Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, Governor Ron DeSantis along with the Florida Housing Finance Corporation (Florida Housing) announced the distribution of $5 million to local governments through the State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) program to assist individuals and families in Florida impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic with the housing assistance and resources.
My administration continues to take bold steps in ensuring families in Florida have the housing resources needed in these uncertain times,” said Governor DeSantis. “Families can take comfort knowing the additional funding to local government housing offices will be quickly distributed to help keep a roof over Floridian’s heads.”
“During these turbulent times, Governor DeSantis and Florida Housing remain committed to helping Floridians with homeownership and rental assistance with this much-needed allocation,” said Trey Price, Executive Director for Florida Housing. “Because COVID-19 has impacted Florida as a whole, Florida Housing has accelerated this release of available disaster recovery funds to eligible SHIP counties and cities.”
As allowed by statute, Florida Housing held back $5 million of the 2019/2020 SHIP appropriation for disaster recovery, which is typically used to assist SHIP participants with recovery from natural disasters. In years that the funds are not used for that purpose, they are added to the normal SHIP allocation at the end of the fiscal year and released in accordance with the statutory allocation process. Those funds were fortunately not needed for that purpose this fiscal year.
Additionally, in our continued effort to support SHIP local governments Florida Housing has implemented the following:
- Approving waiver requests from local governments related to homeownership (65%), construction (75%), rental restriction (25%) and advertising requirements; and
- Approving technical revisions to Local Housing Assistance Plans (LHAPs) to allow for rental assistance/eviction prevention, mortgage payment assistance/foreclosure prevention.
For more information about Florida Housing Finance Corporation and COVID-19 housing resources, please visit www.floridahousing.org.
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