad that HUD didn't grant the waiver. 'You know, they have their rules, and while we have things that we want, we need a low barrier shelter in Kansas City, period.' Another Kansas City tow company under investigation after police raid HUD did not respond in time for our deadline on Friday. Langner wants to see if the city can find a way to spend that $4.7 million, so they don't have to give it back. He added that he needs to find new sources to try to build his entity's 100-bed shelter. 'We've had some good discussions with some private entities, and what they've said is, 'Great.' We want to see what the local landscape is, whether that's the county, whether that's the city. It could be the state, I guess, but most likely, if there's a partnership in this, I think we can get there, but now it's a matter of, is there still the will? Is this still a priority? I don't know. That I don't know.' Langner says he's still willing to work on a plan to fund his idea of a low-barrier shelter. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Rays owner in ‘advanced talks' to sell MLB franchise for $1.7 billion
The Rays revealed Wednesday that owner Stu Sternberg is in 'advanced talks' to sell the team. The potential deal values the MLB club at $1.7 billion with a group led by Jacksonville homebuilder Patrick Zalupski having executed a letter of intent to purchase the club, per Sportico. Advertisement 'The Tampa Bay Rays announced that the team has recently commenced exclusive discussions with a group led by Patrick Zalupski, Bill Cosgrove, Ken Babby and prominent Tampa Bay investors concerning a possible sale of the team,' the team said in a statement. 'Neither the Rays nor the group will have further comment during the discussions.' Rays' Junior Caminero runs the bases after his double off Miami Marlins pitcher Edward Cabrera. AP The Rays perennially have one of the smallest payrolls in Major League Baseball but have been one of the most successful teams since 2008, with the third-highest winning percentage in that time. Only the Yankees and the Dodgers have a higher win percentage. Sternberg, principal owner of the franchise, purchased the Rays in 2004 for $200 million, but has faced mounting pressure to sell the team in recent years. Advertisement According to The Athletic, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and other owners have been attempting to persuade Sternberg to sell. The Rays have spent considerable time trying to build a new stadium to replace Tropicana Field. They had a deal in place to begin building a new 30,000-capacity stadium as part of a mixed-use development in the Historic Gas Plant District in downtown St. Petersburg. Patrick Zalupski is the founder, chairman and CEO of Dream Finders Homes, a Florida-based homebuilder. University of Florida Tropicana Field after Hurricane Milton. AFP via Getty Images However, as the March 31 funding deadline passed, Sternberg announced that the plans were being scrapped due to financing delays. Currently, the Rays are unable to play at Tropicana Field after the stadium sustain massive damage from Hurricane Milton in October 2024. They are instead playing out of George M. Steinbrenner field in Tampa, which is the site of the Yankees' spring training facility and home of their High-A club. Advertisement A Rays sale would be MLB's third franchise to change hands in recent years. In 2020, the Mets were sold to Steve Cohen, and, in 2024, a group led by David Rubenstein bought the Orioles. The news of the franchise's potential sale came just hours before ESPN reported the majority share of the NBA's Lakers being sold to Mark Walter, owner of MLB's Dodgers, in a $10 billion deal.
