ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — When the Sunrise St. Pete application process opens Dec. 15, residents will have the chance to request a share of nearly $160 million to help them recover from Hurricanes Idalia and Helene.
However, people who live in the Shore Acres neighborhood said they’re doubtful it will provide their community some much-needed relief due to income requirements. Funding for the program comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
A city spokesperson told Spectrum News that HUD specifies that no less than 70% of those funds must go to help low-to-moderate-income residents.
What You Need To Know
- Applications for the Sunrise St. Pete program open Dec. 15
- The federally-funded program can provide financial assistance to help residents recover from Hurricanes Idalia and Helene
- Money can go toward home rehab, rebuilding and elevation, as well as repair reimbursements
- While Shore Acres was hit hard by both storms, people who live in the neighborhood tell Spectrum News they’re skeptical the program will provide them relief due to income requirements
“They’re income-based. So, they’re not going to qualify for everybody,” said resident Barry Rubin.
Rubin said Helene marked the first time his home flooded in the nearly 30-years he’s lived in the flood-prone Shore Acres.
“Everything is brand new. It’s actually a new house on a very old house shell,” he said of the state of his house today.
According to Rubin, “everything” includes the walls, floor, paint, fixtures and electricity — to name just some of the work done to his home.
Sunrise St. Pete is meant to make at least part of recovery easier for residents. It offers financial assistance to rehab, rebuild and elevate their homes, as well as reimbursements for repairs.
A city spokesperson said that, per HUD requirements, households that earn up to 80% of the area median income will be given priority. For a family of four, that works out to a yearly income of about $83,000. Some help will also be available for those earning up to 120% AMI, which comes out to about $125,000 for a four-person household.
Because of that, Shore Acres Civic Association President Kevin Batdorf said he thinks the program will have very little impact in the neighborhood, despite it being hit hard by both storms. Batdorf said that the more than 1,200 homes that flooded in Shore Acres during Idalia made up 82% of the total flooded properties in the city during that storm, and residents are still recovering from Helene. Erin Knight said that she and her husband were finally able to get back into their home after it was inundated by up to five feet of floodwater.
“We literally were in a camper. It was a 21-foot camper. It was my husband and me and two dogs from January until about a month ago,” Knight said.
Knight told Spectrum News she was planning to apply for Sunrise St. Pete but was discouraged by news of the income requirement.
“We still had to fork out $20,000 on top of around $100,000 out of our own pocket to rebuild this house and then put up floodgates, but yet somehow, we don’t qualify for any of the help,” she said.
Both Knight and Rubin, along with other neighbors, said they still planned to apply just in case there’s a chance they could see some funding.
“I’m cautiously, cautiously optimistic, but ‘cautious’ is the main word,” said Rubin.
While he realizes Sunrise St. Pete is funded by HUD dollars and not city funds, Rubin said he’d like to see St. Pete work with the federal government to let them know many in hard-hit coastal areas won’t meet income requirements.
