City of Panama issued the following announcement on Sept 24.
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) has allocated a total of $27,362,572 to their Hurricane Michael Voluntary Home Buyout Program, with a maximum award not to exceed $5,000,000.
The City of Panama City has the unique opportunity to apply through DEO for U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds in order to fund the purchase of qualifying properties in Low- and Moderate- Income Areas (LMA) that were directly impacted by Hurricane Michael and experience repeated flooding.
This program will allow the City of Panama City to purchase your property at the pre-Hurricane Michael fair market value for both the land and the house. The house will be demolished and the property will be held for conservation, recreation, or storm water management purposes in perpetuity. Participation in the program is completely voluntary and homeowners who are identified as eligible for the program are not obligated to participate in the program and sell their home.
The City has not yet been granted funding by DEO, but must identify potential applicants and specific addresses willing to voluntarily sell so we can move quickly to complete the acquisition once funding is awarded and made fully available to the City. Please understand there are no guarantees that funds will be available in the future to buy your property. Funding awards remain subject to the State’s consideration and final determination.
There will be a public meeting on Thursday, October 1, 2020 at Bay District Schools Nelson Building, located at 1311 Balboa Avenue, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. to discuss program details, address questions, allow for the collection of additional information, and to provide eligible homeowners with the ability to express interest in participation in the program. The meeting will also be offered virtually via Zoom Meetings.
The City understands that you and your family may have questions and will need ample time to decide if participating in this program is right for you, so we would like to provide an opportunity to address any additional questions you might have on the process before making a decision. If you decide that you are interested in attending the public meeting to find out more about the program, prior registration is required. Please visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/homebuyout to register today.
If you have any questions, comments, or inquiries, please contact Jennifer Aldridge, Disaster Recovery Project Manager at (850) 872-3004 or through email at jaldridge@pcgov.org can address any questions, comments or inquiries.
Original source here.
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