Hot Off the Press Release | Pasco County to Receive $585 Million in New Federal Funding to Help Residents with Hurricane Recovery

These federal dollars were passed as part of the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2025, which was enacted on December 21, 2024.

January 23, 2025 michele525 CIVICS | LOCAL GOVERNMENT, COMMUNITY SERVICES, HOT OFF THE PRESS RELEASE, IN THE LOOP 0

stock-stormdamage-hurricane0923 — Photo by ALTEREDSNAPS

Press Release | January 3, 2025
Office of Congressman Gus Bilirakis

Washington, DC: U.S. Congressman Gus Bilirakis is proud to announce that Pasco County will receive a direct allocation of $585,704,000 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as part of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)-Disaster Recovery program stemming from Hurricanes Idalia, Helene and Milton. These federal dollars were passed as part of the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2025, which was enacted on December 21, 2024. Throughout the legislative process, Representative Bilirakis advocated for the inclusion of $12 billion in CDBG-Disaster Recovery funds because he has seen how devastated his district has been from these back-to-back natural disasters. Additionally, on December 24, 2024, Bilirakis requested that HUD grant issue a direct allocation to Pasco County. In his appeal, Bilirakis outlined how Pasco intends to use the federal funding to serve its low and moderate income residents, to include:

Implementation of strategies for affordable replacement housing and repairs to damaged homes;
Stormwater improvements and critical infrastructure projects to improve resiliency; and
Economic development plans for impacted small businesses that employ a majority of low-to moderate-income residents.

“This amount of funding – over a half billion dollars – is extraordinary,” says Pasco Board of County Commissioners Chair Kathryn Starkey. “Thousands of low-income Pasco County residents affected by recent hurricanes could benefit from this assistance, and it will also help us repair storm-damaged infrastructure and improve our community’s resiliency. We can’t thank our federal delegation members enough for helping us secure this historic funding for Pasco.”

The state of Florida has also received an allocation of $925,394,000 to support counties and municipalities that did not receive a direct allocation from HUD. Congressman Bilirakis will be working directly with state partners to advocate for the needs of residents in Hernando and Citrus counties.

“The tremendous need in our community as we seek to recover and prevent future loss is undeniable,” said Bilirakis. “I’ll never stop fighting on behalf of my constituents.”