VALRICO, Fla. — The Featherock Mobile Home Park was wrecked after Hurricane Milton, with streets inundated with floodwaters.
Carlos Angelucci feels bad for so many of his neighbors who were hit hard.
“I tell you the truth. God blessed me in a lot of ways. You have people over here who lost ceilings, cars, families, you know. But it was messy,” said Angelucci.
The mess has gotten better in this Valrico community.
But so many here still have damage to deal with.
“The wind damaged our home and then the flooding also damaged our home. And many of our families were displaced because they could not access their homes for many days,” said Marie Maughan.
Because state and federal help can only go so far, Hillsborough County leaders voted to allocate more money for those in need.
$5.6 million will be used from the Hope Affordable Housing fund, with much of it directed to those who own mobile homes.
“That would help us. And I talked to someone who said they could do some flood mitigation measures and other things that could help us in the future if we have to deal with this in the future or hurricanes,” said Maughan.
Hillsborough County tells ABC Action News, “The Mobile Home Replacement program will require Hillsborough County to procure a mobile home manufacturer vendor through a procurement process, which could take up to 6 months. Once the vendor is selected, Hillsborough County Affordable Housing will publish the eligibility requirements and begin accepting applications.”
Another chunk of the money would go to provide services and programs to help other people in Hillsborough County recover from the hurricanes.
The Hope Fund was established to put aside at least $10 million a year in local public money to create, rehab, and preserve quality affordable housing.
