FORT MYERS
More FEMA housing is available in Southwest Florida. This time it isn’t a trailer. Instead, FEMA is renting out apartments in a downtown Fort Myers high-rise.
Between mobile trailers and apartment rentals, FEMA says it’s helped more than 68,000 families in Florida with housing since Hurricane Ian.
“We’re down to right now about 2,400 families across Southwest Florida that we’re trying to place in housing, and that’s we started with well over 3,000,” said Keith Denning, deputy federal coordinating officer for FEMA.
A part of FEMA’s pledge is to help survivors recover. The agency says it has also provided more than $600 million to families to make home repairs and for rental assistance, including assistance for people to live at the Edison Grand in downtown Fort Myers.
“We’ve leased 40 units here at the Edison Grand. And we will lease families into those units pretty quickly,” said Denning.
The agency didn’t stop with this one building. FEMA has secured more than 300 units in Collier and Lee counties at several apartment complexes. Denning said despite this; he knows a rental unit isn’t the right fit for everyone.
“There’s rental assistance that 48,000 families around Florida have taken advantage of. And we provide the rent. We provide that in a cash grant for a period of time,” Denning said.
No matter which option the agency finds best fit for each family, its goal is to ensure everyone has a safe place to call home.
WINK NEWS