St. Petersburg City Council quietly signed off on nearly $2.9 million in federal funding last week to elevate seven flood-prone homes in the city — the latest installment in a mitigation push that continues to rely heavily on taxpayer-funded disaster spending rather than private insurance or market-based solutions.

The council approved seven grant agreements with the Florida Division of Emergency Management on Aug. 27, clearing the way for the city to draw up to $2,873,114.98 from FEMA’s Flood Mitigation Assistance program. The money will reimburse costs tied to physically raising the structures. Notably, this funding cycle requires no local match, meaning federal taxpayers would cover the full cost rather than the city or property owners.

The targeted properties are so-called “repetitive-loss” homes inside St. Petersburg’s Special Flood Hazard Area—properties that have already triggered multiple insurance payouts for flood damage. The city applied on homeowners’ behalf, and FEMA and the state approved the awards. The city will now execute agreements directly with the homeowners and reimburse costs as elevation work proceeds.

The item passed as part of the council’s consent agenda, meaning it received no individual discussion or public debate before approval — a routine practice for grant acceptances, but one that limits scrutiny of how federal disaster dollars are allocated at the local level.

These seven grants are separate from Elevate Florida, the larger statewide mitigation program launched after the 2024 hurricane season, which also depends on federal financing to elevate homes and fund other storm-hardening measures. State Sen. Nick DiCeglie has said roughly 120 St. Petersburg residents applied to that program, with many applications still stuck in the approval pipeline. DiCeglie said federal-level efforts are underway to move those applications along, adding that Sen. Ashley Moody and Commissioner Brian Scott have been pressing FEMA to act.

City staff confirmed four additional Flood Mitigation Assistance grants from the same application cycle have already been awarded and are being finalized for a future council vote, though no timeline has been given.

For now, the seven approved grants mark incremental progress in a mitigation system that remains slow-moving and dependent on federal bureaucracy — even as home elevation is increasingly treated as a routine expectation rather than an owner’s individual responsibility in flood-prone areas.

Follow the St. Pete-Clearwater Sun on Facebook, Google, & X

St. Pete-Clearwater Sun: local St. Pete-Clearwater & Tampa Bay, FL news at PIE-Sun.com