TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Florida officials are helping families displaced by Hurricane Michael find affordable rental housing.
Governor Rick Scott announced Wednesday that the Florida Housing Finance Corporation (Florida Housing) is helping families displaced by Hurricane Michael find affordable rental housing through Socialserve.
Florida residents displaced by Hurricane Michael can visit the affordable rental housing locator service, www.FloridaHousingSearch.org, to find available units in Florida.
“We know many families who have experienced impacts from Hurricane Michael are looking for affordable housing while they rebuild their communities," said Gov. Scott. "The service Florida Housing is providing will help many Floridians get back to a sense of normal life sooner.”
Officials say they will conduct extensive and frequent surveys with rental property owners in the impacted counties to find suitable housing for households that cannot return to their homes.
The survey also helps determine which landlords will provide short-term leases to displaced households and accept FEMA rental assistance vouchers.
The property owners being surveyed include those in Florida Housing’s portfolio, as well as other landlords that currently have their properties and units registered with FloridaHousingSearch.org. For those Florida residents that evacuated from the storm to Georgia and Alabama can visit GeorgiaHousingSearch.org and Alabama2-1-1 for housing assistance info.
To address the housing need in the Panhandle, Florida Housing is also going to advance the 2018-19 State Housing Initiative Partnership Program (SHIP) funding allocations first to those counties ravaged by the storm. Those counties include: Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Leon, Liberty, Taylor, Wakulla, and Washington.
For additional disaster relief information, visit Florida Housing’s website that has a webpage devoted entirely to disaster relief resources and information at www.floridahousing.org.