Logan Stausbaugh of Panama City, Florida, said he doesn’t remember the first time his house flooded, but he does remember the water that came in through the foundation.
“I’ve had up to a foot of standing water in the house,” he said. “The rooms would flood.”
The backyard could get even worse, with water going halfway up his fence.
In August, Strausbaugh, 30, was the recipient of the city’s Voluntary Home Buyout Program, a federally funded assistance arrangement that helps the victims of repeated flooding get out of waterlogged homes.
The program pays fair market value of the home directly to the owner, as well as all closing costs and real estate agent fees. “The grant takes care of everything for them,” said Jennifer Aldridge, disaster recovery program and floodplain manager for Panama City.
The city then tears down the home. “That lot is no longer eligible for building,” Aldridge said. “You can’t live on it ever again, and the city owns it.”
Sometimes the city will add a stormwater facility or pocket park to the property or leave it as green space.
Money follows the rain
There is a catch. The funds are tied to damage from specific hurricanes. Strausbaugh was paid out of a $5 million grant for Hurricane Sally, which struck Florida’s panhandle in 2020.
The city ran this program for the first time after the destruction caused by Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 storm that hit in 2018.
With that $5 million federal grant, the city saw an opportunity to help some long-suffering residents whose homes regularly flood.
“I’ve been knowing these folks have been having trouble for years,” said Aldridge, who has been with the city for two decades.
To qualify for the funds, homes must have been damaged in the named storm under the grant. But the damage doesn’t have to be from flooding. Roof and wind damage can make a home eligible, as long as it has flooded in the past.
Many of the homes aren’t in areas that FEMA maps designate as high flood risk, according to Aldridge. “I know the flooding areas of the city,” she said. “We have quite a few of them.”
During Sally, Strausbaugh said he and a friend down the street came out on floatation devices into the dirty river that had formed.
“At one point, we were just floating down the street, drinking beer, acting a fool,” he said. “That’s how much water was there at some points.”
But it didn’t only happen in hurricanes. Heavy rain could wind up filling his street and house. “I’ve had to gut the house a couple of times," he said.
The process works ... slowly
Aldridge said the program also requires recipients to be low- to moderate-income. “Unfortunately, pretty much all of Panama City is low- to moderate-income, so it actually works out,” she said.
Strausbaugh, a single father who works in pool maintenance and repair, bought his home for $140,000 in 2020. He said the flooding issues were disclosed in writing in the final contract for the house, but he didn’t see them and no one pointed them out.
“That was right at the start of the pandemic,” he said. “I didn’t read a thing, and my Realtor, she didn’t read it either.”
When the program came around the first time, he started to enroll, then dropped out after deciding to stay. “Then the house flooded again, and I was, like, that was it,” he said.
Strausbaugh estimated it was roughly two years from the time he applied for the program until the city closed on his house on Aug. 4. Aldridge said that period covers environmental review of the property and other formal procedures that arise whenever a program seeks to give money directly to individuals.
“It’s such a long process because you’re dealing with the federal government,” she said.
The grants are good for three years from the time of the award. The award for Michael wasn’t given to the city until 2021, and the city applied for and received an extension for that one.
The Michael grant will wrap up this year, Aldridge said. The grant for Sally will run until December 2026.
Owners reenter the housing market
The city identified and purchased 21 homes through the Hurricane Michael grant, all on the same block, said Aldridge.
“Since they’ve torn down a lot of the houses, it seems to have helped with the draining,” Strausbaugh said.
For Sally, the city has identified 12 properties and closed on six, including Strausbaugh’s.
The grant pays for an appraisal of the house. If the homeowner is unhappy with the price, they can foot the bill for their own appraisal and the city will pay out the higher price. “We want to be fair to these people,” Aldridge said.
The grant will also provide a minimum of $10,000 (depending upon the recipient’s income) in moving costs, such as downpayment assistance or closing costs on a new house, as long as the new home is within the city limits.
Strausbaugh received $240,000 for his house, according to a deed filed with Bay County. He said that he is renting for now.
Aldridge said a number of recipients are waiting to buy anything new. One identified homeowner is being given a year before the closing while he waits for a new home to be built.
“We’re not rushing these folks,” Aldridge said. “We know the market right now is not the greatest.”
The median home price in Panama City was $380,000 in July, according to Homes.com research, an increase of nearly $30,000 from just two years ago.
Aldridge said that one of the biggest hurdles to getting eligible homeowners into the program is skepticism. “A lot of people are still suspicious of this program, like it’s too good to be true,” she said.
But Strausbaugh said that it really did take care of him the way city staff said it would. “Honestly, I’m very happy. They didn’t have to do this. It dragged out a bit, but I can’t complain about that.”