Today marks two years since Hurricane Milton struck the Tampa Bay area, and Hillsborough County’s federally funded rebuilding program is drawing far more applicants than officials first projected.

According to the county, 1,776 applications have been filed through September under Rebuilding for Tomorrow, which launched May 1. WFLA reported that the figure comes as another system forms in the Gulf and many residents still repair damage from Milton and Hurricane Helene.

The program is funded by a $709 million federal Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. About $211 million of that is set aside for homeowners. In May, county commissioners appropriated $208.4 million for the single-family housing program, which the county said would help about 1,000 homeowners. At that rate, the average per-home cost would exceed $200,000. Actual awards vary by category:

• Reimbursement: $10,000 to $50,000 for repairs already completed
• Rehabilitation: up to $150,000 for remaining damage
• Reconstruction: up to $350,000 to rebuild

Eligibility extends to households earning up to 120 percent of area median income, which the county puts at $110,000 a year for a two-person household. Officials have said they are prioritizing households at 80 percent of the area median income. Applicants who already received FEMA or other aid can still qualify.

Kristina Stamm of Thonotosassa is the program’s success story. She applied the day it opened, and after nearly three months of paperwork, she was approved for a new home. The county has described hers as the first mobile home replacement completed under the program.

Others are still waiting. In August, Bay News 9 profiled a 77-year-old Hillsborough woman living on Social Security who applied in May and still had tarps over her roof with no word on her application. By then the county said roughly 1,500 homeowners had applied and that funding remained for about 1,300 more eligible applicants. With applications now near 1,800, it is unclear how many more can be funded before the money runs out.

The county has been holding pop-up help centers to guide residents through the process, including one this week in Progress Village. Another is planned next week in Thonotosassa, followed by one in Tampa. The program stays open until all funds are obligated.

The county figures reviewed for this report do not say how many of the 1,776 applications have been approved, how many are pending, or how many dollars have actually reached homeowners.

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